What is it? CXCVI

Oh. It's to cut corn off the cob for canning or freezing. -- One of these whatchees.

That was my first impression too.

But I did not follow through because;

I thought that the inch and a half was too small.

I did not see the sense of having both smooth and serrated circular edges (cutters).

Oh well, I guess they just came up with better corn cutters. This was an early model.

When I was a kid we used a sharpened shoe horn to slice corn kernels off the cob ... we thought that was "high tech".

What???

And you did not think to submit this priceless bit of cajun technology to this tool and puzzle forum?

Shame on you. ;-)

All but the first one have been answered correctly this week:

Rob

That first one, the tent slip, is a different shape than what I have seen. I have used these a lot when camping as a kid. I have even made them. Another one that got by me.

According to R.H. :

A quick magnet test on the screws themselves could settle that. Anything which would rust to the color of those threads would be ferrous, and thus would respond to magnets.

Perhaps while staples were affixed to hold them in place, and the fixture was moved down the beam (or whatever) for the next row of staples? (Though the opening seems a bit small for a normal beam.)

Enjoy, DoN.

According to R.H. :

O.K. Could you clear up whether 1082 is for 1/4" tape (as others have said) or for 1/2" tape (as I suggested)? Just measure the width of the groove. For 1/4" tape it will be just under 1/4" wide, for 1/2" tape, it will be just under 1/2" wide. The "just under" is to force the tape to cup down to the bottom of the groove, which has a gentle curvature.

Is this one of your collection, or something photographed elsewhere? I would kind of like to add a 1/2" one to what I have.

Enjoy, DoN.

It looks as if it's for lines of about 1/3" diameter, but when it's screwed down, the space is about 5/8" high for three and 1" high for six. Strange clamp!

In a situation where you are fastening wires with staples, why would it matter if the clamp had metal screws? I thought the old insulated wires were spaced much wider than the grooves in the clamp.

Using nuts and a wrench sounds like a hassle for a clamp to hold wires for a moment, then be moved. Instead of screws, I would have used a varnished dowel sticking out each end of each bar. I'd tie a cord to one dowel at each end. I'd put a tapered groove in one of the bars at each end, the kind of groove used on a spool of sewing thread to secure the end. To tighten the clamp, I'd take three or four turns around the dowels at one end, pull tight, and tug the end of the cord into the groove. Then repeat at the other end.

I think wood threads are less likely than metal to vibrate loose under light loads, due to greater friction and greater distortion. I think this device was to secure a bundle of hundreds of small strands such as yarns used in weaving in a cottage or a mill.

In a mill you might wind thousands of yarns on a beam, then cart the beam to a loom. If loose ends got tangled it could be a costly mess. At some time the technique may have called for a clamp like this. As you got the beam wound, you'd clamp the ends in bundles. As you tightened the nuts you'd squish the bundle with your fingers to get it packed with even pressure so no yarns would slip out easily. The teeth would keep the bundle from shifting to one side after the clamp was tightened, which could let some yarns slide out.

More precisley, an EdiTall block, patented by Joe Tall.

If I had only known. I threw away the service manual set for the 440B/C.

Kevin Gallimore

The owner of the splicing block is away from home right now, but will measure it when he gets back, he thought it was 1/2" but wasn't sure. I'll find out it he wants to sell it, I forgot to ask in my first email to him.

Rob

I didn't know what it was when I first saw it either, the ones that we had were plastic and triangle shaped, I'm just glad the patent date was on the back of the one on my site.

Rob

I tried that with a neodymium magnet and there was no attraction at all. The screws are a lighter weight than metal and the middle 1/3 of them are not threaded. They appear to be made of some type of dark red colored wood.

Rob

A retirement aged electrical engineer that I work with said that he saw something similar years ago in New York, and that it was used as a wire clamp. I'm going to stick with this answer for now until I see some evidence that points in another direction. I don't know much about weaving mills but I'll do some searching and see if can find anything to verify your idea.

Rob

I'm curious about its use as a wire clamp. Did he see it used? Were other pieces wedged in to hold the wires? Why wooden screws?

I'm not sure if he's in the office next week or not, but I'll ask him the next time I see him.

Rob

Hi Don,

If it is exactly 5 inches long as claimed in the original page, it then measures 0.41 inches from edge-to-edge of the groove (starting where the flats stop).

I measured the image and calulated pixels to determine this (I know, you could have done this too :).

According to R.H. :

O.K. Thanks! I'll accept that they are not metal, then.

Dark red-colored? Could the screws be Bakelite? I keep thinking that it would be difficult to cut that fine a thread on wood.

Enjoy, DoN.

Thanks -- but I already have the manual set -- bought from Ampex after I got the recorder from a government surplus auction.

Enjoy, DoN.