Hi there tool talkers,

I recent ended up with a 4 fold 2 ft boxwood & brass rule (that much I know). See attachment. I guess it's a standard carpenter's rule? What's foxing me is the maker and the hinge design.

It has a weird wavy hinge that I haven't seen before. And then there's the strange diamond shaped logo and the word 'Union'. I know the Union Tool Co. (eventually swallowed up by Millers Falls) made rules - but they started business in 1908, and I may be wrong but this feels a little older than that to me. I can't seem to find that diamond logo anywhere associated with Union Tool Co.

Does anyone have anything they can add to clear up this mystery?

That's a nice b--fold carpenter's rule.  I have a few of them, but none with that particular hinge contour.  Generally speaking, the more brass on that hinge, the better the rule -- it's the most fragile part of the rule.  For a little more money, you could get ones that had the edges bound in brass as well.  The top of the line bi-folds were made in bone or ivory.

They've been around for a while -- the oldest I have was made in the mid-1800s.

Didn't see one here- http://sliderulemuseum.com/Rarities.htm

Nor did I see one to match on Google Images.

Me neither
I never saw that hinge in my life.
I don't know from valuable, but its rare alright.
yours Scott

If you squint with one eye, the hinge looks like a fat chick modeled for a pair of 'leg' calipers.
JIS

How is it you know about fat chicks?? heehehehhe
yours Scott

Rorschach ring a bell?

It is not drasticly older, Stanley claimed in tarrif hearings that they started making folding rules in 1899 and that no one else at that time made a folding ruler....(of that general type)

Union tool , early , had an odd acorn like logo, I will have to look when I get home at the catalog tho...

I don't know about anyone else, but I think the "diamond" actually looks more like an old Plumb Bob shape. Just thinking out loud.

Carry on.....

OK, looking at my catalog, the logo isn't even a vague match, and there aren't any wood folding rules in it anyhow, so back to square one....

The diamond looks like an English registration diamond to me.
Actually I would bet its an English diamond.
So it could be English or Australian maybe, even Canadian?
  yours Scott

Quote from: scottg on January 05, 2012, 09:57:27 PM
The diamond looks like an English registration diamond to me.
Actually I would bet its an English diamond.
So it could be English or Australian maybe, even Canadian?
  yours Sco/quote]
i think scotts right on this,english reg mark,should give yr-month etc.maybe rabone rule
exported?
brian

I've used one like that in woodworking class.....back in.....well in woodworking class.

Batz

Quote from: rusty on January 05, 2012, 05:02:56 PM
It is not drasticly older, Stanley claimed in tarrif hearings that they started making folding rules in 1899 and that no one else at that time made a folding ruler....(of that general type)

I don't know what's up with Stanley.  Rabone was making folding rules in the 1860's.  I wish my documentation was available, but one of mine was dated to 1854, and is near identical to the Stanley folders.  "A booklet about its history and use was first published by the maker, John Rabone & Sons in 1879, currently the third edition of which (originally published in 1880) is still avaliable as facsimile copy."

The invention of the folding rule is credited to Anton Ullrich reportedly invented the folding rule in 1851.  But this seems to have been  a version of the zig-zag ruler.

There's a book available, if you've got a lot more money than I do (starts at $45 and goes *much* higher) -- A Source Book for Rule Collectors by Phillip Stanley.  The cover shows at least one odd hinge, so yours might be in there.  I'll see if the public library has a copy.

That is an odd location for a maker's mark.  Look on the two legs closest to the hinge to see if you can find any other number or maker marks.  The maker's marks are usually near the top of the leg parallel to the leg, and usually on the outside.  My guess is the the plumb bob looking logo and the Union were user marks or added by the maker for a specific buyer.  Does anyone know if that logo resembles any worker's union crest/trademark? 

I have not seen a hinge style like that before either, and I would also say that it is an earlier model.