What is it? Set 414

[Rob H.]

Probably should have said it was used inside of a train.

[J Burns]

Yes, I don't see why a cane holder would be portable. I wonder if it's for an activity where one would want to choose among a dozen tools with stick handles, all within arm's reach.

[dpb]

On 11/10/2011 4:46 PM, Rob H. wrote: ...

My guess would be built for holding vases for decorative purposes or similar rather than storing things...just a guess.

[DoN. Nichols]

2395) Looking at it, I believe it is to form a ripple on some material (perhaps tin-plated steel) which is drawn between the gears at their closest points. There is enough gap there for thin materials to be pulled through.

Perhaps for making strips to solder to a backing plate to make decorative cookie cutters.

2396) Hmm ... sort of looks like a tomahawk -- there are lots of styles. Here is a decorative example (sorry about the long URL).

It would be interesting to know whether the hammerhead part is drilled to use as a pipe, or is solid to be used as a hammer. If drilled to use as a pipe, the handle would probably also be drilled to carry the smoke to the user's mouth.

2397) A lever for lifting or moving something, with a built-in fulcrum.

2398) It looks like a relative to a three-hole paper punch, with fixtures to aid in aligning the paper -- except that I can't get enough detail from the images to be sure what the punch and dies look like, if they are even there.

2399) Perhaps for a church to hold a number of candles for the participants to carry in after someone else lights them in the stand?

2400) A pair of hemispheres to demonstrate the amazing force that air pressure can produce, by evacuating the mated set of hemispheres. It looks as though a second handle screws onto the side with the valve after it is pumped down.

An early demonstration had a somewhat larger set which could not be pulled apart by two teams of horses pulling on the two hemispheres.

These are nice ones, made of bronze. The ones which I have seen in the school physics lab were cast iron instead, but served the same purpose quite well. Looks like these would handle perhaps 184 lbs of force before separating.

Now to post this and see what others have suggested.

Enjoy, DoN.

[DoN. Nichols]

On trains, or on the rails on which they rode? I could see it being used either to align the rails themselves, or the wooden ties on which they rested.

Or -- on trains, perhaps it could be used as a chock to keep a car from rolling -- especially depending on the coefficient of friction between the fulcrum and the rail top.

Enjoy, DoN.

[DoN. Nichols]

Perhaps for uncoupling cars from the train (using US style couplings)? I would not call this "inside" a train, however, so I may be wrong.

Is the material wood or steel? it is kind of hard to tell.

Enjoy, DoN.

[RicodJour]

2396. A lather's hatchet.

2397. From your hint - lift railroad car furniture out of socket receivers and tweak them into position when they're put back. Probably used when the floor was refinished/cleaned.

2398. Something to do with bookbinding.

2399. A drink holder in a billiard room.

2400. Sprays insecticide or other liquid/powder. R

[J Burns]

Porters used different kinds of carts. If a crate or trunk was hard to lift because of weight or the lack of handles, perhaps such a lever could raise it enough to get it on or off a cart.

[Rob H.]

It's made of wood but has a metal plate at the end.

[Rob H.]

Tough set this week, still not sure about the three unidentified items, the rest of the answers have been posted here:

[J Burns]

For knitting with one color, one would presumably pull the yarn from a ball in the bowl of one of these stands, rather than keep the ball in one's lap.

mystery stand could be a great advantage for someone knitting a garment with up to a dozen colors. I think it used yarn cones similar to these.

wind your yarn on the part of the cone that's bigger than the diameter of the holes in the mystery stand. You invert a wound cone and stick it in a hole, then bring the free end of the yarn over the top (big end) and down through the little end. Yarns from the cones in the top plate would extend through the little holes in the bottom plate so they could be tugged without hitting the cones in the bottom plate.

When you want to knit, you get your stand from the corner and put it by your knitting chair. You have up to twelve yarns hanging below the bottom plate. You pull the one you want first. No tangling, and you can easily spot the color you want.

[J Burns]

I checked with a relative who has a knitting machine. She says a stand with a dozen cones could be useful in a cottage industry knitting Fair Isle sweaters. They became fashionable after the Prince of Wales began wearing them in 1921. You knit with two colors at a time but change frequently, choosing from a palette.

[Rob H.]

I guess it's possible but I did a search on 'cone yarn holder' and they all had spindles to hold it, didn't see a single one that held the cone in a hole. If you can find any holders that work on this theory, let us know.

[Matthew Russotto]

2401: Explosion-proof socket wrench. You have to use explosion-proof sockets, which by design are reversed from ordinary sockets to prevent mixing them up. (no? Sounds plausible, doesn't it, though :-) ) 2402: Some sort of gambling table. 2403: An oddly shaped hammer 2404: Cheese cutter for Limburger and other cheeses you don't want to get near. 2405: Novelty water pipe

2406: A rejected design for a tool to tap thicknet ethernet, back in the dayes of olde.