John Ciceri Smith

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John Ciceri Smith (1856-1935) of Edinburgh and London

1856 Born in Edinburgh 6th May, son of John Smith and Mary (nee Livingston) (Census information).

1861 Age 4. Parents John (47) and Mary (39). Address 24 Nicholson Street (Census information).

1871 Living at 28 Gayfield Street, Edinburgh (Census information).

1881 Wireworker, living at 65 York Place, Edinburgh (Census information).

Address in 1890: 4 Leven Terrace, Brougham Street, Edinburgh (John Ciceri Smith, Frederick J Smith, and five other names listed at this address)

1891 Wireworker, living at 4 Leven Terrace, Edinburgh (Census information).

1896 Reference to a J. Ciceri Smith of 8 Chalmers Street, Edinburgh, as Treasurer for Lauriston Bazaar.

1911 Lodging at 1 Bloomsbury Place, London, self-employed Precision Engineer, age 54, single (Census information).

1935 Death Notice: 'At a nursing home, London, on 16th October 1935, JOHN CICERI SMITH, F.R.S.A. [F.R.S.S.A.?], sometime of 8 Chalmers Street, Edinburgh, aged 79. Funeral on Monday at 10 A.M. form Lincoln's Inn Church, Kingsway, London. R.I.P.'

Wire

1897 Partnership dissolved between Frederick Joseph Smith and John Ciceri Smith in the business of Smith, Son and Co, Wireworkers, Wireweavers, and Millstone Builders at 219 High Street, Edinburgh. Business to be carried on by Frederick Joseph Smith.. Frederick J. Smith would have been John Ciceri's younger brother (5 years younger according to the 1871 census).

Micrometers

Ciceri Smith invented and manufactured mechanical digital micrometers of various types. They were compact, accurate, and, despite their complexity, reliable.

The first type was granted GB Patent No. 16,856, dated October 22, 1890. At that time J Ciceri Smith was a wire-cloth manufacturer, of 219 High Street, Edinburgh US Patent US495,379 was granted 11 Apr 1893 (Filing date 8 Dec 1891). The patent covered a variety of possible mechanisms and external arrangements.

Other versions were subsequently patented, the most popular type having a generally conventional appearance, but with a compact rectangular box containing the mechanism and the display of 2, 3 or 4 numerals.

An ingenious feature of later examples was the adoption of pairs of elliptical gears, which caused the digits to move rapidly into and out of the display window.

1895 Presented a Paper to the RSSA (Royal Scottish Society of Arts) on 13th May: 'On the Direct Reading Micrometer Wire Gauge'.

1896 'LONDON LETTER ..... REFINED MEASUREMENT. I hear that the Post Office and the Board of Trade are going to adopt a new automatic wire gauge, which has been invented by Mr. Ciceri Smith, F.R.S.S.A. Of course, it has been possible to measure to an almost infinite degree fineness, but there has always been a difficulty in accurately recording the measurements. Mr. Smith's machine, like all clever inventions, is distinguished by its simplicity of action. It measures down to a 1000th part of inch, and records every single decimal of the thousand into which the inch is divided. This, of course, will be a great advantage where absolute accuracy is required.'

1896 Detailed description, with drwings, of Ciceri Smith's direct-reading micrometers and caliper gauges

1920: Advertising as John Ciceri Smith at 401 Chiswick High Road, Gunnersbury, London W.4. Trade mark 'Cicerimet'. In another advert he described himself as a scientific and mechanical engineer's gauge maker. 'Awarded Grand Prix, London, 1908. Inventor of the patented self-calculating micrometer and wire gauge; on this decimal micrometer measurements are seen at a glance. Advantages - ease, rapidity & accuracy.' . The claimed advantages were certainly realised in practice.

1923 United States Patent US1444565 granted 6 February 1923 (filed 1 September 1920) for a micrometer gauge. The patent covered a wide range of improvements, including the elliptical gears mentioned above.

Illustrations

The 0-0.5" micrometer shown here shows a faint marking of a crown and 'VR', implying that it was made before 1901. It is stamped 'No. 86'.

It has a vernier giving a resolution of 0.0001", and calibration checks show NO errors throughout the range. This represents a very high standard of screw thread production. The thread is 50 TPI, so one turn of the barrel changes the reading by 0.020". The right hand window shows 0.001 inch units, and is directly connected to the spindle, so the numbered wheel has two sets of 0-10 digits.

The frame is a bronze casting. Photo 3 shows the arrangement with the back cover plate removed. Note the slight porosity in Photo 3. Two steel wheels with a pair of small projections are just visible. These engaged with the modified gears shown in Photos 4 & 5 (adjacent teeth were partly cut back to allow clearance for the pins). This arrangement caused the '0.01' and '0.001' wheels to turn rapidly to their next position.

Photo 4 shows the arrangement beneath the front cover plate. The gear assembly is housed in a pivoted frame to allow the gears to be assembled independently of the main frame. After assembly the frame was lightly punched at the left hand side, top and bottom (see small chisel marks), to prevent movement of the wheels towards the windows. Note that the driven gear wheels for the LH and centre wheels with every other tooth cut back.

Photo 6 shows the tiny glass windows. The recesses would have been tricky to produce, as the plate is only 0.04" (1 mm) thick. The inner plate is 0.02" thick. Note how it has been manually dressed back to allow the wheels to come as close as possible to the rectangular windows, without catching.

These micrometers must have been appreciably more expensive to make than the conventional type, but they were much quicker to read, and much less susceptible to errors in reading, especially in unfamiliar hands.

See also Newcomen Links Issue 258 - 01/2023 for article and images

See Also

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