What is it? CXLVI

839- adjustable pendulum for a clock.

Dang, that's all I've got.

Dave

835. Speed indicator, measures revolutions, you divide by the time to get RPMs 836. Stumped (of this I'm sure) 837. Possibly what is essentially a large wood sharpener to make wood shavings to use in starting fires 838. See 836 - another stumper. Looks vaguely Veritas or Lee Valley 839. Top of a lighter - the wheel strikes the flint 840. Military climbing piton R

835 Tach. ... Tachometer... Shove point on the left into a hole in the center of a shaft. Pull trigger to engage worm drive. It counts revolutions. Wait a minute. Release trigger. The result is revolutions/minute = RPM.

839 Clock pendulum weight.

836- some kind of clamp-on adjustable wrench, but for what.... D

Home today due to weather.

835. This is for measuring RPM. 836. Looks like the leverage is set to spread or push something away from a square drive/bolt/nut. Beyond that no help. 837. Counting or sorting box 838, Compass, trammel points, ball point pens for drawing parallel lines? 839. clock pendulum with an adjustment to fine tune the timing. ___________________________ Keep the whole world singing. . . . DanG

839 is a pendulum bob, probably from a clock.

Steve R.

840. Piton-rock climbing anchor

Set 146

Item 835 - an early "tachometer", used by placing the pointed end (it was made with a three-sided point, so it wold hold without slipping in the center-drill hole of the shaft-end) of the rotating spindle or on the end of a rotating shaft, timing it with a watch (sweep second hand made this better), reading the three-digit dial to obtain the number of revolutions in the elapsed time, and simply multiplying or dividing to obtain the resultant RPM.

Item 836 Well, it's a ... er, um, well, ah ......

Item 837 A voting box - from a lodge or other social society or organization whose admission to membership was subject to the unanimous vote of the members. It was of wood, the box being divided into two sections. It contained a number of marbles, the majority of which were white, but with a significant number of black marbles included.

The lid with the funnel-shape slid from end to end, and only in the one position, would it uncover the divider, which allowed all the marbles to be rolled into the end with the handle. The divider was then lowered, the lid slid to the voting position, and an officer (sergeant-at-arms, usually) would take it to every member for his vote. Voter would select one marble and place in the funnel. The box, being wood, made it possible for all to hear only one marble drop.

The box was returned to the executive chair, and in the presence of the executive committee, votes were counted. A finding of all white marbles usually admitted the candidate. One "BLACKBALL" usually denied membership. Perfectly anonymously.

One of my uncles came home from lodge-meeting, one Monday night, mad as he could be. Auntie asked him what made him so mad, and he said, "Well "so-and-so" was put up for membership, and I couldn't vote."

Auntie said, "Well, why ever in the world couldn't you?"

Unk roared, "By the time the vote got to me, all the damn black balls were gone!"

Item 838 Another mystery.

Item 839 A pendulum-bob from a clock. The knurled wheel (nut) was used to raise or lower the bob, thus shortening or lengthening the period of the swing. The locking screw at the top prevented its drifting out of adjustment.

Item 840 An anchor of a sort, driven into a mortar seam of a masonry structure, that other things may be attached thereto. (Drain-spouts, temproary lantern-hanger, etc)

Now to see what you others "guessed".

Flash

Revisiting 836 with some observations that might help someone identify it, since I surely can't.

The side "wings" are either meant as a depth stop or for centering. The Graduated notches occur along a curve and there's a can-action clamping mechanism to increase the leverage and the jaws also have linkage to increase the leverage - a few orders of mechanical advantage. In usage the cam-action clamp would start in the notches closest to the jaws, the cam operated sequentially and moved up the notches. There's a flare at near the top of the handle at the cutouts. It seems to be some sort of crimper as there is no real readily observable way to grasp or twist the tool.

What would require a square crimped cap, or that would require such mechanical advantage without the need for turning it, I have no idea.

R

WOW! Do I read the Roman numerals right? One hundred forty six???

Thanks for taking the time to post these Rob, they've been very entertaining for many of us. I look forward to What is it? - M.

Buddy

838: Tru- Bloot (tm) Knot Tyer

"Ties perfect blood knot in seconds" "Lifetime Money Back Guarantee" "Made in USA Pat. Pending"

Copyright 1996

838: Tru- Blood (tm) Knot Tyer

"Ties perfect blood knot in seconds" "Lifetime Money Back Guarantee" "Made in USA Pat. Pending"

Copyright 1996

According to R.H. :

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

835) This is a fancier version of the hand-held tachometer (RPM counter) which has been made by Starrett (and many others) for many years.

It looks as though the trigger allows the gears with the readouts to pop clear of mesh with the worm gear when your watch reaches a precise elapsed time.

I wonder whether there are provisions for engaging the worm with the trigger as well -- to make it possible to engage the diamond point with the shaft before the counting starts, then engage the gears as the second hand sweeps past zero the first time, and disengage as it sweeps past zero the second time. Then you read the total number of revolutions off the dials -- with the bigger one counting two digits, the medium one counting one digit, and the little one counting the most significant digit -- perhaps up to four or five (for 4000 or 5000 RPM max).

836) Looks as though it is designed to grip a (square-ended?) shaft, and hold it centered in a larger hole. 837) Hmm ... perhaps used in the process of making stereograph images -- one side at a time? 838) Hmm ... it looks a bit new for the style. Otherwise, it sort of looks like a wrench for turning something with two pin holes, but not with much torque. Is the black part plastic, or ebony? 839) Pendulum bob for a clock -- probably a mantel clock, given the size. The knurled wheel visible rim-on in the center is used to move the bob up or down the pendulum shaft by small amounts to tune the speed. 840) It sort of looks like a tiny fork-lift fork attached to a lifting ring -- so my guess is that it is slid into slots near the bottom of something and attached to steel ropes to lift it with a crane. And the "something" seems to be of military construction, based on the "U.S." stenciled on the blade.

Now to see what others have said.

Enjoy, DoN.

Most of them have been answered correctly this week:

835. Speed indicator

836. Axle nut wrench

837. Blackball ballot box

838. Fisherman's blood knot tying tool, the black part on this one is made of plastic.

839. Clock pendulum

840. Mountain climber's piton

Patent numbers for the first two, several new photos, and some links have been posted on the answer page:

Rob