MYSTERY OBJECTS

[Tizer]

I'm as puzzled as China. I saw the rust on the handle but thought nowt of it. I suppose if the can is hung on a metal hook when not in use this would abrade the zinc plating and provide a metal-to-metal interface which could give China's galvanic corrosion.

[Stanley]

China is right I think but like him I was puzzled by the fact that theoretically the porcelain enamel is an insulator and there should not have been anything to trigger off a corrosion cell and make the galvanised handle into a sacrificial anode. But then I remembered that temperature differential can trigger the response and my theory is that it is that, the temperature difference between the hot brew can and the relatively cold handle. That's my theory and I'll stick to it until someone gives me a better explanation. I know, I should get out more but small things like this fascinate me.....
Next one?

[plaques]

and make the galvanised handle into a sacrificial anode

The image isn't quite clear enough to see whether the galvanizing is hot dipped or electro deposited. The latter I would guess. You are now in the hands of the electro-plater. A cheap job and it will soon wear through. Done properly and it will last you out.

[chinatyke]

But then I remembered that temperature differential can trigger the response and my theory is that it is that, the temperature difference between the hot brew can and the relatively cold handle. That's my theory and I'll stick to it until someone gives me a better explanation.

I hadn't thought of that and you could be right. Same principle that makes thermocouples work, the Seebeck effect. We're digging deep in the memory banks now!

[Stanley]

Polish manufacture and relatively modern P. Almost certainly electro deposited.
China, you're right! Corrosion processes have always fascinated me.



So.... what can you tell me about this bucket?

[chinatyke]

It's not rusty! Looks like hot dip galvanising because of the zinc crystal structure. Pure guess based on Plaques answer above.

[Stanley]

That's a good start and dead on China. Go a bit further and tell me what else you see.....

[Tizer]

The rivets look like they fix strengthening metal strips down the sides. The bucket shape is more conical than usual.

[PanBiker]

It's a vintage design, is it one that you rescued or liberated from Bancroft?

[Wendyf]

A fire bucket, to be filled with sand not water.

[Gloria]

I'm with Wendy.

[Cathy]

I'm with Wendy too.

[Stanley]

Not a fire bucket Ladies. Ian has it right, it's a very old bucket but not from Bancroft. Tiz was getting very close. It's of very heavy construction made by hand by a tinsmith and not a machine. All riveted, very heavy bottom rim and hot dip galvanised after manufacture. The way buckets used to be made and it would last forever.
Next one?

[Stanley]

Try this one.....

[David Whipp]

Instrument of torture masquerading as engineering equipment...

[Gloria]

A valve Spring compressor????

[Pluggy]

Chain rivet extractor.

[chinatyke]

Swaging tool for pneumatic hose ends and stuff like that. Boiler tube ends were often swaged so perhaps that is what you used it for, or brake pipes.

[plaques]

I have a brake pipe swaging bit of kit almost like the one shown. Makes some really nice 'double fold' swage connections. Impossible to do without these formers.

[Stanley]

China was very close and P has it dead right because he mentioned the double fold the tool makes to form the seal. As he says, a clever piece of kit which does what looks like an impossible job.
Next one?

[Stanley]

I think many of you will recognise that this is what my dad used to call a 'drybolic jack'. Note how small it is and then tell me what weight you think it will lift......

[David Whipp]

5 tons...

[Stanley]

Bloody Hell David! I expected people to estimate a lot lower than that because it is so small. You're dead right. Your punishment is to find a mystery object.....
It's a wonderfully compact little jack. I've used the same design of jack rated up to 80 tons.....;

[plaques]

I always remember some of the stories my old lecturer (Bob) told about the time he was in charge of the tank repair depot in WW11. A rep: came with a compact hydraulic jack that would lift a tank up to 50 tons. A big argument ensued about whether it would or wouldn't. Bob was adamant it wouldn't lift his tanks. Off they went into the compound and slid it under a 35 ton tank. After pumping for a while the rep realized it was sinking into the ground. There you are, I said it wouldn't lift it. The base was too small! A fact that Bob had realized from the start.

[David Whipp]