Paul,
Many thanks for the fascinating links - I didnt know about that thing and clearly they were able to divide up circles and play with angles and geometry with a high levele of understanding and metalwork skills.
The manual cog cutting technique reminded me of something I'd read recently about dividing wheels where there could be (maybe ?) a way of estimating the dividing holes on a first attempt at a dividing wheel and then sticking it on the dividing head and then using the dividing head somehow to make the second one more accurate - I dont know enough about how that works but will find the book and post it here in case anyone is interested. Maybe I am raving - must find the book I was reading a few days ago and check it.
Found a link - I dont understand this idea yet but somebody may be interested. Probably discussed in many places.
http://www.homews.co.uk/page427.html
Bill