Old Stewart Warner Shop Mechanical Tach ?

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mbaird

mbaird

mbaird
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Who has seen one of these ? What was the application ?
I picked this up of CL with an old Vacuum gauge .
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Its got a rubber tip that you physically put on the end of a shaft . Maybe its for checking the rpm of an electric motor ?
 
Often used in machine shops in days of old when machines were run off a jack shaft on the ceiling using pulleys and a leather belt.
 
Commonly used for small engines, but can be used on anything that spins. The tip is held against the face (the taper centers in the centerbore of the shaft) of whatever shaft you want to measure, and RPM reads directly on the gauge. If the end of the shaft is not accessible, you can hold it against the outside surface of the shaft (or flywheel, balancer, pulley...) and do some math- diameter of shaft vs. diameter of the rubber gauge wheel- to figure out your RPMs.
 
The "object under test" better be going DAMN slow if you are gonna put it on the outside of a pulley/ wheel etc be cause the step -up- ratio very quickly becomes unmanageable. These are primarily designed to stick into a shaft "center" IE recessed shaft center as in on a lathe
 
I gave it to the guy that just went thru my Maico 490 motor. He specializes in Vintage bikes . Most of which dont have tachs . Maybe it will come in handy . He thought it was pretty cool .
He has some freakin cool bikes in his shop !
Some are old factory race bikes .
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The tachometer works great on combines and farm equipment. Measures shaft speed.
 
They are digital and non contact now. Sold quite a few. 2.5 rpm to 100,000 dig it!
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toolmanmike said:
The tachometer works great on combines and farm equipment. Measures shaft speed.
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That is what I use mine for and dad taught me using his. The machinery has a speed setting in the book for shaft speeds and this is what is used on the old stuff. The newer stuff went with a separate tach in the cab and now is full digital from the drivers seat.
 
I have a similar one that was my fathers if I recall correctly it is made by smith’s England he had it from his days of having an engineering workshop
 
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