Tool identifacation help! pat dec 14 1875

[dutyswatchandclock]

iv been looking for some information on this tool have have for a watchmakers lathe and coming up dry, its an American watch tool company made product, im hopeing someone knows what it is used for, when you turn the handle it pivots the whole left side out or back in togeather, both jaws are adjustable, im going to try to post some pics, thanks.
Mark
here is the link to photo bucket, http://s1079.photobucket.com/user/dutyswatchandclockrepair/slideshow/ copy and paste in your address bar and you should be able to view them, sorry for the multiples, that site is confusing and ad ridden.

[Bob Tascione]

Hi Mark
That’s called a swing tailstock sometimes referred to as a jeweling tailstock although it can be used for many different things. The hole to be bored for the jewel (or whatever) to fit into is placed in the tool at the top where the steel jaws come together. The Jewel would be set on the brass plate and then the steel jaws would be closed on the jewel, which transfers that dimension or offset to the boring tool, then fine adjustments could be made to bore either a little undersized, exactly the same or oversized for a slip fit. The boring bar would be placed in the spindle of the tailstock and then fed into the rotating watch plate, balance cock or a bridge. You can also use shim stock rather than a jewel to give you the exact diameter you’re after. Very handy tool.
I’ll see if I can locate some directions on its use for you.

Bob

[dutyswatchandclock]

Awesome, thanks a lot bob, i looked for a long time for info on that tool, and that would be great if you could find some instructions for it, definitely a unique tool, and thanks for the hairspring help as well,
Mark.

[Bob Tascione]

Hey you’re welcome Mark,
Sorry for not getting back to you earlier but have been swamped the past few days. I looked around and found a few things on how to use the tool but all pretty basic.
I’m going to take a few pics of mine tonight and will post either late tonight or in the morning (most likely morning). I’ll set it up on a lathe with a face plate to give you an idea of how it works. Probably won’t mount a watch plate or anything on the face plate but you’ll get the idea. See ya in the morning!
Bob

[Bob Tascione]

Mark,
The pics that I’ve posted below should give you a good idea of how the tool works.
This tool can be used for many other applications than just fitting jewels into plates and jewel settings. The tool you see below has two stops. This allows for boring two different diameters using the same spacer (jewel etc.). Depths of bores can be set by thumb screw behind tailstock as seen in two of the pics. If two bores are needed such as a bore with a counter bore then a shim can be placed between the thumbscrew stop and tailstock to decrease the depth of the counterbore by desired amount. Cool tool.

• This reply was modified 3 years ago by Tamas Richard.

[Bob Tascione]

Just a quick addition:
For anyone interested I ran across more information tonight about the tool in “The Watchmaker’s Lathe” by Goodrich. He seems to cover it better than any other sources I could find.

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