What is it? Set 511

Rob H. fired this volley in news:l1eb4g01bp3 @drn.newsguy.com:

2977 - paper hanging clip, for hanging orders, etc. from the wall... most likely for an agricultural repair shop, since they would be the biggest users of small motors 2978 - anti-kickback device for a radial arm saw.

2979 - looks like a "beater comb"or "teaser comb" for flax or horsehair

80-81 no clues

2982 - I do believe that is a forestry service fire-spotter's scope, for use up on fire spotting towers. Two towers triangulate to find the fire on a map.

Lloyd

2981 - Lure-recovery gadget for recovering fishing lures caught in weeds and branches.

Posting from my desk top PC in the living room, as always.

2977, belt buckle? Firemark? 2978, prosthetic hand for 3cpo? 2979, something for wool carding? 2980, handle for some thing? 2981, device for inducing nightmares in small boys. Or, maybe a way of hanging potatos in an oven? 2982, Wasn't there some thing like this in the temple of the lost ark movie, where the guy used a stick and lens to point to where is the entrance in the pyramid?

Rob, you did it again. I've really got no clue what any of these items do. Friday, well, maybe I'll find out.

. Christ> I need some help with 2980, 2981, and 2982 this week:

OK, the forest fire spotter scope thing feels right. The spotter reports his / her tower location, and the compass direction of the smoke. I read about this, decades ago. The towers had a non conductive glass safe area for the spotter to stand, in case of lightning.

The rest of your answers sound correct, also. Good job, sir.

. Christ> Rob H. fired this volley in news:l1eb4g01bp3

#2980 has a fast taper similar to what is used on shafts or pipes to hammer a shallow well. The first part may be the remains of the tip.

Paul

Den 19-09-2013 10:03, Rob H. skrev:

2981 Hook for squid fishing?

(snip)

That's what I thought at first, but the optics do not appear to be a telescope. Also the compass rose is not divided finely enough for really accurate sighting.

I think this might be a cat's eye retro reflecting target for a surveyor. It could be located on top of a mountain where an assistant points it in the direction of the surveyor below. A cat's eye retroreflector has a mirror or partial mirror located at the focal position of the front lens. Surveyors now use corner cube retroreflectors, mainly to provide a target for lasers. Back when this was made, they did not have laser surveying instruments, but a light collimated by the surveyor's telescope would make this target light up and give him a precise aiming point.

The reticle on the back could be used by the assistant for aiming the device if the back surface is partially reflective.

It would be helpful to confirm the purpose of this if there were a photo looking straight into the front, as well as one focused on the reticle in back while the instrument is pointed at a scene in the distance.

"anorton" fired this volley in news:S_udnc0i3vxurqbPnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.com:

I agree that it's not a telescope, but the ones I actually got to use on a real fire tower had no optics, at all... just a peep and a vertical wire sight. Their azimuth divisions were just as coarse.

The mounting holes suggest a (semi)permanent mounting, as opposed to truly portable (which most surveyor's implements are).

LLoyd

I agree it was meant to be semi-permanently mounted, which might makes sense if you are making many measurements in a large area relative to a tall landmark. Perhaps it was used to measure shift of a fault over time.

I have seen pictures of the forest tower sights. While the sights have no optics, they are far apart and the angle scale is more finely divided. This instrument is very short so it would not make a very accurate sight.

Correct

Yes

Nope

Sounds possible, though I haven't been able to verify any of the guesses yet for this device.

Unfortunately I took the photos a while ago and didn't shoot any through the eyepiece so I can't help there, but thanks for the information.

When I first saw this device I did some searching on lure retrievers but didn't find anything, none of them had wires like this one.

Thanks for guessing anyway!

I'll do some searching to see what I can find on that. Thanks

Someone else suggested this to me, I couldn't find any similar ones but I think this idea has merit.

I agree that it looks fishing related, it was found in Tennessee but I guess that doesn't rule out that it's for salt water use.

Back in my boy scout days (c. early 60's), we came across a fire tower and were invited up by the ranger for a tour. I remember him showing us the sighting device... and it was nothing like 2982

Did a little Googling and came up with this:

I'm 100% sure that this is device employed in that tower. While I suppose it's possible 2982 could be used for the purpose... I suspect not.

Erik

Turns out that this one is a surf sinker, also called a breakaway sinker, or spider weight.

2980 is for cracking nuts, pecan, walnut, hickory, etc.

technomaNge