Thewlis & Co Calipers???

[mk2munky]

I got a bunch of old tools from my late grandfather, who was a machinist and worked on tanks in the Army for a while. Among them, some of the noteable ones include two miniature Disston D-8's, a Snap-On Midget M-70L, and some calipers. While there is a little bit of information on the other two, I've found nothing on these calipers. They are pretty well tarnished, and I sprayed them with penetrating oil just to get them to move. The only marking on them seems to be Thewlis & Co, Warrington. Anyone know anything about these?

 

[billymade]

I didn't find much on the history of the company but some antique tool dealers have some calipers/saws for sale on ebay; check it out: http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Thewlis+&+Co,+Warrington&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
One is a antique tool dealer; maybe he has good info: http://www.jimbodetools.com/
There are a number of tool collecting orgs that might be of help too; here is one: http://www.mwtca.org/
I'm thinking that may have been a British company; one of the ads mentions a "Lancashire saw"; which according to this link Lancashire is part of the same area in England: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warrington

 

[mk2munky]

I sent an e-mail to MWTCA, so we'll see what I get back. And I actually looked on Wikipedia at "calipers" and I guess this one is a "divider" caliper.

Here's a cell phone pic:

 

[Frank Elson]

I live barely 30 minutes from Warrington.
There is a Thewlis Street there but I have never heard of the company and there's very little on tinternet.
I have friends in Warrington and will ask them for any info.

 

[mk2munky]

I e-mailed Jim Bode, from the eBay auction and he shot me back and e-mail saying they appear to be from the mid-1800's, which is pretty cool. Maybe I'll clean them off... maybe not. Here's some pics.



This is actually upside down, but it's where the name is:

Thewlis & Co
Warrington