Dividers: Curiosities and Questions

Let’s take a break from posts dealing with anatomical investigations of dividers and look at some curiosities and pose a question or two.  

The first photo is of a pair of large, dual purpose dividers with outside caliper legs welded to the inside of the straight points. These are likely 18^th century or earlier. Also in the picture is a much smaller pair of flat stock dividers with basically the same design, but probably made 300 years later.   

 

 Converting one tool type into another by a creative handyman is not a new idea. Below, we have two pairs of pliers or diagonal cutters that have been modified to function as dividers. The amount of work that went into creating the pair on the left boggles the mind!  

 

The Swiss Army Knife of dividers. You can never have too many legs.

 

 Is the tool below a pair of flimsy dividers or does it have some other function?

 

 

Finally, a question of deep philosophical importance in the world of antique dividers. Why do some wing dividers have a wing that sweeps to the right while others have a wing that sweep to the left? I examined the 48 wing dividers from the 18^th and 19^th centuries in my collection and found that 60% have right sweeping wings and 40% left.

These 48 are predominantly English and continental examples. The 19^th and 20^th century patented dividers from the U.S. are all right sweeping. So……what’s going on here?

 Possible explanations include age, country of origin, handedness of the maker or, most likely, maker’s whim.