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Years ago, before computers took over, I worked with a photo cropping tool; I hope someone can tell me its name.

The gizmo I used was for sizing photos so they could be used in offset printing. They were never sliced physically. I marked them with a grease pen.

It was made of a soft metal, and it was in an open accordion shape, so it expanded and contracted. When opened up, it looked like a bunch of lower-case x's like so:

                 xxxxxxxx

There were numbers on it corresponding to inches that you used to gauge how big you wanted the photo to be so you could size things.

I have hunted for a picture but can't find one. Any help is much appreciated.

Does anyone know the name of the tool I have described?

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    You mean the cropping tool or "cropping L" It looked just like the icon for cropping in Photoshop right? It was just a crop tool as far as I remember.
    – Scott
    May 1, 2014 at 22:23
  • Do you mean that little square thing? No, that's not it. But thanks.
    – terpy
    May 1, 2014 at 22:54
  • Do you mean a "Pantograph?"
    – Alex Blackwood
    May 2, 2014 at 0:12
  • if you can sketch it in any way you will get the picture in minutes from us
    – Ilan
    May 2, 2014 at 5:57
  • 3
    I'm pretty sure he means scrissors.
    – Joonas
    May 2, 2014 at 10:21

3 Answers 3

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A analogue photo cropping tool is a Scaleograph

I used Google and the query: 'analogue photo cropping tool'.

Photo cropping tool / Scaleograph

Scource: http://tinytutorials.wordpress.com/2013/12/02/cropping-tool-scaleograph/

Update: adjustable easel or masking frame

In a dark room a adjustable easel or masking frame is used as 'margin locator' and 'automatic paper holding system'. The position of a masking frame on a base board in combination and the distance of the enlarger head defines the position and size of projected image. Therefore this could be considered a cropping tool. But it won't change the paper size. You need a knife and rulers or photo cutter for that.

Adjustable easel

Masking frame

Source: https://www.etsy.com/market/darkroom/

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I believe that this is the tool that's being looked for, but I don't know the name either. enter image description here

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It is called an Equal Spacing Divider

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    We're looking for long answers that provide some explanation and context. Don't just give a one-line answer; explain why your answer is right, ideally with citations, with images if necessary. Answers that don't include explanations may be removed.
    – Luciano
    Mar 15, 2017 at 9:35

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