MYSTERY OBJECTS

[Bodger]

When rigging in my time the nuts & himble were placed on the live cable with the U scection on the dead end

[Pluggy]

Senior moment from Stanley.

I don't know enough about the intricacies of using clamps on steel cable to know exactly how they are used.

[plaques]

I cannot tell a lie t'was me.
[quote= there will be a supplementary question when they have been identified....[/quote]

If these clamps had dropped on a country pub tap room table I reckon it would have cost me a pint of mild to listen to the story behind it. I could witter on about towing with steel cables but I suspect your explanation will be more polished and entertaining than mine.

[Stanley]

Pluggy is right, senior moment and bad near sight. Bodge has got it exactly. If you look at the saddle it is grooved on the inside to make its pressure kind on the rope and to get maximum grip. This should always be fitted on the live side not the fag end. There have been cases of the clip shackle kinking the live side enough to cause weakening of the cable and failure under maximum load. Riggers have a table which gives the minimum number of clips to be used for a certain rope diameter and Safe Working Load. The Bancroft teagle hoist had a 3/4" cable and a SWL of 5cwt and it demanded three clips at the end of the cat head. Once, when expecting a visit from the Factory Inspector I covered my bases by having a new hoist cable fitted by Foulds from Colne. When I checked on their work the day before the inspection I saw that the three clips were fitted the wrong way round. I got B&D to bring their longest ladder and four men to help to rear it, it was a forty foot wooden ladder! As you know I wasn't bad working at height but when I started up the ladder I found I had two problems. The first was the harmonic sway on the ladder as I climbed and the second was that looking through the rungs the nearest thing I could see at my level was Pen Y Gent! I was very glad to get the clips reversed and get back to terra firma. Interesting to reflect that a good six inch splice would have the same grip!



This is very specialised, so much so that I will give you a clue to start with. The left hand end is threaded 1/2" British Standard Pipe Thread.

[plaques]

Just a footnote on why wire cables can be lethal in towing situations. Besides following the old adage "never saddle a dead horse" ie; the saddle should be fitted to the load bearing wire. There should be a minimum of two clamps depending on wire diameter. They should not be considered as a permanent solution.
Farmers were notorious in abusing towing equipment. A cable braking under load would react like a spring scything anything down in its path. The tractor driver, if he was lucky, may get away with a bit of whip lash but sometimes it could prove to be fatal.

New object. No idea other than the top of a hand rail.

[Stanley]

Stanchion idea good but far too small.

[Bodger]

Transmitting fluid power via swivel joint

[plaques]

Looks like one of these. Part of a pantograph link at the oily end of a great big mill steam engine.

[Pluggy]

For lubricating something (probably some part of a steam engine knowing Stanley) with a banjo bolt through the right hand end.

[Stanley]

Bodge and Pluggy are so close! P is close as well but not the sort of link he illustrates. Stick to lubrication.....

[Stanley]

Close up of the linkage on the Ellenroad HP lubricator. Try this one....

[Tizer]

Oil lamp of some kind?

[PanBiker]

Naptha Lamp?

[Gloria]

Coleman pendant lamp??

[plaques]

Vintage veterinary portable soap dispenser. For use in a barn when dealing with beasts.
or Florence Nightingale ward round lamp used in the Crimean war.

[Stanley]

You have it, it's a stink lamp from the days before electricity. Clever little thing, folds up as below



They ran on waste oil hence the name!

[Tizer]

Potentially a robust biofuel illumination device, perhaps we should be given a grant to encourage us to buy them and fuel them from waste chip shop oil! (Might smell better than when running on waste petroleum oil.)

[plaques]

Shouldn't be a problem. A drill chuck but?

[Pluggy]

Reduction gearing. You let it spin for full speed, but if you grip the disk and stop it turning, the reduction kicks in.

[plaques]

Of course Pluggy is right. The days before elfin safety. Pre-dates the two speed drill. Next item please.

[Stanley]

Try this.... Exact description please.

[Tripps]

Lapel badge - Cheshire Regiment? Hope you're still keeping the back brasses well polished.

[PanBiker]

Cheshire Regiment motif, yes but normally within a star, certainly on the cap badge, could this one be a collar badge?

[Stanley]

You're right. We called them collar dogs.

[Stanley]

The collar dogs in action. Gatow 1954. I was stick-man on the main gate guard at battalion HQ . That meant judged smartest on parade and excused the guard. Try this oldie....