I have an old rivet setting machine similar to the one pictured.   I'd like to know what kind of rivets it uses, whether they are still made, and how it works.  Thanks.

The type of rivit depends on the type of the tool in the rivit set, some of them will work with several different types.....

The type of set you in the picture is typical of the ones used for riviting brake shoes, every mechanic in the 30's had one, no one has one today, brake shows come pre rivited...

You can still get just about every type of rivet ever made, but I would hazard a guess the tool was probably for the plain solid core T shaped rivits....

Equally likely to be used in a cobbler's (UK) shoe repair (US) shop for fitting eyelets into shoes, rivetting leather straps etc - I disagree about solid rivets - most likely hollow ended ones - that not a very strong casting, too much pressure and it will break...

Hmm, could be, looking at it again, it may be a lot smaller than I thought it was, hard to tell how big it is in the picture.

I wish I could read the patent date on it...

NB: Brake rivets are hollow on the part that gets squiched also..