March 3, 201412 yr I have an old vice that I received from my grandfather. He worked for the railroad back in the 1930's and 1940's. The vice appears to have been used by a blacksmith. It has a hand cranked fan used to stoke a firebox that would have been on the end of the view. The vice has an accessory that’s always puzzled me. It includes a gear-driven cylinder with a 1/2 inch bore located underneath the clamp heads. The cylinder can be rotated by a hand crank on the front of the vice. The bore in the cylinder matches up with a hole that extends through the vice. I’m guessing it was for some sort of rod. Can anyone help me identify what the initial purpose of this accessory?
March 3, 201412 yr Greetings Mike The extra parts are for a grinding wheel attachment. They hooked up to a mandrel . There should be a hole in the base for the shaft. Common set up for early vise anvil combo set ups . Forge on and make beautiful things Jim
March 4, 201412 yr If it has a patent number on it you can look it up and see what all's supposed to be there.
March 5, 201412 yr Sometimes those combination vises also had a drill attachment. If you look up patents for combination vises, you will find all sorts of different versions with drills, grinding wheels and more. They were quite ingenious.
March 6, 201412 yr Author Any thought on where to look for a patent number? I dont believe I've seen any markings on the assembly .
March 6, 201412 yr The patent # were put on where ever they had a flat surface for the foundry type. I could be anywhere on the body. But some manufacturers made copies of other vises, and did not mark their product in any way. You might not find any markings on you vise.
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