MYSTERY OBJECTS

[Stanley]

Anyone got the next one?

[Stanley]

Pure engineering. What's this?

[Marilyn]

Is it supposed to have rollers in it, plus water, and sit in the post office for moistening stamps?

[Stanley]

Sorry Maz, no. Far too big for that.

[Bodger]

spool from a valve ?

[Stanley]

Bloody hell Bodge! Spot on! It's the steam valve out of the horizontal cylindrical port on a Corliss Valve engine.
Now someone has to think of another.....

[Stanley]

Can anyone tell me what this is?

[Gloria]

Adjustable reamer?

[chinatyke]

For swaging boiler tubes in the end plates?

[Stanley]

Sorry, neither is right but I can see where you were both coming from.

[chinatyke]

Inserting into the end of a textile printing roller?
Or inserting into the end of a beam on a loom or warp sizer.

[Stanley]

A beam pike..... Sorry China, no.

[Big Kev]

Is it a spindle for a lathe?

[chinatyke]

A beam pike..... Sorry China, no.

I was trying to think of the word 'mandrel' but it wouldn't come into my mind!

A mandrel? Isn't that the posh word for what Big Kev has suggested?

[Stanley]

I have to give it to you both, it is a mandrel and beyond that it's an expanding mandrel but I'm not going to force that out of you. The internal jaws are on a taper and can be tightened by bumping the collar up or down the shaft. You got that faster than I'd have thought!
Next one for shaving?

[Stanley]

The top object is a 50p piece for scale. What is the lower one?

[Wendyf]

It makes me think of the jet ear studs found in the bronze age ring cairn above Earby.

[Stanley]

Sorry Wendy, wrong material. Made of cast iron.

[chinatyke]

Drawer handle?

[Marilyn]

A Jean stud?

[Stanley]

Sorry, neither of them but Maz's Jean Stud is probably nearest.

[Big Kev]

It looks like a larger version of one of the studs I have for my dress shirt.

[chinatyke]

Reinforcing grommet for a tarpaulin sheet?

[Marilyn]

Boots! Has anyone mentioned boots?!

[Stanley]

Kev's quite right but it's not for a shirt. Not a grommet China sorry and nowt to do with boots Maz.
You're all in the right area. Assume it's a fastener, question is, for what?