mystery funnels

When you are laid up in bed, and can't get up - they strap that on you! Elastic bands through the slots -

That is before they were such and inserted something.

Mart> I just sent off a jpeg of a couple of "mystery funnels" to the drop box

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Just a guess... how bout part of the funnel end of an old training aircraft 'Gosport' tube intercom system. Not so sure 'intercom' would actually be the proper term, as I recall reading they were set up one way only, making it easy for instructor's to scream at their cadet.

I Googled a little, but didn't come up with a photo.

Erik

Hey Bill,

Not a clue what their purpose might be, but I doubt they were for anything aircraft related where skin on ANY part of your body might come in contact with REALLY cold metal at altitude .

Yikes.

Brian Lawson, Bothwell, Ontario. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

so, a precursor to a catheter - what might it be called so I can find a picture and see if that is right?

My suspicion is that they are medical facemasks for the mouth, probably used for ether or nitrous oxide anaesthesia circa 1900.

Joe Gwinn

You MAY be right, but I don't think so - the things fit nicely over one's mouth, but not over one's nose or certainly not nose and mouth, so that would suggest it's not for anesthesia - but it might be part of a pilot's breathing aparatus where one could reasonably breathe through the mouth, or it might go with a separate rubber seal and cover more volume - all in all, quite a mystery. -

I'm actually kinda surprised someone hasn't said "oh yeah, those things - I used to use them when I ....... " because there is so much variety on this group.

Not anything like any relief tube I've used (they are still very common on military aircraft). It looks to me like one of those things you speak into on a ship. Someone previosly gave the name. There's an old WWII movie with something very similar hanging around a sailors neck by a strap that would go through those slots on the side. I'm thinking the movie was the one where John Wayne saves a destroyer? from Pearl Harbor, but I don't remember the name.

Wayne Sippola

"In Harm's Way"

They look like nitrous oxide inhalers, just missing the rubber boot that went around them. They kind of look like Evans dental equipment style. They used separate pieces, one nasal and one oral. The idea was that you put both on and knocked out the patient, then kept the nasal on while you did oral surgery. The nasal flow allowed the gas to keep the patient out longer. There were a few companies that made them that way though.

They look a little like speaking tubes, but not from a ship. the ones on ships had a whistle that plugged into each end. I have seen these in use between the bridge and engine room of an old ship. The caller would remove the whistle, and blow into the mouth piece. That would blow the whistle on the other end. The person on the receiving end would then remove the whistle, and reply, the place the cone to his ear for the message. similar devices were used in carriages, taxis, and large houses with servants. The tube on these is too small for communication, and the provision for a strap eliminates these from the speaking tube category.

Steve R.