What is it? Set 311

[Rob H.]

Since next Thursday is Thanksgiving holiday, I'm planning to post on Wednesday instead, here is this week's set:

[LDosser]

1782 looks like an adjustable tubing cutter with the pointy end for reaming the ID.

[Steve R.]

1780 : I think this held a lighted cigarette. With the lid closed, smoke came out of the mouth. could be wrong, but I saw one used like that when I was a kid in the 1940s.

Steve R.

[LDosser]

Cigar with the lit end in the body?

[Leon]

1777. Early prototype Ouiji Board pointer. 1778. Adjustable HD bench dog.

1779. Incense Burner

1780. Alligator

1781. Long universal joint.

1782. Tubing cutter with reamer.

[RicodJour]

1777. Probably used over a heat source for cooking. The supporting arm was adjustable to allow proper balancing for support of whatever was being rotisserie'd. 1778. A bearing with replaceable parts. 1779. A really cool cigar cutter for a smoking club. 1780. There was one in the house, as decoration, when I was a kid. No idea as to it's utility. 1781. Something to do with stopping/opening up a pipe. R

[sawdust]

or fireplace.

1778: Looks like a big bench dog. 1779: A trap. Something small can get in, but not out. 1780: Ashtray of some sort. I recall that my parents once had one like this. 1781: An old plumber's snake. 1782: Tubing cutter

John

[beecrofter]

When I was a kid the cast iron alligator had kitchen matches in it.

[Alexander Thesoso]

1780 For all the people saying match-holder, probably right. For all the people saying alligator, I'd argue: Salamander. are a variety of (largely fireproof) things that go by the title "salamander". I know, just a quibble.

1781 At first I thought it might be something like a plumber's snake, or some type of pipe cleaner/reamer, but... All the joints seem to be aligned so that it only is flexible in one dimension. This confused me. What is the use for a snake that is constrained to be planar?

[Steve W.]

1777 - Well it looks a lot like the lead pot holder I use a reenactments. Not sure if that was it's original use but it works good. Pot goes on the rack and a long handled ladle goes on the stand. 1778 - Journal box bearing?

1779 - Push action trimmer?

1780 - Incense burner?

1781 - Burner tube scraper?

1782 - Home built tubing cutter. At least I don't ever remember seeing one that style on sale.

[Robin Halligan]

I'm thinking more a children's toy with a cloth tube over the body and a head of some sort stuck on the flat end, kids wouldn't worry that it only "wriggled" 1 way.

Robin

[Jim Stewart]

1778 Some kind of linear bearing, maybe for a roundhouse turntable 1781 Cannon or field piece swab rod

[Rob H.]

Correct, this is a cigar cutter that was patented in 1877.

Rob

[dustinpockets]

I believe 1777 would be a holder for a bedwarmer used to keep the warm end off the floor

[Andrew Erickson]

1777 - I know I've seen this from somewhere...but beyond that, my memory fails for now. Possibly this is a glassblowing apparatus, with the forked stand to support the blowpipe (or whatever it's called)? 1778 - No real idea; the best thing that comes to mind is a (counter) weight for some piece of machinery, presumably adjustable by attaching it to different locations on a lever arm. Possibly, this was used on a steam locomotive safety blow-off valve? 1779 - Shear for cutting off cordage? 1780 - An alligator bin for...pens, perhaps? 1781 - Cleaner for piping, maybe for gutter downspouts or similar? 1782 - Looks to be a tubing cutter, not unlike what is commonly used in plumbing. The triangular attachment at the tip is presumably to remove the burr created by the cutting wheel while cutting the tubing. Most I've seen have a couple of small (non-sharpened) rollers instead of the V grooved projection, which I presume would make most I've seen a bit smoother operating than this one.

Now to see other suggestions...

[DoN. Nichols]

1777) It looks to me like a stand for heating a branding iron either over a fire under the grate there, or in a pot of coals supported on the frame where the circle is. 1778) At a guess, it is designed for aligning holes in two pieces of metal, with the bronze part being for driving it in.

Note the nice rounded bevel on the small end to make it easier to start.

It could also be a high-current contact point, if the "brass or bronze" were actually pure copper.

1779) If the flap in the center is steel, I think that it is designed for cutting something placed in whichever hole is a good fit.

If it were leather instead, I would think that it was a part of a foot operated air pump, but that would not explain the beveling of the holes to produce a sharp edge, and the fact that each hole is a reasonable percentage larger (or smaller depending on your direction) than the previous one.

Exactly *what* it is to cut is not clear, but I suspect that it is operated by stepping on the top. Or, given the size, perhaps by squeezing it in a vise.

1780) I suspect that this is an incense burner. It would be burned in the lower jaw, and extra incense would be stored in the body, perhaps along with matches to light the next stick. 1781) This looks to me like a folding flue cleaner -- perhaps for the flues in a locomotive boiler or the like. it is unfolded, and threaded through the flue small end first, and then pulled so the large end scrapes of carbon deposits and the like as it is drawn through. 1782) A tubing or pipe cutter. The tubing is placed in the 'V', and the hex handle adjusted to tighten the sharp cutter wheel against the side, after which it is rotated around the tube once, the handle tightened, and rotated again until the tubing parts.

The "arrowhead" is then used to debur the inside edges of the two halves.

Usually, the tubing is supported by a pair of rollers instead of the 'V' of brass or bronze.

And the fact that the handle is hex suggests that it can be tightened by a wrench, so it can be used on tougher materials than the smaller ones can -- perhaps steel pipe up to 1-1/2" diameter or so.

Now to see what others have suggested. Enjoy, DoN.

[Larry]

"Rob H." wrote in news: [e-mail]:

1778 looks like some kind of bushing driver that would be used in a press. Perhaps used for piston pins. 1780 Incense burner

1782 Unusual looking pipe cutter w/burr remover

[DanG]

As usual, I feel woefully ignorant each Thursday morning - thank you very much Rob.

1777. Looks like it would sure help with a fireplace model of a pop corn popper. 1782. I don't think it is for copper pipe, but I do wonder if it was used for glass tube or steel brake line.

[charlie b]

1782 - copper/aluminum pipe cutter with reamer on the end 1781 - early Roto-Rooter? 1779 - cigar cutter? 1778 - Drop forge stamping punch with changeable diameter screw on heads? 1777 - possible for melting lead for plumbing - with holder for the ladle?