Peter Ainsworth wants to identify two old tools
I enclose photographs and drawings of two tools that I have had as long as I can remember (I am now in my 80s). I inherited some tools from my father, an architect, and I know that some of them came from his father, a wheelwright and coach builder in the Hammersmith area. Apart from that I have no information - can you or any member of your society help?
Item 1 - Made by CRANE
This is clearly a clamp of some sort but what trade would use such a heavy duty tool? I suspect that the CRANE label is a trade mark rather than a description. The part / serial number suggests a large firm as the maker. The fact that it is rusty makes me think that either it is the older of the two items,and had gone out of regular use, or that it was used outside rather than undercover.
Item 2 - made by DUCO
The second item is clearly a spring compressor of some sort - the spring can be squeezed by moving the arms apart using the screw thread while the attachment bolt/ mounting rod comes out through the forked arm. It looks like an early car mechanic’s tool rather than a wheelwright’s one to me, but of course my grandfather was also
a coach builder. The “DUCO” trade mark may be relevant for dating - I would suspect it is early 20th century rather than late 19th.
Derek Osborn responded about item 1:
This piece of equipment was made by or for Crane back in the 1960s for "pulling up" Crane cast iron skirting heating panels. The panels were 6" and 9" high and between 12" and 24" long (sorry about the imperial measurements). The panels were smooth on the front with a linear detail, the rear formed to accept the pulling up tool, two nuts and bolts and two nipples joining the panels together, which were also the waterway. A short length of 3/4" or 1" barrel was used to give the required leverage, as instructed by the manufacturers. I do not remember them in production long as you could not obtain sufficient heating area compared with a standard radiator. A blast from the past!