What is it? CLXVIII

973. blacksmiths cone. make steel or other metal round or conical. 975. Pharmacists pill roller. 976. I think they're for making beads or grooves in wood.The name riffler comes to mind but I don't think it's correct. Here's a similar tool for inletting rifle barrels. Karl

972: is a Homer Simpson hammer. You just know that thing will smash knuckles.

972: is a MIRV warhead. Wait.........er......OMG!!! What are you doing with a nuclear missile warhead, where did you get it, and is it for sale because I want one too.

975: pill making machine (pharmacological)

Soap holder.

Communist propaganda device. Darn commies..

Cones, large and small.

Machine-gun belt measurer.

Military washboard. Gets out those really tough scared-stains.

Broach.

According to R.H. :

O.K. Posting from Rec.crafts.metalworking as usual.

971) I've never seen anything like this before, but it looks to me like a hinge designed for quick replacement of whatever is held between the claw-equipped fingers.

At a guess, it is for something like the striped barrier board at railroad crossings or something similar. Those must get broken fairly often, and being able to replace them quickly must be an advantage. The four conical projections must be for establishing proper alignment before bolting the hinge in place.

The 'V' notch in the hinge suggests that it is designed to stay in a single position normally (with a matching projection in the mating part), and the spring is for returning it to the proper position after it has been pushed past -- assuming that the board did not break.

972) A folding symbol of the USSR? :-)

I guess that it is for disassembly of crates or something of the sort?

973) Are those steel or cast iron? No real idea what their function is. You've got a good set of puzzlers this week.

974) I don't think that it is a "gauge" of any sort. Just some sort of hand-advanced counter.

975) Perhaps for forming cigars or some similar tobacco product?

976) For forming tongue-and-groove joints in wood?

Now to see what others have said.

Enjoy, DoN.

971: Industrial-strength cat carrier: Cheers! Rich

Not sure, but those who guessed "cone anvil" are correct, they're for making rings of various sizes.

Yes, counter is a better term for this one, still no luck finding out exactly what they counted with it.

Rob

They're usually called a "float". Plane makers (wooden joiner's planes) used them for making the cross-grain grooves for the iron- holding wedges in plane bodies.

They're also used for insetting barrels and actions into gunstocks.

Good answer, both of these were marked "gunstock float".

Rob

972: Explosion proof hammer and hook. I imagine it was intended to be used by people in the field (because it's collapsible), but I don't know WHAT field :-).

Most of them have been answered correctly this week, more information and a few links can be seen here:

Rob