This was sent in for identification. Any ideas?

If that wee wheel inside there is sharpened it would make an excellent letter opener. :)

I would think a wire puller but it wouldn't work for pulling through conduit. I'd allow cable maybe. the stock can be passed through the open side then the roller inside will pinch as you pull on the ring. Kinda the same idea as a fence stretcher.

Due to the very small slot and the roller catch, It leads me to believe it is for grabbing the end of maybe banding material to facilitate putting the crimp lock on the banding for packing.

The "precision" insciption gets me. Why would a wire-pulling or banding-grabbing have to be precise. I agree though it looks like it grabs something or other. It's very much the same principle as my carpenter's saw rack in the shed which holds ten saws.

OK guys, picture this....

You are a busy mother, trying to get supper cooked before hubby gets home. You are holding a crying baby with a runny nose. You can tie this handy little clip on your apron and hang a wiping rag on it to keep your hands free for frying the chicken.


Do I win some kind of prize? :lol:

Could it be for use with a tape measure?

Can you explain that ? I don't follow as to how, but it has been a long day and I may not be hitting on all cylinders at the moment.

Cant be a blacksmith holding it the / The fingers still have fingerprints on them :wink:

Hey! I have been smithing more or less for 12 years and still have MY finger prints.
In fact I learned early on how to check for hot metal. Easy way is have the junior person present to go and pick it up. If he yells and drops it, you kow to use tongs or wait a while. :o

what does the inside look like? If it is indeed a puller, it may have a mechanism to allow a wire, or band to be fed from one end, and catch tight if you try to pull it out. The band would need to be cut and the extra piece inside the puller removed.

Ok, close enough





The item depicted is a "Chain Grip". It's a Surveying relic from the days before the modern electronic/laser gismos. Sadly, days which I remember but remember fondly. Surely the tool could not hold/grip a chain you ask."Chain" refers to an even earlier measuring device called a Chain or Gunters Chain (See attached) made up of 100 links ( 1 link = 7.92 inches). They were generally 1 chain, or 22 yards, or 8 furlongs etc long.



The more modern "Chain" was actually a steel band about 3/16 x 1/16 and sometimes 300m long. The name was retained, possibly colloquially, as a link to the past. Being high tensile steel it was hard to hold once the required tension was applied. It would cut into the back of your little finger. You couldn't bend it around your hand either as it would kink and stuff up the accuracy of the thing.

The little tool just slipped over the chain (steel band) and made life so much easier. So did the electronic/laser gismos

I often come across antique tool shows and the like and always test the stall holders knowledge with the chain grip. (It lives with my car keys). No one has ever got it right with out a lot of coaxing and I thought it would give fellows a run for their money even though I already know what it is.

Cheers
Strine from Oz

Sorry to stir the pot folks :mrgreen: but as I said to Glenn privately I love these sorts of brain teasers. They're much more fun than trying to solve trigonometry or calculus problems. I also said it's really interesting to see the responses and how the imagination can take you in all sorts of directions. A lot of the suggestions were very close to the mark, especially the ones about gripping things, even nose wipers but this morning, when I saw reference to measuring, I suggested to Glenn that the nut had been pretty well cracked hence Glenn's latest post.

There is just one correction to make. There are 8 furlongs in a mile not a chain and there are ten chains in a furlong. That makes 80 chain to the mile. And one last thing, I vehemently deny the fingerprints are mine :wink:

Strine, tools like this are always the result of problem solving.

While solving the main problem, discoveries or connections are made that can be used in other areas. Many times the comments after a blueprint presentation refer not to the subject at hand but to a tool or object in the background of a photo.

The answers given here is problem solving in progress. Please keep challanging us, as turning our imaginations loose and letting them run unteathered is great exercise. :!: