Identify Mystery Item

Sterling Register Nuts
They are like a little quoin. I remember seeing them used to lock small engravings inside a ‘cutout/space’ in a larger engraving.

They would have been used for very tight registration for halftones or multi-color engravings. Positioned on all four sides, the pressman would be able to adjust the plate into perfect register by making necessary tiny adjustments. The points would poke into the wood base of the engraving, and a special wrench that would fit between the base of the engraving and the body of the register nut.

Paul

Spot on chaps .
I have two other variations of these , one produced by cornerstone , the other i haave no idea who made them , very useful , i use them infrequently on die cutting jobs when i cant get the ordinary quoins in the form !!

I use these to make fine adjustment to forms when using photopolymer plates. I find it somewhat difficult to make very minute changes to plate position after attachment to the base. These register quoins make it possible to “tweak” the position to get very good color and positional registration. I position eight of these around the base and simply loosen one side and tighten the other to get very fine adjustment to the form.

I didn’t have the special wrench, but found one which was in a very inexpensive wrench set and was simply stamped from steel stock about 3/32” thick.

John Henry

Thanks all! So, would I grind or file down the points if I were to use these with my Boxcar Base?

I think I’d be tempted to drill small dimples on the sides of the Boxcar Base, for the points to sit in, instead of filing/grinding the points off.

I use a typemetal slug into which the points can sink. You could point them toward the base and they would dig in, but I prefer using the slugs which can always be recycled.

John H.

The reason for the points is to prevent shifting/rising while you adjust the quoins (note that the wrench used is very thin compared to standard open-end wrenches). Without that anchor point, you may well get some lift. You don’t want that. You could place the points away from a metal base and into reglet or card stock.
Don’t remove metal if it isn’t really necessary. It is hard to put it back when you finally realize why it was put there in the first place.