What is it? Set 453

2629, vaguely resembles boxes used for sound equipment, for travelling musicians. Except for the open ends.... 2630, no clue. 2631, the ramped compartments at the ends might be for coins? 2632, and it's still unidentified. 2633, maybe a bread box? 2634, no clue.

Great selection, this week. I sense that I'm going to learn a lot.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

Rob

2632. Looks like the gun used in the Road Runner cartoons.

"Rob H." on Thu, 9 Aug 2012 04:08:44 -0400 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

Shipping container, crank shaft / axle / generator type "core."

2629 Shipping crate

2630 Glass cutter

2631 Home made tool cabinet

2632 air hose gun

2633 Bread box

2634 35 mm Film leader retriever

Today's set of items has been posted:

Rob

2634 film retriever. To get 35mm film out of cassette ....

So, my musical theory bombs? I can imagine that.

Christ>

Looks like it was used by the Air Force to carry aerial bombs

I agree that it's probably for holding money.

2629 looks like the sort of re-usable box used to store an expensive, delicate part in a factory between fabrication and installation. Could be for aircraft, turbine, missile, tank, etc. The openings at the ends may mean it held a shaft that rested on the semicircular cutout (which looks like it is metal-lined for wear). The little removeable sides allowed it to be picked up more easily. 2630 Shul-son made cobblers and leather tools. Maybe ask a leather worker.

Posting from rec.crafts.metalworking as always.

2629) Purely a guess, but I suspect it is for some form of airborne ordinance -- probably mounted on a central pole under the wing. The two openable ports at the end would allow it to be slid onto the pole and then the box lowered from under the ordinance. (Probably a rocket of some sort, and maybe after it is mounted on the pole, a guidance system will be inserted in the nose.

2630) No guess at all.

2631) It looks as though the drawer shown could hold paper money in the back compartments, and coins in the front ones. The curved front of the front compartments makes it easy to scoop out coins.

When the central drawer is locked, does it also lock the other drawers?

If it were not for the compartments in the shown drawers, I would think that it would make an excellent machinist's toolchest.

2632) Without other views, I don't know.

I suspect that there is a center hole in the right-hand end and a plunger which would push out something from the center hole when the handles ase squeezed.

Really -- other views, including the end of the tube, and details of the handle pivots would make this a lot easier.

2633) Assuming that the darker wood is the only part being asked about and it is just sitting freely on the lighter wood, I think that this could be used as a shoeshine box with the heel of the shoe resting behind the cross-bar on top center.

2634) This looks like a template for trimming the end of 16mm movie film. Just a guess, though.

Now to post and then see what others have suggested.

Enjoy, DoN.

#2629 appears to have started life as a shipping crate for some heavy piece of machinery. Something round with a heavy duty shaft on either end.

Someone then decorated the sturdy box for who knows what.

John

2569: If the shaft would fit within the end doors, why have open ends at all? Why not make the box 2" longer?

I think it was for a spool that was handled by a shaft, which was withdrawn for shipment. It makes me think of beams in textiles. A beam might be wound with 1500 threads for the woof. They might have a particular color pattern. Beams would be wound in one department, then transported to looms. I don't remember how they were lifted, but it would have been disastrous for a machine to grab one around the threads.

So, if you have to ship or store a wound beam, you lift it by the shaft into the box, then withdraw the shaft. Mice would love to chew up yarns to get nesting material. Hence the doors.

Here's the sort of beam I have in mind. If a textile mill has a few looms ten miles from the main plant, it will want to truck wound beams without messing up the threads.

If the box was for a beam like this, the notches would be to fit the hubs, but I think the open ends were to insert and withdraw a shaft used to hoist it.

I'm told the previous owner of this large box had used it as a coffee table in Manhattan.

Someone had taken just one photo of this tool over ten years ago, so I can't get more pictures at this time. This device and the large box are still mysteries for now, the rest of the answers can be seen here:

From an earlier set, I am remembering something about 2632 being used in repair of tires, maybe early tube tires on rims. Separate the tire from the rim, maybe.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

A lot of Manhattan apartments are in converted factories. With the wheels, the box looks about three feet high. A maintenance man may have adapted it as a combination scaffold and tool chest. The sideboards appear to be a foot off the floor. They would help a worker step onto the box and serve as foot rests if he used the box as a high seat.

The slots suggest it was made for something with a shaft. The doors suggest that the shaft was removed before they were closed. That sounds like a beam for a loom.

Patterson, the world's silk capital, was 20 miles away. For cotton and wool, the world's biggest mill complex was 150 miles up the Hudson. An apparel manufacturer might pay top dollar for a single roll of cloth woven to his specifications on a quick turnaround. A mill might not even accept an order for one roll.

I see a market for small weave shops in Manhattan. A mill would gladly wind beams for them as they would not be competing for large orders. A weaver would keep several beams of different color patterns on hand. At the mill, the 836 may have told a foreman what pattern was to be wound on the beam. The D may have told him what weave shop it was to be shipped to. At the weave shop, the weaver would want to know which end of the beam was which so that the box could be properly positioned at the loom before it was opened. The H door may have identified the head end of the beam.

Sounds plausible, didn't find anything though when I did a quick search. I thought the D in the black rectangle might be a logo I could find on the web but no luck with that either.

I'll bet the wood along the sides was added to lift the box with a fork lift.

The reinforcements are on the top side, to resist a lifting operation.

John

Torpedo/bomb container?