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CwazyWabbit
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It does need an outing from time to timeThe vice tree.
Lewis_RX8
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25.4_mechanic
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The man himself
thanks for tuning in CwazyWabbit!That is of course always possible, but I have reasons to believe that that was not the case here, I'll explain in a moment.
What a wonderful piece you have there!
Similar to this advertisement from May 1896
(found here: https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/File:Im18960509IM-Park.jpg)
On your wonderful specimen, the nut was never separated, so presumably a QR was never actually fitted. The front plate was simply taken over unchanged ... Perhaps a special version with a particularly high pressing force in mind?
My specimen is a little different:
The nut was split 1/3 to 2/3.
The spike of the lower "half nut" once had its hook, which broke off at some point.
Like your specimen, mine does not have an obvious attachment for the flat iron on the underside, BUT:
Unlike ALL the vices with QR that I have seen pictures of and could tell (I have seen hundreds of such pictures in the last few weeks) the eye through which the QR lever passes is off-centre to the right - on my piece it is exactly in the centre:
Now if you consider that in this piece the lower part of the nut has to go down and the upper part of the nut has to go up in order to use the QR, then you can imagine that below the vice there is no need for a fastening for the flat bar, as this is held by the two spikes of the two parts of the nut:
This is how it might have been, except that this prototype mechanism probably didn't last long ...
What do you think???
Carsten
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25.4_mechanic
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I am not sure ... but there could be a vice somewhere in the picture ...
Your specimens with high dividing line correspond exactly to the 1902 advertisement - mine looks much younger ... whoever built it ...
Carsten
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CwazyWabbit
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I see what you mean now about the double operation, is there room for a 'hook' from the upper half nut to pass the lower half nut? If you remove the plates that hold the nuts together is there a 'scar' where the hook was removed from the upper nut?
CwazyWabbit
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Carsten,
I assume your German is far superior to mine, have a look at Fig 7 in this patent
I assume your German is far superior to mine, have a look at Fig 7 in this patent
dannysheff
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Sooo --- more variants in early Parky Perfect QR bench vices, vises , apostrophe here or there, high waist, low waist, also I see some have locating pins and some don't, and maybe a rare mini anvil version?
And now this different patent version 5 years later than the UK patent. Thanks wabbit and 25.4
And now this different patent version 5 years later than the UK patent. Thanks wabbit and 25.4
CwazyWabbit
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Here's another way of releasing the half nut Danny
25.4_mechanic
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I have tried to get views out of the existing photos that I have not shown yet.
For more pictures and a disassembly of the "repaired" nut, we'll have to wait until my big boy comes by from the place of study.
Questions about the patents only seen now. Yes, maybe one or two more words of that language, let's see ... I'll be back soon
Carsten
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25.4_mechanic
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Hehehe, he was really quite imaginative - not only mechanically, but also legalesically:
Hereby Parkinson attempts to protect for himself, for the entire German Empire from 18 June 1885 onwards, any form of QR, no matter how realised.
And the examples shown seem to have been deliberately kept somewhat imprecise by him, in order to claim for himself from the outset, if possible, every other future idea that has not been considered ...
Apparently it even worked, because the patent is marked as granted and announced.
I don't think that would pass today and I could imagine that it could have been attacked back then
... if the will and the money had been there ...One may wonder why the QR vice is so completely uncommon in our country - should we have hit upon the reason here?!?!?
Yes, Fig. 7 uses a split nut like mine, but the operation is different, even simpler in the realisation that seems to have come to fruition in my exemplar.
Carsten
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CwazyWabbit
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Thanks for the translation of the patent, that is the only time I have seen a two piece nut used on a Parkinson vice (with the exception of your vice that started this interesting research)
He does seem to have been a man full of ideas, and quite crafty to
He does seem to have been a man full of ideas, and quite crafty to
25.4_mechanic
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Well, it wasn't really a translation, more a very modest summary.
But if a British person with 12 years of school German had sat down to read it, he would have been surprised: It was just the imperial gobbledygook of 1885.
But I have you to thank!
Now please help me further: what can I do on the object to gain more insights? I would like to have a date of origin, roughly.
There is this more modern look, but also features of the very early period ... then the missing emblems, not a good sign ...
In the meantime, I have already understood that things went haywire with the vises back then.
Can I try to take the hardness, do an acid test, who knows what?
In the meantime, I'm enjoying a magnificent piece of iron.
Of course I'm still on the lookout for information about this piece, but next I'll offer a fascinating little story about my Woden 190/7A - stay tuned.
Carsten
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dannysheff
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Just did an ebay search (no, not buying) for info on two part static Parky vises - nothing to see, BUT a piece of paper for sale with 1885 description of Parkinson's QR "as constructed by Cocker Bros Ltd of Sheffield" so maybe they had a short-lived deal with Parky?
(their main business was wire products and springs, but some other lines and obviously quite a big player from 1752 for over 200 years)
doesn't quite look right, but close.
and thanks for all the patent info wabbit, old Jos Parkinson had a clever and active mind, and was covering all bases -- I wonder what his two different neighbours in Bradford area, who patented QRs before him, and other, earlier vice makers in that town, such as Woodhead, thought of all this
Last edited:
CwazyWabbit
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Have you a link or an ebay item number? I could see it saying:
CockerBros
Limited
Sheffield
dannysheff
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ebay uk offer titled "1886 Parkinson's Parallel Vice, Cocker Bros, Sheffiled"...sic, only 1 sheet, but doesn't cost too much.
Just noticed, the text says Cocker bros are the makers
25.4_mechanic
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I have just found one, albeit a small one.
It's in the south and not exactly cheap ... but seems to be quite old:
Vintage Quick Release Parkinsons Patent Trade Perfect Vice Mark, For Restoration | eBay
Sold as is and as found, needs a really good clean and tidy up, really far from perfect but will do a job!
www.ebay.co.uk
I think that people do not put the two-part nature of the static jaw in the description because they do not notice it or do not attach any importance to it ...
Good luck,
Carsten
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CwazyWabbit
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That also seems to have the same CockerBros name on the sideI have just found one, albeit a small one.
It's in the south and not exactly cheap ... but seems to be quite old:
Vintage Quick Release Parkinsons Patent Trade Perfect Vice Mark, For Restoration | eBay
Sold as is and as found, needs a really good clean and tidy up, really far from perfect but will do a job!www.ebay.co.uk
I think that people do not put the two-part nature of the static jaw in the description because they do not notice it or do not attach any importance to it ...
Good luck,
Carsten
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SteveB58
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What to do with a vice once it no longer works as a vice? Well this one was beyond economical repair, and beyond the limitations of my workshop and so lay rusting in the garden for some time. Bits of it have been resurrected in different ways.
First up is the ball which is now the handle to my shed, secondly is the base and tommy bar which look something like a skull and cross bones, again on my shed and lastly is one of the jaws which has been cut down and mad into a lamp. The end of the screw box was used as a paperweight on my desk for some years
First up is the ball which is now the handle to my shed, secondly is the base and tommy bar which look something like a skull and cross bones, again on my shed and lastly is one of the jaws which has been cut down and mad into a lamp. The end of the screw box was used as a paperweight on my desk for some years
25.4_mechanic
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Eagle Eye!
Is it possible to say approximately when the transition from the aesthetically designed to the more plain end of the slide took place?
Thanks!
Carsten
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