What is it? Set 289

[Rob H.]

I'll be back to the usual Thursday schedule next week.

[Alexander Thesoso]

1645 Guess... It is about 8 inches long = about 200 mm. That makes the front square about 50 mm. square. That makes the vertical distance between the pairs of guide posts on the front about 16 mm. So one could lay a strip of 16-mm. film across the front. There seems to be a registration pin. Close the front with the diffusing glass. With a simple lens and shutter, though I don't see either, this could be a camera to make enlargements of frames of a 16-mm. film.

1646 Satirical Guess... Crowd control implement purchased by the DHS for about $1500.

1648 It would be impolite for me to suggest photoshop.

[Ed Huntress]

1645: Still copy camera for making copies of individual movie-film frames.

1646: Fish pacifier.

1647: Shingler's hammer.

-- Ed Huntress

[Stealth Pilot]

1646 I'm certain I've held one of these in my hand but CRAFT disease has hit. removable spoke/handle from some sort of windlass? 1647 at a guess would be a coopers tool for forming wooden barrel staves and knocking up the barrel. 1648 are two huge crucible tongs. the one on the wheels would be used to position the crucible near the mould and the underslung handles used to rotate the holder to tip the melt into the ingate. the one on the walls maybe to lift a crucible up out of a top loading furnace.

[Cydrome Leader]

[rangerssuck]

agreed.

[rangerssuck]

1645: make still pictures from film (16mm or so) 1647: Planing, splitting and nailing wood shingles (or siding) 1650: seatbelt cutter

[Nahmie]

1646: Fish pacifier sounds like a good guess. I'm thinking a "tire knocker" for checking truck tires.

Nahmie

[Steve W.]

1645 - Looks like an early panoramic camera. Could also be one use for astronomical exposures. 1646 - "Tire Buddy" brand tire knocker. Used to thump tires on big trucks looking for low/flat tires by the different sound they make. Technically illegal in many states as it falls under the "any other weapon" clause. 1647 - Looks like something a cabinet maker might use to set inlaid panels?

1648 - LARGE iron worker tongs. The pair on the cart look like rail alignment tongs. The others look like splitter tongs but the lower jaw isn't real clear.

1649 - Looks like the end of a connector on a rope harness for horses/oxen.

1650 - Boker Cop Tool, I have that exact same tool. Works OK but I like the folding one they make better. Takes up less space in my turnout pocket. (Jim Wagner Rescue Knife for those interested)

[Bill Marrs]

1646 Fish whacker. For---ummm-----whacking fish!

1650 Kind of easy--given that the BOKER name is visible.

[Dan Coby]

1646: Another possible use:

When I was in grad school, I worked under a research grant from the U. S. Bureau of Mines. The work involved (not surprisingly) going into various coal mines. Most of the mines were okay to visit. They were much like a typical heavy duty manufacturing environment. I.e. protect yourself from noise and don't get run down by the equipment and you will be alright.

However there was one coal mine that I remember still (35 years later) as being a major exception. The coal seam was only 3 feet high and since no one pays to move extra rock, the mine was only 3 feet high. So we were duck walking around and still banging our helmets on the roof. The mine was wet so we were duck walking in the mud. On this visit I was with a MESA (Mine Enforcement and Safety Administration now MSHA) inspector. He had a stick very much like 1646. One of the problems in coal mines is that digging a mine exposes rock layers to moisture and temperature changes. This can cause the rock layers to delaminate and then fall. For instance a

2 inch layer of rock which might be a dozen feet across will weight several tons and it will ruin your day if it lands on you. The mine inspector would use his stick to tap the ceiling. If we heard a hollow sound then we would quickly move somewhere else.

Dan

[Rob H.]

That's what I was thinking until someone posted this link on the web site:

haven't found any crucible tongs like the ones in the photo.

Rob

[Ed Huntress]

I don't know which was its original purpose, but I've seen one exactly like that used for subduing bluefish, on a head boat. Since I have an engine lathe I prefer my all-aluminum model.

