What is it? Set 292

[Rob H.]

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

[Lee Michaels]

most grappling hooks have more curved hooks on them. Sooo....??

1665. This looks like somthing welded onto a horseshoe. But it could not be used as a horeshoe. 1666. This looks like a seatbelt cutter. Used at accident scenes when you can not reach the seatbelt buckle and you need to free the victim.

[kfvorwerk]

in this set:

1666. I was going to say gut hook but I think you're right. Orange handle too. 1667. Boot scraper. Hammer it into a log and scrape away. Sort of like the one at the bottom of this page:

[Rob H.]

I suppose it could be used as a seatbelt cutter but this was made for a different purpose.

Rob

[Willem]

) This piece is only 3" wide so it's too small for a boot scraper.

Perhaps an oarlock then ?

SaSW, Willem

[Doug Miller]

That was my first thought, too, but then I saw the rounded end. A gut hook would be pointed.

[Larry C]

1667 is a downspout holder. You hammer the pointed end into the side of the house and you wrap wire around the hooks to hold the downspout.

[Bill Marrs]

1664 Tree canopy penetrator rescue tool. Drop it with a winch through the trees with a helicopter. Fold out arms, sit on arms and strap on. Lift. Originally deployed in Viet Nam???

1665 No idea. Gauge for horseshoes? Primitive ice scraper? Playing piece for "horseshoe shuffleboard"?

1666 Strap/parachute shroud cutter. For getting yourself free of that pesky chute when you are hanging from a tree.

[Bill Marrs]

1664 Link:

[Jay Giuliani]

That large yellow hook looks like a jungle penetrator for a winch on a helicopter. It was weighted and used in heavy cover to get the hook to downed air crews or whoever needed pickup by helo.

The pocket knife is a shroud cutter on a survival knife the Navy at least gave to air crews. I have two in my tool box. The shroud cutter blade that is shown was also a switchblade. There is also a 3 or 4 inch conventional blade on it.

Talk about reminders of the good old days.

[Cliff]

Number 1666 is an airmans knife. The hook is designed to cut shroud lines on parachutes. Especially usefull when hanging in a tree.

The originals were a switchblade type knife with a slider lock and a pushbutton for use with one hand.

They were in every Vietnam era airmans survival vest.

Cliff whidbey.us

[Matthew Russotto]

1664: Very, very, large toggle bolt 1665: Novelty plant hanger 1666: Very poorly designed buttonhook 1667: Looks like part of a gate latch 1668: Used by the most fastidious of cabinetmakers to make sure their drawer pulls aligned.

[Rob H.]

Rob

[DoN. Nichols]

1663) Hmm ... a bunch of "almost"s.

The one on the left is sort of like a sensor for positioning the cutter on a milling machine -- it depends on electrical contact between the ends made by the milling machine body, and a LED or a lamp would be lit in the windows, powered by a cell which is under the hex plastic screw head.

But -- there is no LED or lamp visible, and the battery compartment would need to be on one side and there would need to be a conductive surface insulated from the rest, and I see no signs of that.

Or -- it could be a holder for optical testing of the contents of a glass container placed in the body so light could go through the windows and the contents. The plastic hex headed screw would be removed to allow installing the container. Something like measuring transmission through a range of light wavelengths in a spectrophotometer.

As for the item on the right -- it is *almost* like a sine plate, except that it needs to hinge on a cylindrical roller, and to have another roller at the other end to be held up by a stack of gauge blocks to allow setting a precise angle by making the stack of blocks total measurement match the sine of the desired angle. But -- it doesn't have those features, so it is some sort of hinge -- except for the angled surfaces on one side, which suggests that its function is to guide something into the proper and precise position as it is closed and the knuckles mesh.

1664) A folding anchor partially out of its storage bag and partially unfolded (two of the four flukes).

Perhaps some sort of dry-land grapnel instead of an anchor?

1665) Made from a horseshoe.

Perhaps to mount on a wall to hang horse accessories?

Perhaps to actually fasten to a horse's hoof to discourage putting weight on that leg to speed healing?

1666) At a guess, a paratrooper's knife for cutting the shrouds (ropes) of a parachute once you touch down to keep the 'chute from dragging you along the ground. 1667) Drive it in the ground beside the door and use it to scrape mud off your shoes? 1668) Hmm ... interesting device.

It looks as though the mounted glass plate is designed to have film pass under it, and then the micrometer head (calibrated in mm, not thousands of an inch) moves the plate, frame and film, presumably under examination with a microscope. We've got a photo of the reverse side of a glass scale calibrated in mm and (I believe) two tenths steps.

I would like to see it out of the box from several views, because I suspect that it is intended to mount to some other thing.

I would also like to see closeups of the various accessories which might be more informative.

At a guess, it is used for measuring the position of emission and absorbtion lines from photographing the output from a prism or a diffraction grating.

Now to see what others have suggested, DoN.

[Jerry Wass]

1665 Farriers new shoe "setter"--Heated in the forge & pressed into the newly dressed hoof , it burns in a solid tight fitting seat. 1666 field dressing gut knife---cuts abdominal flesh w/o opening intestines. Jerry

[Steve W.]

1663 -

1664 - Retriever bob. Used to retrieve items (men material whatever). Dropped from a helicopter and designed to penetrate the canopy of the trees. Then lifted back out once the items are secured.

1665 - Looks like a hot shoe, could also be a wood burning tool.

1666 - Get hung in your chute and it will come in handy!

1667 - I can look at those on the neighbors house. They are used for the metal downspouts. Wire wraps the ears and the spike gets driven into the wood. They are also worth a few bucks to the folks who restore old homes.

1668 - Cartographers measure?

[Steve R.]

Re: 1668 The firm is still in business, now owned by an American parent company.

The web page is at:

R.

[Erik]

1666. Back in the old skydiving days (mid to late 70's) this particular knife was carried by some for cutting the extremely rare line that resulted in (mostly reserve) 'line over' malfunctions. maybe 20% of jumpers at the time even bothered carrying them.

Some reserve parachutes back then also featured (marked) lines you could cut (after deployment) giving them a little forward drive and limited steering ability. (Other reserves featured quick release devices so cutting lines wasn't necessary... and still others were steered by pulling the marked lines. You needed to know your equipment.)

As the 1666 knife came from the factory, they were crude, not all that sharp, and required a lot precious time and dexterity under pressure to find, open and use... easy to drop too, particularly with gloves. But they were the best available...

Later, razor 'Hook Knives' featuring two finger loops became available. They stow in a simple quick release Velcro pouch attached to your harness main lift web. Just stick two fingers through the loops, pull to extract, and your ready to cut anything.

See the 'Happy Hooker' and 'Z' knife in the page below for the new ones:

jumpers, (both then and today), will never have use for a hook knife, and probably won't personally know of anyone who's needed one either.

Erik

[Rob H.]

I'll send them an email and see what they have to say.

Thanks, Rob