What is it? Set 308

[Rob H.]

The answers to this set will be posted on late Friday afternoon as usual:

[Scott Lurndal]

[Nova]

1761 looks like it might be a pegboard storage rack for 10" circular saw blades.

[Andrew Erickson]

1759 - Something very strange indeed. At first glance, it would appear to be a hammer-like tool of some sort, but the bit does not appear to be particularly strongly held in place. Maybe what appears to be a wedge securing it is actually a buffer or shock absorber of some kind, and the screwed-in reinforcing plate and/or the through pins hold some internal mounting? At any rate, I can't think of any especially likely purpose for the tool. 1760 - Appears to be a specialized set of dividers or distance gauge, presumably for laying out work. Maybe it was intended to be used when producing electrical switchboards, although I would have thought that was a dying art already by 1951. 1761 - The writing on the side seems to say "SWAY" something. I would guess, from that, it's a rocker for some use, but no idea what. 1762 - Gauge for setting angles for something for various aircraft -- possibly for some part of a jetway (robotic walkway thingy) or for some maintenance check on the aircraft itself. 1763 - Part of a set of bolos, used as a weapon? 1764 - Clearly some sort of laboratory apparatus, perhaps a specialized burner for heating substances, or perhaps a device to separate non-miscible liquids and permit the heaviest to be drained off.

Now on to reading other guesses...

[David Nebenzahl]

On 10/28/2009 10:23 AM Rob H. spake thus:

1760: Adjustable picker-upper handle??? 1761: no idea 1762: Set of levels for adjusting [something] on 3 different aircraft 1763: Bell clapper 1764: Gas light

[Martin Whybrow]

1761 - saw something very similar on 'How do they do it' this evening, a holder for silicon wafers during chip fabrication, used to lower them into etching baths after the photo-lithography stage. Martin.

[Bill]

#1670 -- a quality compass (circle-drawer)?

[DoN. Nichols]

1759) A grubbing hoe made where there is a shortage of good steel? 1760) An interesting version of a trammel -- fine adjustment of the spacing of two points, with an unusual handle. For scribing a line parallel to a straightedge. (Normally, they are also for drawing circles and radii, but with the handle, that would be awkward. 1761) If it had a curved cradle where the straight ends are, I would suggest that it is for the purpose of tilting a steel drum or a large bottle for emptying it controllably without having to support the full weight.

Hmm ... perhaps for storing four 35mm movie reels (proably enough to make a normal length film).

Perhaps with the hooks on the far edge, it could be for editing the movie -- with scenes from various source reels hung from the various hooks, and spliced together to a final reel.

1762) Presuming that the angles of the levels has not been disturbed, I would suggest that it is for identifying the amount of list or heel in a boat, to warn when it is getting close to a danger level. (Or perhaps in the cab of a crane for similar purposes?) 1763) This looks like a rather serious "cosh" or "blackjack". Hmm perhaps for the purpose of killing cattle for slaughter? 1764) O.K. This is a fairly small vacuum bell jar. It is mounted open end down onto either a ring of Neoprene rubber or with a very thick grease onto a flat steel or cast iron plate. A pair of steel rods are screwed into the plate and clamped by the clamps on the outrigger ends (which are common chem-lab type clamps) of the top to hold it concentric with the glass. The right-angle tube from the top is connected to the high vacuum pump to evacuate the container.

There is also a valve between the tube and the stopper which goes into the top of the jar to allow you to seal the jar and then shut off the vacuum pump to save energy.

The reason for the large bottom opening is so it can be set down on top of something intended for testing under vacuum without it needing to be small enough to fit through the neck at the top. (Also, this eliminates the uneven stresses of a fabricated bottle bottom, which is typically of uneven thickness.

Ideally, there should be a cage of heavy steel wire around it to contain the glass fragments should it fail.

I could actually *use* something like this -- for vacuum impregnating dried out porous sintered bronze bearings and the like. If the owner of it does not need it now that he knows what it is for -- I would be willing to buy it from him.

Enjoy, DoN.

[David Nebenzahl]

On 10/28/2009 5:07 PM Bill spake thus:

Nope, no way. A compass wouldn't have two points. Could be a divider (which does have two points), but why the odd way of adjusting it?

[Alexander Thesoso]

1760 I'm really fascinated/confused by this one.

I can't think of any normal drafting operation that this could be used for. It can't be used to divide a line the way normal dividers are used because the handle is in the wrong place. You'd be moving your whole arm very awkwardly. To transfer a distance from scale to drawing or from drawing to scale, it would be awkward to swing it around, tightening the wingnut would tend to move the whole tool, there is no third-leg (on the end of the handle) to keep the mechanism horizontal and the points vertical. If you were using the handle, your knuckles would be dragging on the drawing. The points, while replaceable, are much fancier than the simple replaceable points on a divider or compass.

I'd guess it is used to transfer a distance from one place to another. For example, it might be set to some distance at some inspection reference station, then carried to a workstation on a factory floor to be used to verify the distance on a workpiece.

[Noons]

Alexander Thesoso wrote,on my timestamp of 29/10/2009 9:47 PM:

My guess:

it's a ring tool for lenses. The pins fit the holes in the lens ring holder, and the tool can be adjusted to any diameter ring. Once set and in place, the handle is used to initiate the rotation of the holder ring. It can tighten or losen the rings. I want one!

[J. Clarke]

I'd guess a spanner of some kind, maybe for optical components. It appears that the two pin-holders are slightly bent in opposite directions (but that might be a trick of perspective), which would support the notion of its having been used in this fashion.

[LDosser]

It looks like an adjustable spanner for optical components. Could have used it a few years back.