Set 395

For first time visitors I recommend this archive for some of my best posts.




2281. 16" tall:

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2282. 14" tall, these are made of sheet metal and are hollow:

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2283. 11-1/2" tall, sent in by a visitor who is looking to find the purpose of this device:



There is 2-1/4" clearance between the blades and the slotted base.




Text on it reads “Made in Italy” and “Kalian – N.Y.C. 5177”.




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2284. Around 10-1/2" long, take a look at Neatorama for more guesses and a chance to win a T-shirt:

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2285. Two partial shots:





























2286. 29" long:

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Answers:


2281. This was part of a display of riverboat gambling devices in a museum:

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2282. These are rivet catchers, used by riveters building ships, bridges or skyscrapers to catch the white hot rivets thrown from the worker at the forge:

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One can be seen very briefly at 20:10 in this video on the Empire State Building:


























2283. Haven't yet been able to verify the purpose of this device:


































2284. A mailing machine, used to put addresses on newspapers or magazines, it has a glue roller and a blade for cutting the paper, patent number 1,513,876:

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2285. These are both Archimedes type egg beaters, they work in the same way as the Archimedes drill, if you hold the handle and move the center part up and down it causes the business end to spin:



































2286. An Edmund Draper triple armed protractor that was used by army engineers in the 1800s:

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"The Hand Held Corn Sheller &" is a comprehensive book by Jim Moffet that contains patents, photos, and the history of shellers. This is an excellent book for anyone interested in farming or corn related items, the price is $40, orders can be placed at the email address below, there is a good review of it on this site.
























To submit photos, send them to the address in my profile, please include dimensions, any text on the item, and where it was found.















Last week's set is seen below, click here to view the entire post.








More discussion and comments on these photos can be found at the newsgroup rec.puzzles.

Set 394

For first time visitors I recommend this archive for some of my best posts.




2275. 12-1/4" long:

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2276. Around 5-1/2" tall:



























2277. These were sent in by a visitor who was looking to find their exact purpose:






























2278. 8" long, take a look at Neatorama for more guesses and a chance to win a T-shirt:

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2279. These are close-ups of something most people would recognize:





























2280. 12" long:

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Answers:



2275. A European coach maker's wrench:

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2276. A tubular lock pick, for use on the type of lock commonly seen on vending machines.



























2277. Alcohol torches, used for soldering by electricians, mechanics, repairmen, and radio workers, patent number 1,551,069. The interesting thing about these torches is how they're powered:

The wick is positioned such that it is directly under the head and it is then lit on fire. The heat produced by the burning wick heats up the head and also conducts down to the tank, heating it up as well. This heating effect causes the fuel to expand which causes a buildup of pressure, thus causing evaporated fuel to escape from the head. The escaping fuel has considerable velocity. Obviously, this escaping fuel will catch on fire in the presence of the burning wick. You must realize that the wick must remain burning for the torch to burn. The wick is creating the pressure that causes the fuel to escape as well as the heat to keep the torch burning.

Some of these torches would use naphtha instead of alcohol.




A video of one that has been lit:






























2278. A knife from a US Navy life raft survival kit, the cork handle causes it to float, the holes make it lighter, it has a rounded tip so the raft won't be accidentally punctured, the handle was painted orange so it could be easily seen if lost overboard, and it has a lanyard for tying it to the raft. Text on it reads 27C/2023.

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2279. These are both close-ups of vintage wash boards:



































2280. A Case Gard 100 Shotgun Ammo Box, it has two trays that hold 50 shells each.




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Practical Lock Picking: A Physical Penetration Tester's Training Guideis an excellent book on how locks work and how they can be picked.




The best tool book on the market:






























To submit photos, send them to the address in my profile.















Last week's set is seen below, click here to view the entire post.








More discussion and comments on these photos can be found at the newsgroup rec.puzzles.

Set 393

For first time visitors I recommend this archive for some of my best posts.




2269. Around 14" long:

































2270. 6' tall:



























2271. Over 48" tall:

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2272. 11-1/2" long:

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2273. 18" tall, sent in by a visitor who is looking to find the purpose of this device:





























2274. 2-1/8" long, take a look at Neatorama for more guesses and a chance to win a T-shirt:





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Answers:


2269. An Air Traffic Controller's Signal Light Gun, used to signal pilots when radio communication isn't working.

































2270. An IBM 305 RAMAC hard drive from 1956

It was the first commercial computer to use a moving head hard disk drive, storing five million characters of accounting data, the equivalent of 64,000 punch cards, on 50 24" magnetic disks. To put it in today's terms, the colossal machine held about 5MB of data. Its magnetic disks were accessed by two arms, controlled by vacuum-tubes, that were noisily protected by compressed air.

2271. A seed corn drier, ears of corn were placed on the spikes to dry, the door was used to place in a lamp or heater, patent number 1,228,556.

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2272. A Juno Model 3 Geiger Counter:

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2273. Lots of interesting guesses for this device but I haven't been able to verify any of them:

-Lamp or heater for use in a high dust environment

-Kerosene heater
-Airport runway or taxiway marker lantern
-Old road side smudge pot lamp
-A fumigator
-Roadworker's marker lamp
-Smudge pot -- a dirty-burning flame to coat an orchard with soot as part of a protection against freezing
-Alternate form of a Davy safety lamp






























2274. A salt pulverizer, for breaking up salt in a shaker, it's also called a salt declumper, patent number 71,643:







Other patented salt pulverizers:
Number 270,189




Number 188,709




Number 2,442,486









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Next week I'll be posting on Wednesday morning instead of the usual Thursday.










Three of the funniest books that I've read:





































The answers will be posted on Friday evening.















To submit photos, send them to the address in my profile.















Last week's set is seen below, click here to view the entire post.








More discussion and comments on these photos can be found at the newsgroup rec.puzzles.