Thread: A Cary Indicator and a Puzzle

A couple of eagerly awaited parcels arrived from the States today. In one, amongst numerous bargain items, was this new in the box Cary 1um dial indicator. Greg Q has one and I thought at the time when I saw it that it was a funny looking thing. Tastes change. I also thought it was plastic, the lens is, the body is an extrusion, probably brass given its weight of 153 grams. In comparison a Mahr Millimess weighs 90 grams and the 0.002mm Compac I have comes in at a beefy 245.

There is a threaded hole next to the spindle sleeve. I thought it may be for a cable release but the one supplied by Mahr has a tapered thread and won't fit. I'm fearful of pocking around in the hole blind, not knowing its purpose.

The puzzle is the offset stylus. It appears to have a carbide insert brazed or silver soldered to it. It's small, 12mm wide, the cap screw head is 4.5mm in diameter and there is a lot of work in it. The Swiss do have a flair for small and complicated. A perusal of the online TESA catalogue shows a number of styli but nothing the same. There are offset versions which are described as being used for radial measurement. I'm wondering if the flat carbide face is designed to ensure squareness to the item being measured?

Any ideas?

BT

PS. The comparator stand is a nice bit of gear too. Interesting parallelogram mechanism.