A Mystery....

Check out the first device on this page:
http://puzzlephotos.blogspot.com/

So far, no one has been able to figure out what it is, although some
interesting observations have been made so far.

1) The writing on the front probably says "2/5 de m/m par hauteur",
which implies something to do with elevation or height.

2) The position of the bar on the right side and the pointer on the top
are correlated with the scale. Specifically, when the pointer is at a
number, the bar is at 20/5 of that number. That might imply that there
was a slider that the bar moved, which gave some sort of line to use on
the scale.

3) Someone thought that this might somehow relate to the
weight/length/width of a fish, somehow.

Any of the triviamasters here got any ideas what this device is for?

--riverman

riverman wrote:
Check out the first device on this page:
http://puzzlephotos.blogspot.com/

So far, no one has been able to figure out what it is, although some
interesting observations have been made so far.

1) The writing on the front probably says "2/5 de m/m par hauteur",
which implies something to do with elevation or height.

2) The position of the bar on the right side and the pointer on the top
are correlated with the scale. Specifically, when the pointer is at a
number, the bar is at 20/5 of that number. That might imply that there
was a slider that the bar moved, which gave some sort of line to use on
the scale.

3) Someone thought that this might somehow relate to the
weight/length/width of a fish, somehow.

Any of the triviamasters here got any ideas what this device is for?

Hm......

The gears are WAY too large and robust for the force one can generate
with a squeeze grip. Moreover, they aren't cut like conventional
gears.....for most of their length they wouldn't even engage because
the teeth are longer at the bottom. The little shelf, perpendicular to
the axes of the gears suggests a sort of feed tray. Looks like a kind
of crimping mechanism. The jaws are rather long and thin. Again, not
something designed for huge forces. The rounded edges on the jaws
suggest a concern about marring a delicate surface. I'm guessing that
they also remain parallel while opening and closing. More like a clamp
than pliers or wrench.

Leather working of some sort comes to mind.....maybe harness making.
Two long strips of leather could be fed through the "gears", and
stitched together as they are compressed. The shelf would act as a
stop to keep the material being fed into the device from getting down
into the longer teeth....the actual business part of the gears. The
jaws might be used where smaller parts needed to be clamped
together....say, where two straps crossed or something like that.

Pure guesswork of course, but whoever came up with the idea that it's
got something to do with measuring fish has got a hell of a lot more
imagination than me.

Wolfgang

Wolfgang wrote:
...The
jaws might be used where smaller parts needed to be clamped
together....say, where two straps crossed or something like that.

A couple of other possibilities come to mind. The jaws might not be
meant to hold anything at all. They may actually be calipers whose
function is to set the proper spacing between the "gears," assuming the
latter to be adjustable. This doesn't look likely based on what's
visible in the photo but.....

The jaws could also be meant to clamp onto some stationary
object....say, a work bench. The material being worked on could then
be ratcheted through the device for stretching or holding taught which
would, in essence, make the thing a mini-winch of sorts.

Wolfgang

It's a stove-pipe crimper...

SRW

"riverman" wrote in message
ps.com...
Check out the first device on this page:
http://puzzlephotos.blogspot.com/

So far, no one has been able to figure out what it is, although some
interesting observations have been made so far.

1) The writing on the front probably says "2/5 de m/m par hauteur",
which implies something to do with elevation or height.

2) The position of the bar on the right side and the pointer on the top
are correlated with the scale. Specifically, when the pointer is at a
number, the bar is at 20/5 of that number. That might imply that there
was a slider that the bar moved, which gave some sort of line to use on
the scale.

3) Someone thought that this might somehow relate to the
weight/length/width of a fish, somehow.

Any of the triviamasters here got any ideas what this device is for?

--riverman

"riverman" wrote in message
ps.com...
Check out the first device on this page:
http://puzzlephotos.blogspot.com/

So far, no one has been able to figure out what it is, although some
interesting observations have been made so far.


I'll take a stab at it and guess a handheld Fluting Iron. It's design is to
press pleats into fabrics which are first starched. They are used in putting
flutes into cuffs, collars and other places where pleats were needed. The
fluting iron were first made back in the 1860's through the 1880's.
fwiw,
-tom

SRW wrote:
It's a stove-pipe crimper...

Bingo. Looked at it and remembered using one on the ranch I worked on.

Frank Reid

SRW wrote:
It's a stove-pipe crimper...

Bingo. Looked at it and remembered using one on the ranch I worked on.

Frank Reid

"Frank Reid" wrote in message
ps.com...

SRW wrote:
It's a stove-pipe crimper...

Bingo. Looked at it and remembered using one on the ranch I worked on.

Fascinating. Looking closer at the "jaws" in light of this revelation, it
appears that's not what they are at all. A release mechanism to open the
crimping rollers, perhaps?

Wolfgang

Ok, here's one I found:
http://home.comcast.net/~tomnak/Antique_Thing.jpg

fwiw,

-tom

This one here would appear to be an electric "Valve-seating" tool...

SRW

"Tom Nakashima" wrote in message
...
Ok, here's one I found:
http://home.comcast.net/~tomnak/Antique_Thing.jpg

fwiw,

-tom