What is it? XCVI

551. An Edison cylinder for playback of pre-recorded music 552. Is that a pasta cutter/crimper? 553. Digital liquid thermometer 554. not sure 555. butter churner? 556. no clue

--julie

554 Calibration wheel for thermostat 555 Flintstones well windlass? 556 Log dog

556. is a log-dog, used in building log houses (think very large temporary staple).

554. Fan on an electric motor 555. A well reel to wind rope and bucket up and down into the well.

No, I think 554 is the business end of a fire sprinkler.

Paul K. Dickman

554- Close up of a fire suppression sprinkler head.

555- archeological evidence that the Puritans played bingo.

I got one! I got one!

555: This unit is incomplete. It's the rotor for a wind sound FX machine for live theater. It sits in a box, that it just fits into - the metal sleeve (there's another on the other end) fits into a notch at the end of the box. A piece of silk is fastened along one edge of the box so that it can be draped over the drum, covering the whole top hemisph^H^Hcylinder? - well, you know what I mean. Anyway, when the crank is turned, it goes, Whooosh! WhooOOOoooosh! and so on.

At least, that's how the one I saw worked. :-)

Cheers! Rich

This one is the deflector for a fire protection sprinkler.

According to R.H. :

O.K. -- posting from rec.crafts.metalworking again.

551) Easy -- an Edison cylinder recording.

552) Hmm ... despite first appearances, the first one is *not* a gear, as the teeth are square.

I'm not sure of the material of the wheel in the first one. It sort of looks like asbestos.

The second appears to be brass.

So -- I will guess that they are for guiding something hot, and the "teeth" in the first are to minimize heat transfer. Hmm ... perhaps for use with a glass-blowing lathe?

553) At a guess -- a non-contact infrared temperature sensor, with pins for plugging it in to recharge the batteries between use?

554) Cooling fan on a small electric motor -- perhaps one found in an inexpensive phonograph?

555) For tumbling something -- either clothes, or more likely something which needs polishing -- in sand or rocks.

It looks large enough to be used for tumbling a chain mail shirt in sand, to remove the rust.

556) A double-ended prybar, with the prys oriented differently on each end?

Now to see what others have guessed.

Enjoy, DoN.

#551 Novelty scene toy #552 Leather marking/impression tool #553 Water quality measurement system, measures temperature and total dissolved solids #554 Fire sprinkler valve #555 Butter churn #556 Not even a wild guess

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

On 1/5/2006 4:40 AM R.H. mumbled something about the following:

551. Edison phonograph wax cylinder recording of "At the Gate of the Palace of Dreams" (but I thought it was patented in 1906 and earlier, not 1911, the Amberola player was around 1911 though).

556) Log woodworking dog. Used to hold logs from rolling away while fitting log home walls.

553 PH Meter.

554, Fire Sprinkler head.

You have to replace the batteries once in a while

Gary

This answer is correct, otherwise know as an embossing roll, back tool, blank roll or gilding roll; it's used to apply gold leaf to the leather cover of a book.

While we're on the subject, I was surfing the web the other day and came across a site (see below) that shows books that have fore-edge painting, with the edge of the pages gilded with gold. It got me wondering how they gild the edges without having the pages stick together. Anyone know the answer to this?

Rob

Here is your answer: