What is it? Set 310

[Rob H.]

Back at it with another set this week:

[kfvorwerk]

1776. The gas engine of one of those tether car racers. Thanks Karl

[Alexander Thesoso]

1771 Guess... Egg scale and perhaps the thing on the right is a candle (lamp) to sort and grade eggs.

1772 Can't even make one guess... gotta make two. Either an oil drip sump, to catch oil drippings from a flywheel or gear, or a water pan to wet a grindstone.

[Lloyd E. Sponenburgh]

"Rob H." fired this volley in news: [e-mail]:

[XR650L_Dave]

1771 combination egg candler and weight scale 1772 water trough for finding holes in skinny tires 1773 handle remover - for faucet stems?

1774

1775

1776 model boat engine? model airplane engine?

Dave

[David Nebenzahl]

On 11/12/2009 1:21 AM Rob H. spake thus:

#1774. I have no idea what these are, so I'm looking forward to any enlightening responses.

One additional clue, if it's not obvious from the pictures, is that these are painted olive drab. Military issue?

[Andrew Erickson]

1771 - A form of ballistic pendulum, perhaps, to measure the potency of gunpowder? If so, I'd assume the numbers are some scale of gunpowder potency. 1772 - Clearly this is a metal trough shaped like a portion of a rather skinny cylinder. Perhaps it is or was used to locate leaks in inner tubes, by filling the trough with water and looking for bubbles whilst immersing different parts of the tube. Obviously, it would work best for skinny tires, such as bicycle, motorcycle, or old cars have. 1773 - Looks to be a small specialized press of some sort, possibly for the insertion or removal of bushings, engine valve guides, or similar things. 1774 - Early ill-favored ski binding? No real ideas. 1775 - This appears to be a bracket to hold some cylindrical unit in place, such as a fire extinguisher. Presumably, the knobs inside the ring interlock with depressions in whatever is held. I do suspect appearances may be deceiving here, though, and this is not actually such a bracket. 1776 - Model airplane (presumably) glow-plug motor, a relatively large model. These are rather amazing little devices, I think, since they are diesel two stroke motors and are thereby about as simple as an explosive engine can be--no valves, no spark timing gear, often (unlike this one) no muffler or exhaust system beyond ports in the sides of the cylinder wall.

Now to read other guesses.

[Lew Hodgett]

Not a glow plug engine.

Glow plug needs a battery only until engine starts, then it is self sustaining which is why they are so popular because of their light weight.

More likely it is the predecessor of the glow plug engine.

Lew .

Lew

[Ed Huntress]

It's a conventional spark-ignition engine. Through the '40s, at least, most larger model engines had spark ignition.

[Rob H.]

This answer is correct, and that's a great link, thanks.

Rob

[Nahmie]

1772 looks like a "receiver" for a iron-rimmed wagon wheel. Possibly to be set in concrete to "park a wagon so it won't roll away?

Norm

[Snag]

1772 is a dip tank for finding leaks in tires . If you overfill it you're going to have wet feet ...

[Andrew Erickson]

True about the glow plug engines--marvelously ingenious little gadgets. I (wrongly) assumed that the wire would be removed once the engine was started, or perhaps thought it led to a more convenient external connector for starting. Certainly, not my first misstep in these weekly games!

I'm no expert, but I believe at least some (indeed generally larger) model engines still use spark ignition. Small airplanes these days often use electric motors, presumably made practical by advances in battery technology (Li-ion cells that have a quite large power density and can withstand pretty rapid discharge rates).

[Lew Hodgett]

Not sure what the R/C guys use these days.

I quit building and flying about '53-'54.

At one time must have had at least 20 different engines with names like:

Arden, OK Herkimer, O&R, Fox, OS(Early Japanese), Spitfire, and more that have evaded me.

Lew

[DoN. Nichols]

1771) My guess at this is a combination egg scale and egg candler (the light in the cylinder to the right). I expect a wire from the ceramic base, but it could be some kind of flame powered lamp too.

As for the units -- something once used to grade eggs. Not the Haugh units, which require the egg to be broken. Ounces are unlikely to go that high -- except perhaps for an ostrich egg. Hmm ... one Google hit shows them as being classified by ounces per dozen, so 40 oz/dozen is perhaps within reason.

1772) Looks like it might hold a smaller barrel so it can be tipped to drain fully.

Or -- it might be for checking motorcycle (and really old automobile) tires for leaks. Fill it with water, submerge a portion of the wheel, and rotate while looking for bubbles.

1773) A press for assembling something like perhaps a roller chain for a motorcycle? Or for pressing on or off a bearing? Stanley made more woodworking tools and not much in the way of automotive tools, but who knows? 1774) Perhaps for dropping aircraft external fuel tanks before entering combat to improve maneuverability? 1775) stand for smaller compressed gas tanks Oxygen or fuel gasses)? 1776) A model engine -- and what it is mounted in looks too heavy for a model aircraft, so at a guess I will say that it was for a tether racing car -- which were popular until too many of the tethers broke and too many bystanders were seriously hurt or even killed.

I seem to associate the name "Wall" with the cars for some reason.

Now to see what others have suggested.

Enjoy, DoN.

[Steve R.]

1776 is a spark ignition model airplane engine.

Steve R.

[Steve R.]

I have two Olson & Rice spark ignition engines in my collection, a .60 and a .29.

Steve R.

[LDosser]

Henry Kissinger was a lot younger when the photos were taken ...

[Lew Hodgett]

Had a 0.60 that I was going to use to build an air compressor to shoot dope but never got around to it.

For a model engine of that time, it was a beast.

Lew

[Rob H.]

This one _is_ for wagon wheels but not for setting in concrete to prevent a roll away.

Rob