What is it? Set 284

[Rob H.]

More photos have been posted on the web site:

[usablevirus]

"Rob H." scribbled:

1617 - appears to be missing the pulley wheel. the one side being wider could be from usage. 1620 - an ohm meter for measuring resistance.

[Stealth Pilot]

1616. a coin counting machine. wonderfully versatile in that it doesnt matter wich way around the coin is. 1617. a pulley sheaf missing the pulley wheel. lightweight duty, probably something like a sash window counterweight. 1618. looks like a 'vacutainer' of some sort. used for drawing blood out of people for analysis. 1619. it is a hammer. lovely in the proportioning but it's exact purpose has no mystery. it is for hitting something. obviously very effective since it seems to have broken the bits beside it. 1620. an inference meter for the calibration of babbage calculating machines. 1621. it looks awfully like the box that inference meter came in but it could be a magicians stock in trade secret drawer trick ....which explains why it is invisible.

Stealth :-) Pilot

[RicodJour]

1615. A crimping tool of some sort - possibly for crimping the bands onto metal strapping tape or wire. 1616. Coin sorter. 1617. It doesn't make sense to have two different thicknesses on the legs for any typical pulley and sheave setup. The thinner leg is flattened so there probably is something affixed on both sides so it can rotate. The setup appears to allow freedom of movement in three dimensions. I'll fall back on the addage - "if you don't recognize it, it's old and made of cast iron, it has something to do with a carriage or wagon." 1618. At first I thought it was a hummingbird feeder, but on closer examination I noticed I don't know what it is. ;) I've read about those miracle magnets that magnetize your car's fuel line, and I think this device screws on to a gas can, the little red plastic key has a magnet and fits into that hole. When you pour gas it magnetizes the fuel so squeamish people don't have to lift the hood and mess with the motor thingy. 1619. A planishing hammer with face covers to protect the hopefully mirror-smooth faces. 1620. An infinity meter from the 1940's. Infinity has gotten a lot smaller with time due to entropy, so you don't see these so often anymore. R

[Leo Lichtman]

"RicodJour" wrote: 1620. An infinity meter from the 1940's. Infinity has gotten a lot

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ It's an ohm meter/DC voltmeter. Isn't it clever that ohm meters actually measure mhos, but are labeled in reciprocals (ohms)? Otherwise, you would have to keep a shunt on the meter to keep from pinning the needle. From the rugged looking and simple construction, I am guessing it is intended for use in something like blasting.

[Andrew Erickson]

My guesses this week:

1615 - This seems to be some sort of a specialized crimper or other forming tool, presumably for fairly thick sheet metal. The two hooks latch into or against some corresponding ears formed in whatever is being crimped, and the two handles are then brought up to the middle and the center plunger section does the deed. I can't say what it may be used to bend, though; possibly some sort of metal strapping? Seamless gutters?

1616 - Seems to be a sorter/tester for round disks, possibly coins or washers, to sort them by diameter or thickness or weight or some such. It looks very vaguely like some forms of electronic chip test module handlers, although not intended for square or rectangular packages and lacking a way of attaching the electronic test equipment itself.

1617 - Appears to be a pulley lacking the wheel. The uneven size may be due to wear, but more likely due to specialized application--such as a sliding door hanger, perhaps?

1618 - Birdfeeder (maybe specifically a hummingbird feeder)?

1619 - Beyond the obvious (a hammer with interchangeable faces), I don't know what this might be used for. If I had to guess, I'd say either leatherworking or (less likely) block printing.

1620 - An electric meter, which appears to directly measure amperage and indirectly measure resistance (presumably by being put in series with the resistance and a known voltage source). I'm guessing the voltage used is around 120 volts or so, and the bottom scale is amps, and the top scale is ohms. Probably, this would have been used primarily for tasks along the lines of electric motor servicing and other fairly heavy-duty uses. I'd us my Fluke over this most any day, I think.

Now to read other guesses.

[Northe]

1620: combination ohmmeter and milliamp meter (the lower the current the higher the resistance).

Northe

[Dan Coby]

The cola and the Mentos react and then shoot out of the bottle forming a fountain. (This is best done outdoors.) The tube and pin and string allows this to be done while from a safe (clean) distance.

