MYSTERY OBJECTS

[Stanley]

Try shoving a feather into the oil!

[Gloria]

Giving something a light feather dusting of oil? Something in a weaving or spinning mill. But I’ve no idea what.

[Gloria]

How about a McCoy drip cup…….
“Elijah McCoy, who you may be familiar with from the expression “the real McCoy,” was a Canadian-born African-American inventor and engineer. In 1872, McCoy invented an automatic lubricator that was used to apply oil through a drip cup to locomotive and ship steam engines. He patented this device as an “Improvement in Lubricators for Steam-Engines.””

[Stanley]

I think you are near enough Gloria. It was hung on a loom with a piece of wire and used for putting a drop of oil on the rod the picking leather slid on.
Here's a reference to your McCoy oiling system and its possibly being the origin of the phrase 'The Real McCoy', although there are several more.....
Next one?

[Stanley]

What are these?

[Big Kev]

Livestock castration?

[Cathy]

Steeplejack equipment

[Stanley]

Kev has it straight away Cathy. Clamps for castration of bullocks and horses using a hot iron.
Next one?

[Big Kev]

20211230_115400.jpg

What and where? (a rough location will do).

[Tizer]

I know what but not where.

[Big Kev]

I know what but not where.

I reckon you're the only one

[Stanley]

The inscription gives it away denoting which Act of Parliament authorised it. It's a Coal Post but I don't know where.
(LINK)

[Big Kev]

It is indeed a Coal Tax Obelisk. This one is in Crayford, Kent just off Thames road, North of the River Stanham and East of the railway line. For those who don't know (I didn't) Coal-tax posts/Obelisks are boundary marker posts found in southern England. They were erected in the 1860s and form an irregular loop between 12 and 18 miles from London to mark the points where taxes on coal were due to the Corporation of London. There were originally around 280 posts of which around 210 remain.

[Stanley]

I didn't know about them until I saw it on here.



What is this?

[Tizer]

Liz Truss with a big stick waiting for Boris Johnson to pass by?

[PanBiker]

Ha, bit of a give away there Stanley. It's Pallas, Greek mythology goddess. It's a very complicated story.

[Stanley]

But what is the object?

[Big Kev]

It's a fire insurance plaque. Displayed on buildings, prior to a public fire service, to show they were covered by the insurance company's fire service.

[Stanley]

Exactly right Kev.



Try this one.....

[Big Kev]

It's an azimuth mirror, sits on top of a compass so you can see the stars and the compass at the same time. I remember seeing one in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich many years ago.

[Stanley]

Indeed it is Kev; Sir W Thompson's patent azimuth mirror.
Next one?

[Stanley]

What's the name of the iron post stuck up through the stone?

[Cathy]

Is it an early bollard, or something from a war?

[Stanley]

Sorry Cathy, No. It's smaller than that and for a very peaceful process.

[Gloria]

It’s protruding up through a stone wheel for grinding corn?