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Twelve and twenty-four inch steel rules, top to bottom: (a) General HDW Mfg Co, NY , No 901; (b) Goodall Pratt Co, Greenfield, Mass., USA, No 4; (c) Lufkin Rule Co, London, No 87T; (d) Moore & Wright, Sheffield No 426A flexible; (e) Hockley Abbey (J Rabone & Sons) No 1667; (f) H Barnascone & Sons, Sheffield, ‘Empire’ No 596.
Top to bottom: (a) J Rabone & Sons, Birmingham, No 226 three fold 12” rule;
(b) Chesterman, Sheffield No 332D/3 flexible 6” rule; (c) 4” rule by unknown maker.
Six inch steel rules, top to bottom:
 (a) The J E Rule Co, C2132, ↑ 1952
 (b) Moore & Wright, Sheffield, No 422A
 (c) ABC Rules & Measures, London, Patt. No R/M 1571, stainless, 1944
 (d) Chesterman, Sheffield, No 417D
 (e) J Rabone & Sons, Birmingham, No 31.
Note, rules (a) and (c) are ex UK government and dated.
Sliding calliper gauges.
 Upper one in brass by J Rabone & Sons, Birmingham.
 Lower one in aluminium and brass, unknown maker, promotional “Fit VULCAN MAINSPRINGS for Safety and Accuracy”.
A promotional set of engineer’s instruments made for Stewarts and Lloyds (South Africa) Ltd by Joseph Westby of Sheffield. The rules were bought in from Chesterman. The set comprises firm joint callipers, an imperial wire gauge, and a combined pen knife with two blades and twelve inch folding steel rule. Stainless steel.
Callipers and dividers by Moore & Wright, Sheffield, England, from left to right: (1) inside callipers; (2) inside callipers; (3) outside callipers; (4) dividers; (5) jenny callipers; (6) firm joint jenny callipers.
Left to right: (1) steel dividers by unknown maker;
 (2) outside/inside callipers by unknown maker;
 (3) outside callipers, AD & Co 43
 (4) L S Starrett Co, Athol, Massachusetts, inside callipers.
L S Starrett was founded in 1880.
Six inch steel wing dividers signed Peck Stow & Wilcox East Berlin Conn. The firm was created by the amalgamation of three firms in 1870.  From the early 1900s on the logo PEXTO inside an oval was used, which is not present on this item. It quite likely dates from the late 19th century.
Moore & Wright, Sheffield, England, combination set. The two vee shaped pieces are not original to this set, the original one being missing. The spirit level in the square fitting is broken. It has many uses besides use as a square. The centre fitting is useful on its own  as a clinometer.
An engineer’s square by Moore & Wright.
Two engineer’s protractors by Moore & Wright. The upper one is a No 48 and the lower one is a No 45. The No 45 can also be used as a depth gauge.

A pair of Moore & Wright key-seat clamps shown about 1½ times full size . These were a cheap way of converting a rule to a key-seat or box square as shown in the picture on the right where they are clamped to a six inch steel rule. The rule can now be used for accurate measuring and marking out on a round bar, for instance for marking out a key-way on a shaft. These were in a toolmaker’s cabinet that I bought and I had no idea what they were until I recently came across them in a 1964 Buck & Hickman tool catalogue.

Chesterman No.1694 boiler plate gauge, ca.1930s.
Gauge made by L S Starrett for measuring the thickness of boiler plate by insertion through a small hole such as those used for the fire tubes. L.O.A. 9.2mm. The anvil is graduated in 1/40 inches one side and 1/32 inches on the other. The larger knurled nut is a clamp so that the setting is not disturbed when withdrawing it from the hole.
Helix Screw Pitch Indicator by Ovee Spring Gauges Ltd, Edgware, Middlesex, England. Instructions for its use are on the back of the paper case.
Screw pitch gauges for 55 degree, Whitworth threads. The first, English made, has gauges for from 4 to 60 threads per inch, and the second, foreign made, for from 5 to 60 threads per inch.
Screw gauges and leather case, all marked GKN (Guest, Keen & Nettlefolds). The bottom gauge has screw gauges marked on side of the vee and inch sizes the other, with a 1/16ths inch ruler on one edge and GK&N’s tower trade mark. The other side  has imperial wire gauge sizes marked on the sides of the vee and a mm ruler on one edge. It is also marked Chesterman Sheffield No 6001. Both sides marked “Use Nettlefolds Screws”. The other gauge has screw gauge marked along the vee and 1/8ths and 1/16ths inch rulers on the edges of the other side. The moving arm is a screw hole gauge. Top face also marked “Nettlefolds Screws” and with tower trade mark.
L S Starrett Co, Athol Massachusetts, USA No 272 radius gauges to measure internal and external radii from 9/32 to 1/2 inch. They are in 1/64 inch increments.
Brown & Sharpe Mfg Co, Providence, Rhode Island, USA No 649 feeler gauges for 15, 2, 4, 8, 10 and 12 thousandths of an inch.
Standard wire gauges for 1 to 26 SWG. Top left, signed Beckerlegge maker Sheffield. Bottom left signed Wynn & Timmins and also C & M 1912. Right signed Brown Bros Ld, London. All early 20th centuury.
Bell shaped knitting pin gauge by Vicar’s, made in England for pins from size 0 (the largest) to 24, and a gauge for the size of ‘number’ drills from 1 to 60 by Saml Cocker & Son, Sheffield. Again, 1 is the largest. There is a larger series of drills that have letter designations but both are now obsolete except for use by model engineers.

