MYSTERY OBJECTS

[Stanley]

Nobody has it which has surprised me. I'll give it one more day and then come clean.

[Gloria]

Part of a spray gun ??

[Stanley]

I'm really surprised that this one has been so difficult, but then I see it several times a day when I clean it out. Here's the big clue!

[Gloria]

Stanley's pipe.

[Tizer]

Well if he gives up smoking he's now got a lot of suggestions for alternative uses for the pipe!

[Whyperion]

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Three from the mother-in-laws garage, sorry for quality, they have all gone to an arts project in South Yorkshire. I have no great idea what any might have been used for

[Stanley]

Tiz, no way I shall be giving up my pipe! Pipes actually, they get rotated and cleaned regularly.

[Pluggy]

Whyperion, I'd hazard a guess all three are metalworking machines used in something like automotive body work. The first looks like a roller to make a curve along the length of a sheet. The second is for processing sheet, maybe cutting or roling a flange, can't say without a close of of the end at the opposite end to the handle. The third is for processing thicker sheet, again detail of the 'action' end would be helpful.

Stanley, do you have one you favour above the others ? My grandfather when he was still alive had several pipes, but one got a lot more use than the others.....

[Gloria]

To be used on thin sheet metal, the first one is for rolling a curve, the second one is a pyramid roller for producing cylinders from flat sheet, and the third is for rolling flanges on flat sheet.
it is difficult with the lack of detail to be more specific.

[Whyperion]

I sort of answered some of my own question last night, looking for information on the Keats & Bexton Shoe Scourer/Finisher (Keats and Bexton were a Staffordshire Company, and closed in 1967, there is a fair amount of information on the web about them). An auction sale (http://www.catalogue-host.co.uk/simonch ... categories -Shambles Museum - it has lots of interesting stuff pictured about 4 years back and some better examples on ebay threw up these.

Tellus Boot Clamp
I didnt get a chance to photo the one in the in-laws front room shop- it has no been passed onto a chap in their town- saved the car suspension moving it to a space into the house that I didn't have.

The green upright item could be
A hand operated leather embossing tool, marked W H & R


The Rollers
A cast iron hand operated leather press, with shaped rollers for moulding leather

The e-bay one sold for tweleve times the amountLeather Workers Press

I think what I still have in the basement is a variation on
A pedal-operated sole stitcher by Auto Soler Co, Atlanta GA


The use of the leather cutter is found here (inventive this chap- beyond my skills)
http://tarahumararunningsandals.blogspot.co.uk/

[Stanley]

Pluggy, no, they are all virtually the same and the idea is to use them in rotation so that they get at least seven days rest before being used again. This makes a lot of difference to how they smoke....
try this one....

[chinatyke]

It's a thread testing machine. Was it to determine the count of cotton?

[Stanley]

Exactly right China. You hung three lees or hanks of cotton on the hook and read the count off on the scale. A 'hank' of cotton was 840 yards long.
Next for shaving?

[Tizer]

What's this? It's about 2 inches across (55mm to be exact).

[Cathy]

Does it open envelopes Tizer? Used to have something similar in the office.

[Pluggy]

Folding magnifier ?

[Stanley]

I'm with Pluggy.

[Tizer]

Pluggy got it. I thought of asking for a bit more detail but it's probably too easy. Yes, it's a folding magnifier, in this instance picked up as a freebie from a paper manufacturer's stand at a packaging exhibition in the 1990s.The photos below show the plastic magnifier unfolded and also a view through the lens. In the latter you can see a scale in millimetres at the bottom of the magnifier. It could be used in various applications and such magnifiers are common in situations where you need to count the number of, say, fibres per centimetre or in printing where you want to measure the font size of printed text. When unfolded and placed on a surface the distance from lens to the surface is fixed so that the focus is correct. Very handy!

[Stanley]

Try this one....

[Bodger]

valve grinding paste ? i recall the double tin, fine & coarse, can't think of the brand ?

[Stanley]

This is what you remember Bodge, Carborundum valve grinding paste red end is fine, blue end is coarse. The Victory powder is much older and not for valves but you are on the scent!

[Stanley]

No takers? I'll give it another day and then come clean....

[David Whipp]

'on the scent' and 'coming clean'...

Abrasive powder for cleaning hands?

[Stanley]

Abrasive powder yes, hands no.

[David Whipp]

Cheating does no good; I'm amazed at how many 'Victory Compounds" (as in places) there are on Google...