Foot operated clamp

[johnsironsanctuary]

Got this on Saturday at a nearby estate sale. Does anyone know what it is?

I also bought a 16HP Biggs & Stratton. That went up on Ebay today. I'll post a link below









http://www.ebay.com/itm/300945073547?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

[Plyerman]

Huh. Doesn't seem like there would be enough leverage on that foot pedal to overcome the force of the clamping screw. I'll be interested in finding out what this thing is.

[HeelSpur]

I do believe that clamp is for holding the galvanized pipe for a well pump. Raising and lower a well pump that has galvanized pipe has some weight so this is used to hold the pipe that's holding the pump in place while you screw or unscrew the pipe from a coupling.

[oldtools]

Does it clamp pulling up or pushing down? looks like it maybe for pipes dropped into a hole. clamp bites pipe & when you press foot lever it release pipe.

[mikeswrenches]

I saw one just like that at a FM in Pennsylvania last week.  I had no idea what it was for.  The guy selling it told me that it was holding the pipe when withdrawing it from a well.  I assumed it was for plastic pipe but galvanized may be more correct.

Mike

[johnsironsanctuary]

OK, you guys pretty much got it.  It is an old water well drillers tool. You use it with a drillers' derrick. When a well is several hundred feet deep, the well pipe is held with this clamp while you use the winch to add or detach 20 foot sections and reset the cable clamp to either raise or lower the well pipe. When the winch picks up the weight of the pipe, the clamp is released. I can't quite make out the name of the maker. It looks like AYD____CO Dubuque, Iowa.

[HeelSpur]

We used to pull pumps with galvanized pipe with 24" pipe wrenches, 2 people pulling and the 3rd operating the clamp. That was a job now and if you didn't have a strong back you can get injured quick. Been years since I've seen one.

[Plyerman]

Okay, the adjustable swivel-clamp part of it makes sense now, but what goes in the big hole in the upper right? (with the set screw)

[rusty]

>AYD____CO Dubuque, Iowa.

A.Y. McD <> Dubuque, Iowa.

aka A.Y. McDonald Mfg Co, makers of pumps, fittings,valves etc, goes back to 1890's, exists at least to 2009

1945 listing: A. Y. McDonald Mfg. Co., Dubuque. Pumps (Iron, hand, wind mill, power, shallow and deep well), pump cylinders, pump jacks; water supply systems (electric and gasoline); wind mills, float valves, hydrants.

[john k]

I have one of those too, remember helping my father pull one of the shallow wells here.  Just think what would happen should the pipe slip back down the well!  Not sure mine has the other round hole, but it is the 2inch galvanized pipe size.   Last time my well was pulled, they had one similar in aluminum. 

[HeelSpur]

Okay, the adjustable swivel-clamp part of it makes sense now, but what goes in the big hole in the upper right? (with the set screw)

If I remember correctly we had a piece of pipe in that hole just for carrying purposes. That's what we used it for but it may have another purpose.

[johnsironsanctuary]

HeelSpur, you are probably right. My guess was that you put four or five feet of pipe in it with a small piece of 2 1/2 inch pipe welded to it as a steady. 20 feet is a little bit whippy at the top.

Thanks, Rusty.  Great info, as usual.

[Billman49]

Presumbably you left the socket coupling on the well pipe, and unscrewed the length above - then if it slipped the collar would catch on the clamp. We have a 60ft x 6" diameter bore hole, with a submersible pump on a 1" bore plastic down pipe - the disadvantage is the pump swivels due to the start up torque, and touches the bore sides. With a steel pipe this doesn't happen.

On Salisbury Plain, near where I live there are wells, hand dug, over 300 ft deep. One large one, about 150 ft deep  - oval about 15ft x 6ft has a staircase down below the water level. At the bottom there are horizontal chambers dug into the chalk about 100 ft long. One of the 300 ft wells, about 4 ft diameter, ran dry, so they put an 8" borehole down from the bottom for another 150 ft. Due to H&S no-one can enter the well itself, so when installing a new bore hole pump, they have to get a 6" diameter pump, down an 8" bore at the end of a 300ft pipe... You can imagine lots of swearing and cursing with someone shining a torch and looking through binoculars to direct the well head team.... Last time it took them 2 days to get it in...

[johnsironsanctuary]

Here is the company history. Thanks again Rusty.

http://www.aymcdonald.com/en-US/History.html

[Plyerman]

Presumbably you left the socket coupling on the well pipe, and unscrewed the length above - then if it slipped the collar would catch on the clamp. We have a 60ft x 6" diameter bore hole, with a submersible pump on a 1" bore plastic down pipe - the disadvantage is the pump swivels due to the start up torque, and touches the bore sides. With a steel pipe this doesn't happen.

On Salisbury Plain, near where I live there are wells, hand dug, over 300 ft deep. One large one, about 150 ft deep  - oval about 15ft x 6ft has a staircase down below the water level. At the bottom there are horizontal chambers dug into the chalk about 100 ft long. One of the 300 ft wells, about 4 ft diameter, ran dry, so they put an 8" borehole down from the bottom for another 150 ft. Due to H&S no-one can enter the well itself, so when installing a new bore hole pump, they have to get a 6" diameter pump, down an 8" bore at the end of a 300ft pipe... You can imagine lots of swearing and cursing with someone shining a torch and looking through binoculars to direct the well head team.... Last time it took them 2 days to get it in...

Hand dug over 300 ft deep?! Holy cow, that sounds like an insane amount of work just to get water. Must have taken them months (years?) to dig. Thank goodness we live in an age where one simply has to turn on the faucet.