Miller, Keith,
You sure don't see much brass today like you see on the B&M measure. Nice find.
The wad tools arrived today. As Miller stated, the shell holder's mouth is slightly smaller than the ID of the paper hull so that the wad is easily shoehorned into place without tearing the paper hull. These are 2.5" paper Cheddites and they fit flush with the funnel tube which is perfect for my use. The spring plunger doesn't work as I envisioned. The end of the wad seating tool is solid so the wad doesn't go into the tube. It takes about 7 lbs. of pressure to bottom out the spring. For what purpose? I have over 500 16 Ga. Alacan Feltan-Bluestreak 5/16" ringed-wax wads. There were a few dozen more than the 500 indicated on the box. Note the MF symbol on the end of the seater. The wads go into the hull easily due to the step down function of the funnel. Insert wad into funnel end, push plunger on the wad, and Jacques your uncle.
PS: I was hoping that Mike (skeetx) would post up his Lyman belt driven roll crimpers. Unusual to say the least. They are hand turned and with the small pulley on the crimper head to build up rotation speed.
After obtaining a scanned copy of the Manufrance catalog (circa 1895) and using Google translate, it appears the above wad compressor has the spring in so that the powder isn't compacted beyond a certain weight of applied pressure. The device above it, sets the wad at a certain height, to ensure uniformity shell to shell. The one at the top, stuffs in the wad full speed ahead. Any of the above will work for my purposes with modern powder and the Alcan cards and wads. In my first post, I have photos of the same reloader, double end shot dipper and the 10 shell loading block. Manufrance eventually changed the design of the RTO to a more conventional, simpler design.