-- Ed Huntress

[riverman]

The official name is a 'priest', but I don't think this is one. I think its a tire knocker.

--riverman

[DoN. Nichols]

found it before I got much more than an hour into Thursday:

Posting from rec.crafts.metalworking as always:

1645) For making large negatives (and eventually photoraphic prints) from a single frame of movie film.

I'm not sure whether it is 8mm or 16mm movie film, but I think 8mm based on the slight offset of the window in the raised pad.

The opal glass in the hinged part is to assure that it is evenly illuminated.

Hmm ... could it hold Polariod film?

1646) Replaceable handle for something which only needs the handle used as a lever, since it is missing the usual screw threads found on push-broom and mop handles, as well as being a bit too short. 1647) A plane to groove the edge of a board. I would expect it to just be for smoothing the edge, but the guide pins are too far apart to work that way. A board which fits the pin spacings would get a groove cut down the middle of its edge.

You presumably drive it with another hammer, which suggests that it is for a serious hardwood, not soft pine.

I have no idea what function the other part shown in the patent drawings serves.

Hmm ... A last-moment thought: Could it be for grooving the edge of a window frame to clear the spring tape which acts to counter the weight of the window? (The old cast-iron counterweights would need a deeper and narrower groove.

In that case, the extra part could be for spreading glazers putty.

1648) Tongs for moving something hot and heavy at a foundry, probably moving it from the forge where it is heated to the anvil where it is beat to shape. 1649) No clue on this one. 1650) At least part of this looks designed for rounding the corners of a board -- perhaps to eliminate splinters. Not sure of the function of the other parts, but it looks fairly recent in manufacture.

Now to see what others have suggested.

Enjoy, DoN.

[Stealth Pilot]

1646. that's what it is. it is called a "priest". it gives the last rights to a fish. whack! :-)

[riverman]

I don't think its a priest. They are usually smaller, and almost always have a significantly heavier head or else are made of something with much more mass than wood, such as brass. This looks to be a tire knocker (which looks very similar to a priest).

--riverman

[spaco]

#1648: These are tongs that are used to hold large pieces of steel that are being forged under a steam hammer. Note the L shaped handles sticking out the sides of the pair in the cradle. In use, the tongs are supported close to the pivot point by a crane. One or more workmen manipulate the reins to close them to hold the workpiece as it is taken from the furnace. The reins are clamped to hold the workpiece. A crane operator works in concert with the workmen as they move the work into place under the steam hammer for forging. As the crane operator and the workmen at the reins push and pull the workpiece in and out under the hammer, 2 or more other workmen use those L shaped handles to rotate the workpiece as needed. The Blacksmith is the team leader. He is the guy who will be measuring the work as it proceeds. He may or may not be one of the workmen already described. One other workman uses a broom to brush scale off the lower die as the forging proceeds. The reason I say things like "are used" rather than "were used" is that these tools are still used in some large forge shops today, particularly in third world countries. for heavier work or in more modern forge shops, the tongs have been replaced by a machine called a "manipulator". It replaces both crane and tongs. It looks like a fork lift with jaws that can rotate 360° of thereabouts. It's still amazing to me to watch those teams work together to get large parts forged to very close dimensions.

You can still see these processes around the Chicago area. We visited one of them last summer.

Pete Stanaitis

--------------------- Rob H. wrote:

[Stealth Pilot]

I'll buy that. surely though its use as a tyre knocker is nearly useless. the pressure can be easily read directly, which is what you want. tyres fail through a process that gets them hot so a hand on the tread to feel for a warm one is surely more effective? that's what I use. Stealth Pilot

[Leon Fisk]

If you are hauling an eight axle dual wheel trailer with a tandem axle semi-tractor, that makes 42 tires you need to check several times a day. Do you really think a truck driver uses a tire gauge on all of them each time :)

If you let one tire of a dual set go soft or worse yet flat and keep on trucking, you'll have a nice fire going before long. A tire thumper used regularly will locate that soft tire before it becomes a flame thrower.