What is it? Set 524

Lloyd, looking closer at the photograph, I see that each leg terminates in a double prong. I didn't notice that the first time. Not quite what I thought it was.

Rich

Reply to
Rich Hare
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Rich Hare fired this volley in news:l8vp3r$o0f$1 @dont-email.me:

Looking further at the 'works', it appears to be designed to just push into a cavity, then grip tightly by shoving in the prongs as it's pulled back. It could be a gambrel... it could be a "Lewis" for lifting hollow blocks of something fairly soft.

Lloyd

Reply to
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

Posting in the usenet newsgroup rec.crafts.metalworking as always.

3055) Memories of being a kid! :-)

This is the ringing generator used in old phones to ring up the operator at the central office.

it has been butchered, however. Note the different color of the metal in the center of the large gear. It should have a fitting there for a crank which extended through the side of the wooden box mounted on the wall. The center of the gear had a threaded stud sticking out, onto which the crank threaded.

Interesting -- this one *does* have a square stud on the other end of the shaft, so a crank could be slid onto that to allow it to be cranked. Perhaps goes along with the red paint job on the magnets.

The crank turns the large gear, which spins the smaller gear more rapidly, spinning an armature between the poles of the horseshoe magnets (painted red in this example, though they were usually painted black since they were hidden inside the box.)

It was obviously set up to be mounted to a bench -- likely in a school physics lab.

And I suspect that the crank was sawn off prior to offering it as an antique item -- likely to prevent people getting nasty shocks from it. It has been used by kids to shock other kids (guilty), and has also been used as a form of torture (not guilty).

3056) Made for Craftsman (Sears) by who knows.

Looks as though it might serve as a vise for sharpening saw blades.

3057) This is a collet for holding burrs in a flexible shaft tool, or perhaps a hand-held tool. It looks a little long to be for a Dremel, but it is for a similar tool at least.

3058) An interesting tool. At a guess, it is for woodworking, with the edges marked 'd' and 'v' for smoothing respectively curved surface and flat surfaces. The other two edges might be for stripping off bark as an earlier operation.

3059) At a guess, it expands inside something to allow it to be hung from a scale. Likely fish but perhaps a side of beef or something like that.

3060) A tool for preparing apples at a guess. It at least cuts slices and discards the core. And it looks as though it also peels the apple first.

Looks like a good thing to have if you want to turn a bushel of apples into a number of apple pies.

Now to post and then see what others have suggested.

Enjoy, DoN.

Reply to
DoN. Nichols

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I think the latter, though I just posted a suggestion that it is a collet for a rotary tool like a Dremel or Foredom. But the extra view which was only in the "larger" page shows the ridges in it, so I now believe that it was specifically from a drafting pencil, which held larger diameter "leads" than normal mechanical pencils did. It was spring loaded, and you pushed the button on the end to allow the "lead" to slide down so the sharpener could re-point it.

Enjoy, DoN.

Reply to
DoN. Nichols

overripe, bruised and soft.

Pears too.

We use the version sold by Lee Valley.

They're great appliances for getting fruit peeled and sliced for drying or pie making.

Reply to
phorbin

Posting from my desk top PC in the living room, as always.

3055, by some odd coincidence, I have one of these on my kitchen table, now. Mine has a better crank handle than the one you show, and is in a bit better shape. I know what it does, but not "it's a XX that goes onto a YY" level of detail. I'd be happy to send you pictures, if you wish.

3056, don't know.

3057, some kind of leather punch? 3058, don't know 3059, maybe help carry tubing of some kind? Squeeze, and put the pointy ends in the tube? 3060, maybe apple peeler, and slicer?

. Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus

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Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Guess I missed that one. Knew it was a crank generator, but didn't know the used purpose.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Don't think I need any photos but thanks for the offer.

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Answers for this week's set have been posted, but no luck yet finding a reference for 3059:

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I'll be posting next week as usual, hope everyone has a great Christmas, or Holiday.

Rob

Reply to
Rob H.

Rob. Actually the magneto was for more than signaling the operator. If you wanted to call someone on your line, a neighbor, perhaps. You didn't call the operator. the operator could not help you. You needed to ring the other person on your line. Perhaps two long rings and a short, or three shorts rings. Every subscriber on a given line heard all the rings whenever someone was being called. Every subscriber had their own unique signal code. In fact they could pick up the receiver and listen to the conversation and even add their comments at any time. The good old days!

Paul

Reply to
Paul Drahn

I typed antique medical spreader into Google Images, and found perhaps related items.

Bill

Reply to
Bill

Thanks, I just updated my answer for this device.

Reply to
Rob H.

Thought that might be a risky search but turned out to be not bad at all. I'll pass this along to the owner so he can possibly do further research. Thanks

Reply to
Rob H.

I hadn't thought of that. I think two points would puncture tissue instead of spreading it.

Assuming the ruler is an inch wide, it appears that the pointy toes are about 3.5" apart. The "legs" appear to be about 2" apart, outside to outside, at the "ankle." If they were squeezed together, it appears that the "toes" would be 2" apart.

If the slotted piece were slid down, perhaps it would hold the legs together.

I picture a cylindrical container the size of a 46-ounce juice can. In the center of the flat top, it has a neck 2" in diameter and 5" long. If you collapsed the legs and shoved the tool down until one of the toes got under the flat surface below the neck, then let the legs spread, the other toe would come out under the flat surface on the other side. Now you could hang the container securely.

I wonder if it was to hang a container, or maybe to extract a mechanical part with a tube 2" in diameter.

It's curious that the "toes" aren't 180 degrees apart.

Reply to
J Burns

J Burns fired this volley in news:l94at5$mo$1@dont- email.me:

It's definitely for hanging something, and freely enough to let it self- center at its CG. Note the swivel and loop at the top.

Any sort of implement used to grasp would have a rigid handle.

Lloyd

Reply to
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

I think some carriages may have had axle diameters as small as 2 to 2.5 inches. Hmmmm.... suppose you had a cab company in 1890. It snows. You have to convert your cabs to sleighs. Each wheel must be properly stored to stay round. I wonder if this device would have helped move carriage wheels around a shop on a hoist.

Reply to
J Burns

Are you sometimes concerned about what you might see? Occasionally, I brace myself..

Reply to
Bill

Someone suggested "for cleaning (interior) threads". That hasn't been ruled out (and may explain why account for why the toes aren't

180-degrees apart).
Reply to
Bill

But in which newsgroup? This is cross-posted to three newsgroups. (I know, you are active in rec.crafts.metalworking too, but the idea was to try to associate what kinds of answers come from people in which newsgroups.

Yours has a crank which screws onto a threaded stud in the center of the big gear, I suspect.

And -- when it is turned, a projection extends out the other end of the shaft, closing an electrical contact.

If it is as I described (and likely black paint on the horseshoe magnets, instead of red paint), then it almost certainly came out of an old wall-mounted telephone. You cranked it to send a ringing signal down the line, to get the operator's attention. (Or, to ring other phones on the same party line, to make very local calls without the help of the operator. :-)

The one in the puzzle, with the square projection on the far end of the shaft is likely intended to be used in something like a school physics/science lab, thus the fancy red paint on the magnets. (And, it allows the teacher to lock away the crank, to prevent mis-use of the generator -- or at least to make it a bit more difficult. I could imagine the teacher doing that in self-defense, given the way kids act. (I was one. :-)

I don't need one, but perhaps the fellow who posts the puzzles would appreciate it.

Reply to
DoN. Nichols
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It looks much too light-duty for that , in my mind. Why would it have pointy ends ? .. I liked the hang-a-bird theory. John T.

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Reply to
hubops

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