MYSTERY OBJECTS

[Stanley]

Come on you lot! Or is this topic dying on its feet?

[chinatyke]

Silver solder? Or gold threads from India?

[Tripps]

Fuse wire?

[Gloria]

For holding strong thread for stitching jute sacks???

[Cathy]

Does it hold threads (?) of Wool?

[PanBiker]

No idea but I used to have one exactly the same in my toolbox, it came out of the mill but I used it for holding my day to day working supply of resin cored solder which we bought in bulk on a large reel.

[StoneRoad]

Looks like a bobbin for waxed thread - for whipping rope splices etc - or sail maker to sewing patches.

[Stanley]

I can't be sure of course but I think that China is probably right. Gold thread was used in some cloths for export to the Indian market. Of course it could be used for any of the other purposes as well, impossible to tell but I favour the gold wire. Try this one, if you identify it straight away, hold back and give the others a chance....

[Marilyn]

Brings back memories of childbirth....

[Cathy]

Oh dear. Haha, a scalpel would do it for me.

[chinatyke]

Even I recognise the latest object and I have little knowledge of engineering thingummies. The arms can be reversed.
Going back to the previous object, I was reminded of the small shuttle that was used for gold thread that you put up on one occasion.

[Stanley]

Yes China, but the spool they used in it was much smaller.
I think you've all got the last one, it's a puller for getting bearings etc off shafts. Sykes Pickavant in the days when their stuff was made in Sheffield and wonderful quality steel.
Next for shaving?

[Tizer]

How about this one...

[Marilyn]

something that would prevent someone milking your cow?
( obviously photographed upside down, to put clever people like me off track... )

[plaques]

A pure guess, A steam whistle?

[Tizer]

Very inventive, Maz, but I'm sorry to say...incorrect! Of course for all I know it might have been used for such a purpose by a farmer in the deepest Australian outback but I'm looking for its original intended purpose. Plaques, I can see why you might think steam whistle, but sadly no, not its original purpose. Although again I suppose if you blew steam through you it might just get a hint of a whistle.

[Marilyn]

A thumbless rubber glove maker, though I am slightly concerned about the lack of those thumbs...I would have thought them necessary.

[PanBiker]

Is it a lock mechanism of some sorts?

[Stanley]

The cutter for a 'clicking' machine that cuts shapes out of leather? I have seen similar things in slipper factories.

[Tizer]

Stanley's on the ball! It's a webbing knife, made by Hodges & Hallet, and was "placed on top of several layers of leather then pressed through by a machine to produce multiple gloves." Now a museum specimen.

[Marilyn]

Hey! I mentioned gloves!

[Stanley]

So you did Maz.... I'm happy to share with you.

[Cathy]

Do we know what happened to all those poor thumbs??

[Tizer]

Maz, yes, you did mention gloves and I was surprised that others hadn't quickly suggested them. I was looking for the specific aspect of cutting leather, especially multiple layers. But I should have awarded you a brownie point nevertheless! Cath, I don't know what happened to the thumbs - perhaps you had to pay extra for thumbs!

[David Whipp]

Are thumbs sewn on from a separate piece of material?

This one's easy peasy...