Darling, Brown and Sharpe Calipers

[Provincial]

I was going through some stuff I've had for 25 years looking for a tool bit to do a lathe project when I came across these old calipers. I remembered them, but haven't looked at them since I acquired the old Gerstner box they were in.

They are marked "Darling, Brown & Sharpe" which means that they were made between 1866, when Samuel Darling bought into the company, and 1892, when he sold out to the original partners. B&S was formed in 1833. They are in pretty good shape for their age!

ganymede posted about a history of B&S in this section.
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=367255&highlight=Brown+Sharpe

 

[MShaw]

Are they graduated fractional or decimal? I had an old 5" vernier caliper that was fractional and the vernier broke it down to 128ths of an inch. A really difficult resolution to relate to.

 

[larry_g]

Some years back I watched a D B&S marked tool go over $1k on ebay. I asked on one of the machinist boards and was informed that the D B&S marked tools were quite collectible. I would hope that you have found a diamond in the rough..

lg
no neat sig line

 

[pancho400cid]

Very cool! I think it is amazing how good the tools were so long ago.

 

[ganymede]

Those are beautiful sir .
Here they are in the 1892 catalog...

View media item 95310

 

[Provincial]

Wow, guys. Thanks for the information!

It sure is a cute little thing!