anyone recognize these mystery things? "Made in England"

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Some mystery items from the Bob DeVoe estate. These were in an ammo can marked "T-nut Pullers, burned, rust" Well the can was burned and there was just a little rust, but I can't figure out what they are really for - they aren't like the things I see when I look up "T-nut puller". they have numbers on them and are marked "made in England"
The items on the white background all have numbers and say "made in England", the ones on the black background in many cases look the same but don't have numbers on them and "made in England" - some of the items on the black background look shop made. the cylinder things screw together, except for the shortest ones that are end pieces
I have no idea what these are, but they must have some specific purpose - and it's not at all clear if this is a set, a few pieces of something else, or what? any clues?

I posted these on the OWWM forum about 15 months ago, nobody had much insight, I figure there may be a different group here and with more UK members maybe someone will have seen these - of course they may not all go together, that's another possibility...
 

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about those threads on these things:

the 1" cylinders, MC 1008 ... one says "Pat Applied for", on another I can read W&W, which ought to be useful. the male and female threads are 16tpi, diameter is .490 to .491 which is nothing making sense to me. the MC1005 has the same threads, as does a piece with only male threads, MC818. MC1008 is 3 1/4 long, MC1005 is 2 1/4 long, the male threaded part is 1/2 inch long on either of them. so we have 5 pieces with a 16 tpi thread

MC1801 has 20 pitch threads, an a thread od of .4955, so that aligns with 1/2-20 MN201 is a female to female adapter with the same threads on one side, and a larger diameter 18 pitch thread on the other.

MX6021 has a different (apparently) diameter 18 pitch thread, as does MN103. The MN105 has 24 pitch, possibly 3/8. MN103 is bigger than MN105.

so I think the MN stands for Machine Nut ... they have the tri-slot top and are thin

here are the things I measured
it doesn't make any sense =- are these mill hold downs? drill press special things or what? do they have anything to do with the label on the can? the smoothly rounded disks seem to be related to metal forming if I had to guess, or working on leather or fabric where you didn't want to marr it.
 
well, I don't know - MW201 is 1.7565" diameter and there are two of those, MW 202 is 1.2285" diameter, they are for pushing something, I suppose - you did get me thinking that they might be pushing wadding into a piece of ammunition, but they just as well could be pressing taffy through a nozzle .... let's keep guessing, maybe something will click...
 
I can't say what it . but they look like they defiantly have/had a purpose .
animal
 
1/2" x 16tpi is a bsf thread.

If I owned these, it would be because someone had thrown them out at work (the job to which they related, being now over) and I picked them up thinking 'I could make something useful out of that'. My shed is heaving with that kind of thing...
 
It is possible that the bits with the three slots are from a set of machine jacks, used for:supporting work on a miller, they would have screwed together to give different heights.
 
The three slots make sense with the mention in the original post for T-nuts , but I don't know where they go from there .
animal
 
The three slots make sense with the mention in the original post for T-nuts , but I don't know where they go from there .
animal
The items are setup jacks. They are used in supporting piece parts that hang outside of the milling vise jaws. Sometimes they are used in setups for measuring and scribing piece parts. The different lengths screw together to get the necessary height close to what you want, then the piece with the screw is mounted on top of the stack you just assembled. Then the screw is turned to bring the rounded part in contact with what you are trying support.
 
I agree for sure that part of the pile is setup jacks, but what puzzles me are the nicely finished pieces with the rounded contours and the split nuts. the things that are clearly setup jacks have part numbers like MJ302 ("Machine Jack size 3, 2 inches long", I think the size is the diameter in eighths of an inch). and the cylinders have numbers like MC 1008, but now my "system" breakes down - they are 3.344 inches long. or 3 3/4 if you count the threads... maybe MC stands for machine clamp? and the round "tri slot" nuts are marked MN which makes sense, "machine nuts", but why the weird triple slot configuration?

is the smooth curved pieces wiht the split shaft type ends something you would expect for that application? how would it be used?
 
well, I don't know - MW201 is 1.7565" diameter and there are two of those, MW 202 is 1.2285" diameter, they are for pushing something, I suppose - you did get me thinking that they might be pushing wadding into a piece of ammunition, but they just as well could be pressing taffy through a nozzle .... let's keep guessing, maybe something will click...
Could they be tool maker's buttons? Used for layout on a Mill work table?
 
Could they be tool maker's buttons? Used for layout on a Mill work table?
pretty sure that is not the case, tool maker's buttons have sharp easy to meaure to sides and are often hardened.....

keep those ideas coming, they are certainly for something. I wonder if the were a kit to go with a special tool of some kind.. you never know with those Brits, right? (I know this because I drove a Morgan +4 for years, a wonderfully fun car of totally insane design)
 
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