MYSTERY OBJECTS

[catgate]

It is a universal anti nose picking glove. These were issued to weavers who were weaving parachute material during the war, so that they did not soil the fabric with nose pickings. The were informed that they should use the picking sticks which were provided with each loom.

[chinatyke]

A glove you can wear on either hand. Possibly so that when the palm side gets worn you swap hands and have a relatively new palm side ?

Expanding Pluggy's idea, you would presumably wear one on each hand. On demanding jobs they would wear out quickly so you simply swap them over to the other hand and they will be reversed and you'll have another workable pair. So it doubles the working life of industrial gloves. What a good idea even if it isn't the right explanation. Have you patented it yet?

[Gloria]

Liked it Catgate

[Stanley]

Pluggy has it right but I'd like an exact use for it. Bit of a clue, only one was worn at a time....

[Marilyn]

You could put both your hands in the same glove at the same time...palms up...and they would both have a thumb!
It's a begging glove, for use on cold days. (obviously. )
A bit difficult to put the cash you collect in your pocket though.

[Stanley]

Not there yet kids... I'll give it another day. I'll admit it's slightly esoteric. Think Mid-West USA and agriculture.

[Cathy]

Oh dear, obviously not used for cleaning venetian blinds with then...

[Stanley]

No Cathy, mind you it would make a good blind cleaner!

[chinatyke]

Not there yet kids... I'll give it another day. I'll admit it's slightly esoteric. Think Mid-West USA and agriculture.

Obviously for an ambidextrous cane cutter.

[Gloria]

Something to do with roping horses/cattle?

[David Whipp]

Corn picker?

[sandy]

Can't help you with the "Glove" question though, I have a few photos but you have to answer Stanleys question first
Hope the photos come through ok.






This was found on a farm, I thought it may have been a box for carrying a ferret but I coudnt see any sign of a lid or top for it, there are holes drilled in all the surfaces.
Peope that worked at the farm after WW2 hadn't seen it before ( so it may be older than that )
It is about 7inch square and 10 inch high.
Fence wire has been used to strengthen it and there is some banding on the corners ( perhaps for added strength)

[Stanley]

David has got it! It's a corn-shucking glove used by Minnesota farmers. They used to have corn-shucking competitions at the country fairs as well. The leaves are so abrasive you need gloves and they soon wear out so they were made reversible. I bought mine off my late friend Bob Jacobsen in Northfield.
I can tell you what the box is but I'll stand back and let others have a go. Definitely not a ferret box!

[David Whipp]

For separating curds and whey?

[Stanley]

Let's see what the others say David....

[sandy]

There is another one just the same, so either they needed two or perhaps they used it ( them) quiet a bit

[Marilyn]

I was thinking the same as David.

[Bodger]

what would you use this for ?

http://100falcons.files.wordpress.com/2 ... la-cut.jpg

[Marilyn]

Bodger...a pivot?

And thinking more about the curds and whey separator above...I have just had a dreadful thought...and it is almost too awful to put into words...but it isn't a bucket to go in the outdoor lavvy to be emptied by the night cart man, is it?
( I know...I hate the way my mind works sometimes too!)

[sandy]

Your last thought had never dawned on me Marilyn, it was suggested to me it may be more along the Milk direction, I just don't know anything about that side of it.
edit, thinking of it, there is an outside toilet in one for the buildings.
I was speaking to someone who used to work here after WW2 ( 30 mins ago) and she was unaware of the "boxes" in the photo but said they used to use something crossed between a colander and a box for the same job.
Bodger, is it a flail of some sort, if you took out the split pin you could change the "flail" part, it could be connected to a drum or tube that rotates as everything is free to move.

[Bodger]

I'm sure a " jack" will tell us

[Stanley]

Bodger's pic is used for lifting large blocks of stone. You cut a slot in the stone with the long sides cut out at an angle which increased as you got deeper. The length of the slot was big enough to insert the dog and once it was in you twisted it 90 degrees so that as the weight came on when you lifted the block the wedge shape tightened against the sloping sides. Clever stuff. It could also be used in the same way to gain a secure anchorage in a rock face if you were using a winch.
As for the boxes, almost certainly cheese moulds. The curds were packed in the box and a weight placed on top. If you were well-organised you put them under a screw press. Left overnight the whey strained out through the holes and then the block of cheese could be knocked out, wrapped and stored to mature. Of course, I could be completely wrong!
I have another object for you but am waiting for my errant daughter to send me a pic. Watch this space.

[Stanley]

Sorry about the quality, best I could get. If you know what it is keep stum for a while and let's see what sort of a mess the ones who don't know get into. We could have some fun with this one!

[Steeplejerk]

Its a "Lewis pin" Bodge.

[Bodger]

Tom, where when did it change it's name, who was Lewis ?
http://100falcons.wordpress.com/2010/08 ... se-stones/

What we call a Lewis, how are things in Blackpool ?, currently watcing a programme about Blackpool emergency services, things have changed since "Uncle Toms Cabin", 1950s up North, it was the only pub with a music licence, many a happy hour there looking for "chancy" women !!. Tony