What's this for?

[derekleffew]

It's a Kliegl C-Clamp, and available on ebay here: (6) KLEIGL 1860 C CLAMPS CLAMP STAGE STUDIO LIGHTING - eBay (item 190284436120 end time Jul-03-09 17:52:20 PDT), but what would it have been used for?

[Chris15]

It's a Kliegl C-Clamp, and available on ebay here: (6) KLEIGL 1860 C CLAMPS CLAMP STAGE STUDIO LIGHTING - eBay (item 190284436120 end time Jul-03-09 17:52:20 PDT), but what would it have been used for?

One hopes scrap metal...
Not going into intended application, but by the looks of things I see deformation of the open section of the clamp, the C is less parallel than I would like...

There again, we use clamps down here that you can hang and then secure.

[Wolf]

I'm gonna take a complete shot in the dark and slightly a unsafe one but. I would guess that you would use the c-clamp part just like any other c-clamp placing it onto a pipe and the other part would be to attach another pipe to drop it down. I can't judge how far it would open to say it would take another 1 1/2" pipe but thats the jist of it. Much like current couplers.

[Kelite]

That's a pretty neat gizmo Derek, assuming it doesn't get used ever again. You've become quite proficient at sifting the treasure troves to bring us photos of the most unusual. And for that, you get a GOLD star!

[gafftapegreenia]

Ok well I know that the OTHER clamp is pre c-clamp. Thats right folks, before our beloved C-clamps, we used those babies!

Observe this page at the top:
1922 Kliegl Catalog

And on these instrument:
1926 Kliegl Catalog

However, the combo as Derek has pictured, I cannot come up with a use yet besides as a pipe drop-down.

[derekleffew]

Good find, gafftapegreenia. I still think it has to be something more specific than just hanging one pipe below another.

...but by the looks of things I see deformation of the open section of the clamp, the C is less parallel than I would like...

I don't think it's deformed. Kliegl clamps have always had a distinct shape--the top clamp in this picture:

[ship]

Yes old style on both but one is more "studio" clamp, the other 2" batten clamp and I think both dating to the same period. Way before Cheseboroughs came out for the most part but serving it would seem that purpose. Must have been interesting to thread the socket of the C-Clamp.

My guess to attach an electrics bar to a batten and there will have been a few of them.

[derekleffew]

...Must have been interesting to thread the socket of the C-Clamp. ...

According to this 1960 catalog page, the clamp came in four styles, all pre-threaded.

[jonliles]

I bet it was for hanging a light ladder or boom...

[venuetech]

It's a cheeseborough

oops now i see Ships post calling it the same.

[Arez]

I almost wonder if this is some form of a franken-clamp. I just can't understand the desire for them to intentionally use a set screw to on threaded rod where the two clamps meet, it would wear down the threading too fast or mangle it and possibly cause slipping or permantly being stuck in that position. I also submit reference of a similar clamp design to the leftmost clamp half on page 62 of A Method of Lighting the Stage (Fourth Edition), Figure 13 - part A.

Also didn't we have a thread of old of c-clamp pictures around here (my google-fu is failing)?

EDIT: For anyone curious in the future, the left half seems to be a No. 875, and the right, as Derek noted, is a No. 1850 of sorts. So I'm sticking to the theory that along the way someone stuck these two clamps together in an attempt to keep them together, or because they thought they were supposed to go together.

[derekleffew]

This thread: C-Clampery ? But we didn't talk too much about history there.

Here's my "collection"; nothing really historical or significant, though.

[Arez]

This thread: C-Clampery ? But we didn't talk too much about history there.

Here's my "collection"; nothing really historical or significant, though.

Hmm, I don't think that was the one I was thinking of, but thanks. I guess I'll have to start a new one if I can't figure anything out about an interesting "c - but not really a c" clamp I came across.

[65535]

If I had to guess I would say it's a priest.

Alright so that's probably not a term anyone's ever used, but I would guess that it was intended to marry battens together.

[SteveB]

Add a bunch of rope with knots tied every foot and you have a depth finder

[65535]

Or a speedometer.

[shiben]

Or a speedometer.

Isnt that why knots measure the speed of boats in the first place?

[65535]

Yeah, knots tied at a certain interval (not sure what it was) on a rope that had a wooden board attached to the end, the board end was dropped in the water and the number of knots that passed through the crew members hand in a certain time period represented the speed of the ship. The unit would have been #knots/time which was abreviated to knots.

[BrianWolfe]

Some of the theatres I have worked in use these to hang the masking legs making it easy to adjust the masking by angling the legs with these guys.