School geometry sets have always been tangential to my main interest in professional drawing instruments, but occasionally something odd will catch my eye. This particular set attracted no attention on ebay, possibly due to its obvious cheapness and obscurity, but it has some intriguing features usually found only on more expensive instruments.
The box is made of plywood with a red buckram-type covering that gives it the feel of an early 20th-century book. This economy of construction extends to the instruments themselves, which are made of stamped galvanized steel sheet and assembled in a way that is reminiscent of Meccano construction sets (US equivalent “Erector”).
Annoyingly, the set is missing what was presumably a double-ended screwdriver and compass key, which meant that I had to resort to my Swiss army knife in order to change inserts.
So far I have managed to discover precisely nothing about Philden-Coyne, except for a possible link to one Edward Patrick Coyne who took out two patents for engineering dividers in 1930 and 1943, the approximate period I’m guessing this set is from.
While it’s admirable that they went to the trouble to create a workable budget compass set complete with knee joints and extension bar, the process of changing inserts is beyond frustrating. It took me a couple of minutes to fit the ruling pen and extension, but worse was to come when I tried to disassemble them again and the springy steel caused the small screw and washer to shoot across the room, so I had to spend even longer hunting around on the floor for them.
The ruling pen is another real oddity – surely a candidate for the most economical construction possible – and I’m sorely tempted to try it out just to see if the thing actually works.
