Bottle Jacks

[DSEL74]

Didn't really know where to post this that it would get a wide audience. So I put it here.

I think these are called bottle Jacks and as they are both old & cast iron I couldn't resist buying them.

I have a few questions I'm hoping someone out there can advise me on. The bars that are used to raise and lower the jack is it just a simple length of road bar or was it reduced at the end or something a little more special?

the smaller one is a Mathison Glasgow 3 ton the other 11" 4 ton Woden.

Are they something people collect?

Were they common place in the household or just industry, did everyone have one?

What period would these two be dated at?

[rwbuild]

Had one on the farm when I was a kid, always kept in the chassis tool box of the old Ford blitz ex army so I assume that it was standard issue during the war but I'm not 100% sure of that. Crow bar to turn it, lift well in excess of their SWL

[Simplicity]

Never seen one like that.
But I'm yet to reach the age where I can say I remember them ,when I was kid(said slow and long)
I'm only 43 young.

[rrich]

I wouldn't call them "bottle" but rather house. They were most frequently used to lift a house to level floors or to actually put the house on a dolly for moving the whole structure.

Are they collectable? Well yes, if you're running a museum of old tools. These jacks have been replaced by hydraulic models or a permanent post with a screw jack in the top. The latter would be used in a basement to level the floor above. Even the ones that we carry in vehicles are simple and cheap hydraulic models.

[KBs PensNmore]

An oversized machinists jack. I remember them being used for truck jacks, before the advent of hydraulic jacks, they had a multitude of uses back then also.
House jacks were not a screw jack but had a ratchet arrangement where by a handle was turned quite a few times to move 1". I worked for a place that built transportable homes, they fitted starter motors to make it easier. I think from memory they were named "Trewaller" or something similar.
Kryn

[Cliff Rogers]

I've also heard them called Train Jacks.

People do collect them but they don't want to pay very much for them.