OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

265491 Erik Levin 2018‑03‑18 What is a flange bar?
I was ceded a "Sperti flange bar" model FB-6. It is a new one to me. It is
probably pre-1970, given the design, lettering, and general condition, but how
old it actually is, I do not know. It has pivoted feet marked "L" and "R", which
I take to be left and right. I can't find any mention of the tool via google, no
inventor or patent information (Vincent Sperti has a few patents in mechanisms
and devices, but not this tool), and I can find no manufacturer that fits
(Sperti-Faraday doesn't fit, and I most assuredly don't think it has anything to
do with the inventor of Preparation H)

A few images:

https://postimg.org/image/lu3atw7uj/

https://postimg.org/image/e1cn1wu5n/

https://postimg.org/image/pqgmpvdej/

https://postimg.org/image/bk0vunpor/


My best guess is that it is an ironworker tool for grabbing a beam flange, but
it is only a guess.

https://postimg.org/image/ri9lkrp1n/

For positioning a beam? For climbing columns? Nothing to do with flnged beams?
The source of the tool has no idea, and the only flange bar I have ever run
across is a specialized beam clamp-and-bar for tying off a safety line. Anyone
have knowledge of this tool, its intended use, or the maker?



*** This message was sent from a convenience email service, and the reply
address(es) may not match the originating address
265496 Cliff <rohrabacher@e...> 2018‑03‑19 Re: What is a flange bar?
That's a damn good what'sit

Doesn't even have a patent number  Closest ( in sorts of things and 
time) inventor I found was Vincent Sperti

Looks to me like that lug is meant to hook onto to something and the 
foot was meant to pull with the rest of the arm swiveling and it 
operates like a lever - - - but then the L & R sort of spoil that.
My guess is it's a tool for some gizmo that came and went pretty quickly 
so not even the gizmo it serves made much of an impression in history.
265498 <mickeyelam@g...> 2018‑03‑19 Re: What is a flange bar?
This sort of tool is normally used in sheet metal work.  I don't know the
specific industry this tool was used in, but similar tools are used in
automotive body work for example.  I've also seen similar tools used in
industrial sheet metal work making parts such as flange collars; think HVAC duct
take-offs but larger in the case of this tool.

On 3/18/2018 2:15 PM, Erik Levin via OldTools wrote:
> I was ceded a "Sperti flange bar" model FB-6. It is a new one to me. 
> It is probably pre-1970, given the design, lettering, and general 
> condition, but how old it actually is, I do not know. It has pivoted 
> feet marked "L" and "R", which I take to be left and right. I can't 
> find any mention of the tool via google, no inventor or patent 
> information (Vincent Sperti has a few patents in mechanisms and 
> devices, but not this tool), and I can find no manufacturer that fits 
> (Sperti-Faraday doesn't fit, and I most assuredly don't think it has 
> anything to do with the inventor of Preparation H)
>
> A few images:
>
> https://postimg.org/image/lu3atw7uj/
>
> https://postimg.org/image/e1cn1wu5n/
>
> https://postimg.org/image/pqgmpvdej/
>
> https://postimg.org/image/bk0vunpor/
>
>
> My best guess is that it is an ironworker tool for grabbing a beam flange, but
it is only a guess.
>
> https://postimg.org/image/ri9lkrp1n/
>
> For positioning a beam? For climbing columns? Nothing to do with flnged beams?
The source of the tool has no idea, and the only flange bar I have ever run
across is a specialized beam clamp-and-bar for tying off a safety line. Anyone
have knowledge of this tool, its intended use, or the maker?
>
>
>
> *** This message was sent from a convenience email service, and the 
> reply address(es) may not match the originating address
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> -- OldTools is a mailing list catering to the interests of hand tool 
> aficionados, both collectors and users, to discuss the history, usage, 
> value, location, availability, collectibility, and restoration of 
> traditional handtools, especially woodworking tools.
>
> To change your subscription options:
> https://oldtools.swingleydev.com/mailman/listinfo/oldtools
>
> To read the FAQ:
> https://swingleydev.com/archive/faq.html
>
> OldTools archive: https://swingleydev.com/ot/
>
> OldTools@s...
>

------------------------------------------------------------------------
OldTools is a mailing list catering to the interests of hand tool aficionados,
both collectors and users, to discuss the history, usage, value, location,
availability, collectibility, and restoration of traditional handtools,
especially woodworking tools.

To change your subscription options:
https://oldtools.swingleydev.com/mailman/listinfo/oldtools

To read the FAQ:
https://swingleydev.com/archive/faq.html

OldTools archive: https://swingleydev.com/ot/

OldTools@s...
265500 Erik Levin 2018‑03‑19 Re: What is a flange bar?
(I also included this in a reply to Don earlier...)

My first thought on this tool was that it might be a wrench for threaded
flanges, but the pin size is too large for the bolt holes in many standard
threaded flanges that will readily fit under the foot, and I can't see the foot
being anything but a hindrance working a flange. I have used solid flange
wrenches and can't imagine a simpler, more effective tool.

(end of duplication)


A google search will show flange wrenches of the pin-and-block type. I have one
(somewhere), and this would not really do the job in practice, as the gap
between the pin and foot is insufficient for most flanges with bolt holes large
enough for the pin.



Obviously, my next thought was for grabbing the flange of a beam or channel. It
does this well, but I am not at all confident in that, either. I have done some
ironwork incidental to other jobs and worked around ongoing steel erection a
fair bit, and never seen anything like it. I also don't know why one would want
to grab a flange with a tool that can only pull a beam axially.

 Don's response (not on list) supports my doubts. Maybe this is why it is an
oddball. Or maybe it is a sheet metal tool, or other trade entirely. With a
little luck, someone here will have a positive ID. I'll still just use it for
whatever it seems to work for, but it would be nice to know what tag to tie to
it so the next guy knows when I follow my ancestors.



*** This message was sent from a convenience email service, and the reply
address(es) may not match the originating address

Recent Bios FAQ