What is it? CLIII

The latest set has just been posted:

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Rob

Reply to
R.H.
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880 is an incomplete set of cork borers. There are quite a few missing.
Reply to
Unknown
878: Guess... Seems to be a device for measuring/setting pitch/grade/angle. Unless it is a trick of perspective, the right side seems to not be perpendicular to the bottom. Why would one want to measure the angle of a near vertical thing? My guess is a mortar aiming gauge.

879: At first sight it looks similar to stroboscopic discs used to set/check turntable speed. But... With 6, 91 (7x13) and 182 radial markings, it doesn't make sense for common turntable rates. I still guess it is used as a strobe disc, but I've no idea for what.

880: Unknown has already identified a set of cork borers.

882: Traffic light? Go/stop indicator for cars/trains/horses/dog-sleds/camel-caravans?

883: Why would anyone want to check magnetic north alignment precisely but only over a small range? Perhaps used to carefully calibrate deviation of magnetic north from true north. For making maps of magnetic deviation?

Reply to
Alexander Thesoso

878. Clinometer, for measuring angles relative to the vertical. This is a military one and not uncommon, used for setting elevation of light artillery, mortars or heavy machine guns. 881. Can't tell from the pictures, but it looks like a sodium press. You stick a lump of sodium in and squidge it into spaghetti. Used as a reagent in some chem lab processes. 883. Obviously electromagnetic, but I think it's more electro- than geo- Probably a demonstration galvanometer, like a telegrapher's galvo only bigger. Wrap a few turns of wire around and you'll get a deflection depending on charge and current direction.
Reply to
Andy Dingley

879. Perhaps..... A phase disk to confirm or set the RPM's of a spinning turn table.
Reply to
Leon

882 is an indicator to the train engineer which way the points (track switch) are set.
Reply to
Robatoy

879 could be an atomizer disc for a rotary paint applicator used in a high volume electrostatic paint booth.
Reply to
Robatoy

878 looks like a precision inclinometer.

880 is looks like a fixed bore gauge set for a specific item's bore; probably a go/no-go check for a production item.

LLoyd

Reply to
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

Reply to
Clay
878 Gunners Quadrant..
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Reply to
Clay

Reply to
Ray Field

Thanks for the link, I was looking for one but didn't find much.

Someone told me that he was seeing two different tools for number 881, it looked fine to me both at home and at work, but if you saw a photo with a blue wall in the background, that was the wrong picture. I've just reloaded both images for that number, so you should see the Stellon device assembled in the first photo and dismantled in the second.

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Rob

Reply to
R.H.

879.

Low probability guess. There once was a company by the name of R.S. Knapp (NAPCO) that sold drafting supplies. Using the grooves etched into the disc (if they are deep enough) one could guide a pencil in order to use the disc as a template to draw the blades of a tangential turbine.

883.

The compass is similar to the compass in my theodolite. It is used to align the instrument to magnetic north.

Kevin Gallimore

Reply to
axolotl

It's for a druggist to squeeze ointment into a pot for sale.

Until next time, Marcey

Reply to
Marcia Pease

According to R.H. :

O.K. Posting from rec.crafts.metalworking again, as usual.

878) A device for measuring (or setting) to some degree of precision the deviation of a surface from level.

The scale is not degrees -- so I might think that it is intended to dial in a specific elevation angle for an artillery piece, with tables converting that to range with a given charge.

The gear teeth are at the same intervals as the marking, so I think that you pinch the two tabs to slide it to close to your desired setting, and then rotate the knob to dial in a fraction of one of those units.

The level vial is almost certainly a lot more sensitive than anything except a Starrett "Master Precision Level" or one by another maker.

879) I've never seen one of these before, but I suspect that it is a form of air cushion bearing.

A Google search finds that NAPCO makes (or sells) automotive parts and motorcycle parts -- but this does not look like one of either to me.

880) I thought that you had put a similar one up in the past year or two. It is a chem lab "cork borer". You select the tube for the size of glass tubing which you wish to fit, and bore a hole through the cork. It is also missing a central rod with a knurled knob on the end which is used for pushing the cork out of the smallest tube. The other sizes are cleared by using the next size down.

Note that the free end of each is beveled. (Hmm ... *maybe* what you showed before is the tapered brass core with a hinged knife blade for sharpening these cork borers.)

881) For making *something* under pressure. Perhaps Vegemite, given the Australian provenance?

I would have liked closer shots for the individual parts, instead of that long shot with them all spread out along a board.

882) A signal lantern -- perhaps for something like railroads. You rotate it to present either the horizontal bar or the vertical bar -- indicating "no-go" or "pass", I expect. 883) With that long a needle, it would be quite sensitive. I think that it could be used in conjunction with a map and a table to refine "sights". Put the map on the table, align the object to the North-South line on the map, and rotate the map and the compass until it reads zero, and then look around for recognizable objects (and take sights to them) to determine where you are on the map.

Now to see what others have guessed.

Enjoy, DoN.

Reply to
DoN. Nichols

881 It is to make campaign buttons?
Reply to
Robatoy

you may be almost right. substitute 'plane table' for table and you may have it.

plane tabling dates from before the 1950's. the mapping surveyor went to a spot and put up his plane table and levelled it. then put the piece of paper on it positioned so that the point on the emerging drawing was plumbed over the spot on the ground. the sheet was oriented precisely to the detail and radial lines drawn to prominent objects. by moving around to other points and plotting to prominent objects the entire detail could be developed on the map. you would only need a needle with a small movement to aid in orientation of the map.

I've never actually seen one so I'm guessing and the technique predates my surveying time.

a land surveyor's plain tabling compass is my guess.

Stealth Pilot australia

Reply to
Stealth Pilot

I think this is right. It is called a "Trough Compass" and is indeed used with a Plane Table. See the following links for some examples:

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Reply to
Leon Fisk

879- Disk from a tesla turbine?

Dave

Reply to
spamTHISbrp

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Thanks, those are some good links, looks like trough compass is the correct answer.

Still not sure what two of them are in this week's set. I added one more photo of the press that shows a close-up of two of the pieces, that's the third and final photo of this device that was sent to me:

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Rob

Reply to
R.H.

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