2001-01-13
In the autumn of 1944 my father was in the US army ETO and at that time was
in Paris. While there, he bought some souvenirs. One in particular that my
mother still has is an inkwell. It had turned over the years from copper
colour to black. She recently decided to paint it gold. She had me take it
apart so she could do a proper job. The only thing that needed to be
removed was Notre Dame which sat in the middle between the two ink wells.
Notre Dame was held to the base by a single screw. Once apart I was curious
to know what type of screw it was. Assuming it might be metric, I first
tried to screw it into an M4 nut. It only went about 2 turns, then it bound
up. I had no other screws to try and now that it is back together I won't
have the chance to try it on other nuts. The screw is a round head, not
pan, and the shaft length is 11 mm (not 10 mm). I checked that length a
couple of times to be sure.
What I'm curious about, is what fastener standard did the French use in that
period? Could it be an American type screw? Could it have been British
Withworth? Or could it have been metric with a thread pitch other than 0.7
mm?
Glückliches Neues Jahr!
Happy New Year!
John
Keiner ist hoffnungsloser versklavt als derjenige, der irrtümlich glaubt
frei zu sein.
There are none more hopelessly enslaved then those who falsely believe they
are free!
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)
