What is it? Set 331

I need some help with the last one in this set:

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Reply to
Rob H.
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they sold as a fish finder. It's a thermometer on a long cable, to measure underwater temperatures and find fish that like to hang around in inversion layers. Also works for submarines.

Reply to
Andy Dingley
1897 is some kind of Heathkit product, clearly for measuring some property in a circuit or electronic device. The pull-out wire gets screwed somewhere in the circuit and the large screw thing in the center of the device gets attached to a ground point or something similar. What its measuring I dont know, it doesn't look like the meter is graduated for ohms, amps or volts (all of which tend to start at zero).

Google doesn't show any matches when I search for Heathkit.

1898 is a pair of pliers :)
Reply to
Jonathan Wilson

As per Andy's post temperature - the meter starts at 32, 32F = 0C

Reply to
Royston Vasey
1897 - What the other say. lol It does appear to be left handed. The dial may be used to pull the lead back in.

1898 - fish / fishing pliers

1899 - Manual Microfilm roller

1900 - Hay mover

1901 - 1280 air conditioning, allowed cool, moist air to circulate in the house

1902 - Microfilm devel> I need some help with the last one in this set:

Reply to
Michael Kenefick
1897 is a Heathkit fisherman's thermometer. The "screw thingy" lower right is the retrieve handle. The meter starts at 32, because mostly you don't care if the water down there is colder than 32...

1898 looks like "bicycle pliers" to me.

1899 looks like an early version of the "BetterPak" packaging tape measuring/wetting/cutting machine.

1900 vaguely looks like what I'd call a British head pike. I can't find one now, but I saw once a drawing of something like that with five heads impaled on the points, for display.

1901 looks like a chiller for pickling crocks, jars, etc... Sort of the residential version of a country "spring house".

1902 draftsman's pencil sharpener.

Reply to
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

"Lloyd E. Sponenburgh" fired this volley in news:Xns9D5451A2AF8D3lloydspmindspringcom@216.168.3.70:

BTW... that was called the Heath "Thermo Spotter"

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Reply to
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

enable it to be used as a wrench for taps and/or screw extractors.

1902 - a vegetable slicer perhaps?
Reply to
Doug Miller

Correct, the side of it has charts that show which fish can be found at different temperatures.

Rob

Reply to
Rob H.

1901 - With two corners touching the foundation, I don't think it was originally intended to be so long. The rounded near corner suggests to me pushing things in and dragging them out.

I think it was for soaking lumber. It might have been for kyanizing, but I think it was for wood intended to be bent, such as for wheel felloes. Some were made from lumber larger than 2 x 4", which I suppose would require a long soak.

Reply to
J Burns

Reply to
Bill

No correct answers yet for this one, but this is the closest guess so far.

Rob

Reply to
Rob H.

Reply to
Doug Miller
1901: the size is about right for a wooden bathtub? If the tub were boat-shaped like a modern tub, and wooden, it'd have to be kept moist to not leak, so the basement makes some sense as a location.

Or , it could be for a 'food bank' (earthen storage for root vegetables). Or, a mushroom farm patch. Heck, I don't know.

1902: perhaps a kitchen appliance, to shave ginger or horseradish. Seems a little unlikely as a vegetable peeler, it'd be hard to hand-hold.
Reply to
whit3rd

1897) This looks to me to be a thermocouple on the end of a reel intended to measure temperature at a distance. From the physical design, and the range on the meter scale, I would guess that it is for measuring the temperature at different depths for predicting how deep the fish are likely to be.

Is there any way to measure the length of cable paid out?

The presence of the button suggests that there is some active circuitry in there -- an amplifier to produce sufficient signal over the relatively short range of the scale.

The linkage to water comes from the lowest reading being the freezing point of water.

1898) Pliers with square drive sockets in one handle (probably to fit valve stems when the handle is off -- either for security or because it is being worked upon.

The spike on the end of each handle I suspect is for fishing out old washers when they are being replaced.

Hmm ... perhaps it is for controlling the shutoff valves on portable acetylene and oxygen tanks, and the points for clearing clogged nozzles on the torch?

1899) Hmm ... something long and flat rolled up in the big end, with a crank to either feed it out or to rewind it.

It looks as though part of the other end is designed to shear off the flat something, and the gearing presumably can be set to feed a precise length. Better contrast and a bit more detail in the photos might show more.

1900) Hmm ... possibly a top of a lightning rod?

Or a holder for a bundle of hay to be burned held aloft?

It appears to be in a museum, FWIW.

1901) Cistern -- to store rain water for drinking and cleaning purposes during periods between rain in dry parts of the country? 1902) At a guess it is a plane for adjusting the fit of a door which has swollen in humid weather without leaving piles of wood shavings on the floor. It captures the shavings in the housing.

Or - it could be for taking shavings to sample the quality of the wood -- perhaps for import duty determination or something similar.

Now to see what others have suggested.

Enjoy, DoN.

Reply to
DoN. Nichols

1901. keeping milk cool.
Reply to
William Wixon

oh, lloyd already guessed "refrigerator". how about soaking flax? don't they soak flax prior to drawing it into fibers?

wow. no way. look at what a huge operation "retting" flax can be.

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Reply to
William Wixon

Good guess! This is correct.

Reply to
Rob H.

I've never been in the tanning business, but from what I've read, the tanning process produces immensely bad smells. I guess, if you have burned out your nose, having a stinking process going on in the basement of your residence might not bother you. It might, however, bother guests.

Reply to
Alexander Thesoso

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