"Bill Noble" wrote in message
...
I think this is probably quite old, but so far I have no idea what it is
(or was part of) - there is another like it that has been sharpened to use
as a boring bar - clearly that was not its original purpose. the one
pictured in the drop box appears to be original - but orignal what, is the
question.

here are the links to the drop box:
http://metalworking.com/Dropbox/P-W-1.JPG
http://metalworking.com/Dropbox/P-W-2.JPG
http://metalworking.com/Dropbox/P-W-1.txt

Anyone got any clues about this item?

The text file from the drop box is reproduced below:

Mystery Pratt & Whitney tool - the cylindrical shank is exactly .500
inches, it says on the

shank, the following:

NO. 32
HS.-36
E-12

P&W
MFD CT
Made in USA

it is NOT a drill bit. The part that extends beyond the 1/2 inch diameter
shows a wear line

like it was riding in a keyway. The point seems to be lathe turned, the
1/2 inch shank

appears to be ground
Bill -
www.wbnoble.com

--
I've written Pratt and Whitney - we shall see if they have an answer -
meanwhile, here is my latest "brilliant" speculation - the ground part is
quite accurately ground to 1/2 inch - I just noticed that the flat part is
tapered in width, it is .194 near the pointy end, and .144 right next to the
ground round part. Further, the width of the flat part (until the very end
where it is much wider) is .565. So, if you now imagine that this tool is
slid into a 1/2 inch hole which has a keyway broached in it that is deeper
than 65 thousandths, then the thing will enter the hole farther as the
keyway gets wider - so that would make it a tool for measuring the width of
keyways.

Now, if my speculation were true, the ground 1/2 inch part would be just
under 1/2 inch so it would be a sliding fit - so I got out my best measuring
tool, an SPI digital micrometer that claims .00005 inch accuracy and I
measured it - sure enough,. 0.49950 - so it is 1/2 thousandth undersize.

This site shows some keyway width gauges
http://www.jayeshentp.com/products.htm which don't look like this at all

There is possible wear on the part that extends farther - it is .695 inches
in diameter - and it goes from .18360 to .19220 - which nicely spans 3/16
(.1875).

Ya think this could be it?