Tension gauge

[Yardbird47@aol.com]

John Musselwhite (and others) rote, 4/13/96:
<<>Is it possible you were referring to the spring tension gauge from
>APSCO? That could be considered relatively 'cheap' by comparison. Or,
>maybe you have a different catalog than mine.
..............
Yes... I believe it's probably the APSCO spring tension gauge. I haven't got
an APSCO catalogue so couldn't tell you.......... The point is not where it's
from, but whether there's something like it in
your tool kit.>>

I must put in a good word for the P.K.Neuses spring tension guages. People
seem to think that because they cost a third as much and because they only
have one one moving part (left exposed, no less), that the spring guages must
be of third as good as the Correx guages. Not so. I had the chance to test
the 10-0-10g guage against a College botany dept's. scales which read in
increments of 0.01g. Applying the tip of the spring to a small "pedestal" in
the center of the platten (tared of course), and pressing so that at all
times the spring was maintained horizontal, the guage and the scale aggreed
completely (or at least as near as my eyeballs could interpolate 0.01g
increments on the guage). They agreed throughout the gauge's range.

A historical note. I originally saw these in the Jennsen T&A catalog in '79,
where they were offered in three ranges (10-0-10, 50-0-50, and 0-150) for the
setting of electrical relay spring strengths. I showed them to Schad of APSCo
at the PA State regional in '81, whereupon they showed up in his catalog. I
was hoping that the 0-150 would read escapement weight for me, and I learned
a few things from its inability to do that. I did take the 10-0-10, relocate
the spring on it (swinging it over to the side) to make a 0-20 without too
much distortion of accuracy at the top end of the scale.

A "cheap tool"? Heck no, only in its price........

Bill Ballard PT
NH Chapt.

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