MYSTERY OBJECTS

[Tizer]

Robert Hooke. `In Our Time', Radio 4.
"Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and work or Robert Hooke (1635-1703) who worked for Robert Boyle and was curator of experiments at the Royal Society. The engraving of a flea, above, is taken from his Micrographia which caused a sensation when published in 1665. Sometimes remembered for his disputes with Newton, he studied the planets with telescopes and snowflakes with microscopes. He was an early proposer of a theory of evolution, discovered light diffraction with a wave theory to explain it and felt he was rarely given due credit for his discoveries. " iPlayer

[Stanley]

He invented the universal joint for vehicle drive shafts as well but they never mentioned that. I heard the programme as well.



Try this one. What makes it different from the Hooke universal joint?

[chinatyke]

The one you show is a Rzeppa joint which is a constant velocity joint and is not a universal joint like Hookes. Universal joints are not constant velocity.

[Stanley]

Exactly right in all respects China.... Now, give us another!

[Stanley]

Try this one.....

[David Whipp]

Not a cigar tube... alka seltzer packaging?

[Tizer]

Roll of wide format film?

[Cathy]

An old Berocca container.

[Marilyn]

Reminds me of the containers that contained Diabetic Urine Testing Tablets...back in the days when Urine was put in a test tube and a tablet was dropped in...everything bubbled and fizzed and changed colour, then that colour was checked against a colour chart. Glass test tube got very hot in the process.
If so, it would be at least 40 years old...

[Stanley]

Maz is right about the age and David has the origin right, I think it was Alka Selzer tablets. But now for the memory test, what did I use it for and what does it still contain. You've seen it before.....

[Marilyn]

Baccy?

[David Whipp]

Small drill bits?

[Stanley]

I'm not going to tease you too much.... Here's a clue from the Red Lion in Earby.

[chinatyke]

Must be your darts tin. Love the braces! Were those your red ones?

[Stanley]

No China, the striped ones.... You're right of course. The darts were Schofield's, favoured by a lot of professionals in the 50s and 60s.



Now try this one....

[PanBiker]

Cloth pickers tweezers.

[Stanley]

Spot on Ian. The interesting thing about them is they are brand new, never been used.
Next one?

[PanBiker]

You quite often see an odd box full of new ones at amateur radio rallies. Useful in other disciplines and hobbies also.

[Tizer]

What's going on here?

[Stanley]

Wood butchering! Is it a piano works?

[Tizer]

Wood yes, pianos no. Bigger than pianos.

[Wendyf]

aeroplanes?

[Cathy]

Boats?

[Tizer]

Congratulations, Wendy. You're bang on target with aeroplanes. And well done Cathy, you come in at 2nd for suggesting boats - they aren't making boats but I'd expected that to be the first suggestion, with a structure that looks rather boat-like in the centre of the picture. But there's something that might be the double wings of a biplane suspended at the back of the picture. I won't ask the name of the company or location because it's too difficult. The photo is on a postcard that Mrs Tiz bought when we visited the Postcard Fair at Shepton Mallet last Friday. It was not postally used and had very little information on the back (and that in German) so we had to do a bit of research. It was published in recent times by the Heimatmuseum Treptow in Berlin which keeps historical objects and archives relating to that part of Berlin. The caption on the back of the card states: Berlin - Johannisthal. Fabrik - Innenansicht der Albatroswerke Gmbh." The word innenansicht means interior and fabrik is factory, so the picture shows the inside of the factory of Abatros works. I know that Albatros was a manufacturer of aeroplanes in WW1, in fact the best aircraft the Germans made at the time. Further research shows that the company's factory was based at Johannisthal airfield in Berlin. This is what the ww1aviation.com web site says about Albatros:

"Albatros-Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturer best known for supplying the German airforces during World War I. The company was based in Johannisthal, Berlin, where it was founded by Walter Huth and Otto Wiener on December 20, 1909. It produced some of the most capable fighter aircraft of World War I, notably the Albatros D.III and Albatros D.V. The works continued to operate until 1931, when it was merged into Focke-Wulf."

The many types of aircraft it produced are illustrated here: Albatros

[Stanley]

Lovely.... Next one?