Drill size gauge by Hughes Ltd, Warrington for fractional size (jobber’s) drills from 1/16” to 1/2” in steps of 1/64”. It is stamped with both the fractional sizes and decimal equivalents.

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Five inch sine bar. It has the name R Godson etched? on the underside, possibly the owner or maker (or both). A sine bar was used in conjunction with slip gauges to accurately set out angles or slopes.

Shardlow 507 plug (go/no go) gauge for 5/16 inch diameter holes. It is also marked with the broad arrow, the date 1963, and an inventory number 943-8701. It has a yellow card box. This type of gauge was also used for threaded holes.

Moore & Wright round leg Toolmakers’ callipers and dividers. Only made in the 3 inch size these were more expensive than their normal spring callipers and dividers, which can be seen nearer the top of this page. Mid 20th century.

Yorkshire Precision Gauge Co go/no go gauge for 0 - 6mm or 0 - 1/4”. The thinned down anvils of this gauge were presumably for measuring into slots. The left hand anvils are adjustable for the required sizes via screws in line with the anvil supports and locked by the screws visible in the picture. Similar gauges with suitably shaped anvils could be used for measuring screw threads.

George Baker, Cecil St Wire Works, Birmingham wire gauge for wire sizes 18 to 41 (0.048 to 0.0044  inches) British Standard Wire Gauge but a different part of the series from those above.

General Hardware Mtg Co NY No 16 ‘Made in USA’ ©1937 Pat No 2111871. On the front face are inch x 1/64 and inch x 1/32 scales and a protractor scale from 0 - 180 degrees; also a scale for dividing a circle from 5 to 9 and an inch x 1/32 scale at 45

degrees to the ruler edge. On the reverse there are illustrations of its use as a protractor, square, centre finder,circle divider, and drill point gauge. There are also  tables of tap drill sizes, national form of thread for “Machine”, “USS” and “SAE” threads. It has a leather case.

Birmingham Wire Gauge signed on the reverse of the calliper arm “Partridge maker Darlaston” and dated 1884. Covers gauges 1 to 23. George Partridge & Sons, 8 Smith Street, Darlaston.

Moore & Wright No 200 gauge for setting the angle of the tool for screw cutting in a lathe. 47½ degree for BA threads, 55 degrees for Whitworth & BSF, 60 degrees for American (Unified) and Metric; and 14½ degrees for ACME.

Chesterman No 1879/20 six inch feeler gauge with ten leaves for 25,15,10, 3, 1½, 6, 2, 8, 4 and 12 thousandths of an inch. Promotional item for the Richardson Printing Ink Co Ltd.

BA thread & hole size gauge made by Pratt & Whitney, Hartford, Connecticut, USA for Buck & Hickman, London dated 1915. For even BA sizes from 0 to 10. Tapping Size holes on one edge; Standard Size holes on the other

Chesterman No 1963D/3 contraction rule for contractions of 1/96, 1/48, 1/120, and 1/60.

Birmingham Wire Gauge signed on the reverse of the calliper arm “Partridge maker. Covers gauges 1 to 28. George Partridge & Sons, 8 Smith Street, Darlaston. This one made for N Hingley & Sons Ltd. See also another gauge by Partridge above. Judging by others I have seen these seem to have been individually, hand made as they are all different!

Brass size gauges for Wrights’ Ropes from 1/2” to 1 1/4” size made by G S Tye & Co of Birmingham. There is a more conventional, wooden gauge for Wrights’ wire ropes on the next page.

L S Starrett No 283 U S Standard Gauge for Sheet and Plate Iron and Steel. It covers gauges from 36 to 0 and the actual dimensions in inches are given on the reverse.

L S Starrett No 441 Imperial Wire Gauge. Covers sizes 36 to 1. Dimensions in inches are on the reverse.

Ediswan Cables wire gauge & calliper. It is for measuring copper conductors. The sizes in inches on the reverse are those of the British Standard for copper conductors: .010. .012, .018, .029, .036. .044, .052, .064, .072, .083, .093, .103 inches

Imperial Wire Gauge signed Buck & Ryan covering sizes 1 to 36 (0.300 to 0.0076 inches)

Wire gauge bearing the name “Deakin & Co, Deritend Mills”. Sizes 10 to 38. Type of gauge not stated but probably Imperial (SWG)

Gratrix lead gauge for sheet lead weighing from 1 to 14 pounds per square foot.

Calliper rule made by George Partridge & Son of 8 Smith Street, Darlaston. I have a number of combined wire gauges and callipers by the firm, two of which can be seen above. Dating from the late nineteenth century, they were largely hand-made.