Vintage Starrett 454 Height Gauge

J

jasnooks

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My buddy pulled this old Starrett 454 - 24" out of his basement, I'm not sure how old it is. He had no need for it, and knew i was looking for an inexpensive height gauge for layout work. He gave it to me. When i first saw it I was less than impressed. The whole thing was covered in rust, and didn't look salvageable. I sat down the other evening with some kerosene, a flat stone, and scotch brite, and cleaned it up. Quite a few beers later, I had a pretty nice old vernier height gauge. It operates smoothly, and the scales are readable again. It's missing one lock screw, the scribe clamp, and the scribe, but I can make all of those at work.

Ok, that's the history of it, now for the questions.
Why does the main scale start at 1" instead of zero?
Is this common on old vernier height gauges?

With the slide all the way down touching the base, the zero on the small scale is at 1.7". So when I make the scribe, I figure I'll design it so when it's flush with the bottom of the base, the zero on the small scale will line up with the 2" mark. But then I'll have to subtract 2" from any measurement I take with it.. Since it is a vernier, this is just gonna slow me down even more when I want to scribe some quick layout /reference lines.
Doesn't seem right. Is there something I'm missing here?

Btw, I'm no stranger to vernier instruments, this thing just has me baffled.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Here's a few pics..
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Edit: my first thought was that it's not the correct slide, but that doesn't explain why the scale starts at 1".
Is it not meant to take smaller measurements because it's a 24"??
 
I think you are correct, it is not made to take smaller measurements. The height gauges that I have all have the column flush with the front of the base thus allowing the scribe to reach the base bottom surface. In this case, it really can't do that.

If you make a scribe that will reach the base surface, then I would make it to be at 0 when the scale is at 2 inches, then just subtract 2 from the reading.
 
Thanks for the reply Jim.
I think that's what I'll end up doing. This is way to big for what I need anyways. I might just make the missing parts so it's complete, and add it to my growing vintage tool collection as a conversation piece
 
The shop where I work has a 48X96X24" granite surface plate, the tag says 6300+ LB's, the only time that I have ever used it was adjusting a 0-1" depth Mic (-:
 
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