What is it? Set 443

2572

This is a booby-trap, or trip-wire firearm, and is attached to a solid object, such as a door frame or tree trunk. A wire or string is solidly affixed on one end, and the other is tied to the ring. When someone walks into the wire, the weapon discharges.

The wire could also be attached to a door, and when the door is opened, the firearm shoots whoever is entering the room.

In looking again at the images for #2569 I noticed that there are tags on/for each set of terminals (three tie tags). Is there anything of interest written on them?

I sent the owner an email asking about the tags but haven't heard back yet.

Just heard back from the owner, here is his reply: "The tag in the back says: AC 110 volts. The tag to the left says lamp. The tag in the front right is illegible."

In 1858, "Scientific American" and the New York Tribune carried articles about using electricity for dental anesthesia. In the 1859 Edinburgh Medical Journal, J. Smith, MD, wrote about it. The patient would hold one conductor and the other would be attached to the forceps. Smith concluded that it didn't block pain but could have a placebo effect.

Forty years later, most dental offices had AC. In the mouth, perhaps

1ma at 10vac could provide a tingle. Perhaps the dentist used a drug for extractions and added the light bulb and tingle for placebo effect.

Or possibly the tingle was to hide the needle stick? Or maybe a speed controller for a drill prior to the air powered high speed ones? Different speeds depending on the bit being used ?

It looks unsafe to hook up 110VAC to exposed terminals, but at least they and the lamp terminals have plastic caps. The front terminals, which the operator could easily touch when reaching for the knob, have no plastic. That led me to believe the voltage was too low to feel with the hand and the resistance too high for a metal tool to draw much of an arc.

That led me to think it wasn't a motor control. I agree that it might have been for needle pain.

You got me to look up dental drills. Electricity made it possible to reach 3,000 rpm in 1914. Nowadays, it's often 400,000 for drilling and

40,000 for other tasks. I believe the electric ones have run on belts, but now there are dremel motors that let a dentist change speeds in the middle of a job.