What is it? Set 326

[Artemus]

Yet another fence tightener? Art

[Rob H.]

That's it! According to a fence tool book that I have, there are still plenty of these that I haven't posted yet but if I find any more I think I'll hold off on them for a while.

Rob

[John Martin]

No idea what the patent says, but the Peavey Manufacturing Company says uses were pulling stumps and raising dam gates.

just looked at one I have in my garage. No manufacturer's mark on the castings, so it may have been by another maker.

John Martin

[Lew Hodgett]

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

------------------------------------ Since it uses a basic over center mechanism, there are probably several applications for the device shown.

Just for grins, due a Google on "chain binders".

Lew

[Andrew Erickson]

1867 - At first glance, I thought this may be a boat anchor, but closer examination shows this is very unlikely. The fine detailing is all wrong for an anchor, and the shape wouldn't be particularly practical should it fall with the wrong side down. Perhaps its an incense holder of some manner, possibly intended to be hung overhead? 1868 - Clock of some manner. I'd guess perhaps a form of water clock, where the cylinder is filled with water at the start of the day and slowly oozes out through the wicking. The pointer would be attached to a float that rides down on the water level. It wouldn't seem to me to be overly accurate unless the temperature and humidity were constant. 1869 - Heavy duty two-handed breast brace, presumably for drilling. 1870 - A very wild guess--a weight to keep a sash cord straight, maybe? I really have no idea. 1871 - Another very wild guess--the head of a tool to replace a tread on a tank or bulldozer when it gets dislodged somehow from its drivers? 1872 - Ratchety hold down thingy for something adjustable. I might suspect it's used with a swinging window or ventilator operated by a rope; a ring or similar on the rope would engage the teeth to permit various adjustments of the opening. (As an example, many sugar houses [where maple syrup is made] traditionally have swinging ventilators along a raised bit of the roof ridge, commonly operated by a rope and some pulleys.)

[DoN. Nichols]

1867) It sort of looks like something for scooping leaves and such out of gutters. Plastic, not metal. Maybe it could be drawn along the gutter by a cord. 1868) A clock:

It either works by evaporation from the wick, or the burning of something like kerosene from the wick. At a guess, I would say that evaporation would be too variable in speed -- dependent on the humidity. The burning rate of the kerosene might also be dependent on the amount of wick exposed.

Anyway -- there is a float in the cylindrical reservoir, and this supports the rod to point to the time, indicating the remaining liquid in the cylinder.

1869) A direct and personal application Roto-rooter for something like a storm drain? 1870) Hmm ... it is supported by the points between two conical holes and is spun by a cord wrapped around either side of the central ball?

But I can't come up with a useful *reason* to do this.

1871) A bottle opener -- including for large flat jar lids which pry up?

It looks to be bronze, which would suggest that it is designed to avoid making sparks in the presence of flammable gas.

1872) Mounts on the back or side of a fireplace, and is used to adjust the height of a cooking vessel above the fire?

Now to see what others have suggested.

Enjoy, DoN.

[Grumpy]

I think 1868 might be a candle clock. The candle in set on the pin and lit at 6:00 o'clock. As it burns down, the level of the remaining wax indicates the time.

[Rob H.]

I did a search on Peavey hoist when you first posted this answer but couldn't find a photo of one on the web. Here is the patent for the fence tightener:

[Rob H.]

The gauge has no significance, someone sent me this photo that they had shot in a restaurant, so the items are just random decorations.

Rob

[Andy Dingley]

If a few of these persistent re-inventors had looked a bit further afield from the things we'd already solved, we'd have better mousetraps and steam-powered personal helicopters by now.

[Andy Dingley]

Scary! Even I don't have books of collected fencing tools.

[Matthew Russotto]

Better mousetraps have been posted any number of times :-)