My younger sister gave one for Christmas. Mine includes a rocket that can be placed onto the tube.

Here are a couple of links to a place that sells the tube:

Tube only:

with rocket:

[Lee Michaels]

That is a cute, interesting project for kids. I know just a kid who will get this for a present. I know he will enjoy it and make a mess at the same time. It doesn't get better than that for a kid!

[whit3rd]

1615: clamping handle to pick up something hot (baking pans?)

1616: change sorter/counter - seen in banks, mainly

1617: shackle (missing the pulley part); widening is for the passage of rope.

1618: a spout for distributing some dry pellets from a big bottle? Doggie kibble? Gumballs?

1619: planishing hammer, for silversmithing or similar work.

1620: it's a resistance meter, all right, probably for assaying wood for dryness (the second scale would be percent moisture content: zero moisture and infinite resistance go together). I've seen these before with a bed-of-nails probe, to stab a rough board. Soil moisture would be a similar application.

[pmv]

1618 Mentos dropper. Screws on the top of a diet coke bottle.

[Rob H.]

Excellent guess, it's a blasting galvanometer.

Rob

[Andrew Erickson]

Hmmm...I guess I wasn't thinking through my math very thoroughly in coming up with the range. Seeing as how Rob mentioned in another post that it was used for blasting, milliamps is far more likely, as you suggest.

[DoN. Nichols]

1615) Strange beastie. My guess is that it is intended to bend a metal strap around something which the two ears hook under.

Perhaps for construction of a wagon?

1616) Coin sorting machine. You toss them into the hopper, and it sorts the different coins into different bins, while counting and totaling the amount (probably by coin size) on the display.

Not sure whether it retains them in the separate categories, or dumps them into a single bag once done. Probably you can select which behavior.

1617) This is the frame for supporting a pulley. A bolt through the holes in the sides becomes the axle for the pulley.

Now -- I'm not quite sure what you mean by this sentence:

"Also, explain why the right end is wider than the left:"

If you mean the bulge before it reaches the support eye in the second photo, I would say that is to clear flanges on the pulley which are a bit wider than the hub length -- and to clear larger rope or line sizes.

1618) Looks like something for sampling the contents of a tank or bin from a threaded hole below a valve. (Such would be found on the fuel tanks of smaller aircraft, which you are expected to check for water in the fuel before you trust your life to it in the air. :-)

However the cross-drilled holes and the tethered pin suggest something more in the nature of bulk, with the pin preventing the sample from falling into the container until the pin is withdrawn.

1619) I note no size listed for this.

At a thought -- this may be some form of "planishing" hammer (for producing a smooth level surface in sheet metal) with the caps perhaps for providing alternate metal surfaces so you don't contaminate the workpiece with other metals. (E.g. -- you don't want stainless steel to be contaminated with mild steel, which will provide a place for rust to start.

Check for a quick overview.

1620) A lab bench meter for measuring low resistance values (hence the reversed scale with infinity at the normal zero point). No range switch and no multipliers so it is just for measuring low values of resistance.

The second linear scale reading from left to right is probably the base sensitivity of the meter movement. I would guess that the "25" full scale is mA (milli Amps) not uA (micro Amps) which seem a bit too sensitive for the construction.

Now to see what others have suggested.

Enjoy, DoN.

[Steve R.]

1616 Automatic coin sorter????

1620 Some sort of Ohm meter???

Steve R.

[Alexander Thesoso]

Be Happy! Be very Happy!!

In all seriousness, we live in wonderful times. Our society is so rich, secure and comfortable (as a whole and on the average) that we can afford things like this.

This product is designed and well-manufactured, from amazingly cheap material for the purpose of expending luxury food (candy and soda) for the amusement of our younger generation.

I'm constantly awed and amazed by the technical progress of the recent generations.

We live in the best of all times. This is not evil. It is good. Enjoy it!

[Cydrome Leader]

Haha. good point.

[WW]

1616 is a coin sorter WW

[BQ340]

1622 is a flywheel holder (so it won't rotate as you remove the bolt/nut/starter clutch from the crankshaft) for a small air-cooled engine.

MikeB