MYSTERY OBJECTS

[plaques]

Vintage 1964. That's almost 50 years. Some very special anniversary looming or you wouldn't have kept an empty bottle. It could of course held a genie. Two wishes used. (both eyes corrected) one wish to go. Perhaps the pipe gets the heave ho.

[Tripps]

And they're still at it. . . . .

2012 Ch. Beychevelle, St Julien France » Bordeaux Ch. Beychevelle, St Julien
Château Beychevelle, Cab.Sauvignon Blend, Dry, Red, For laying down, 13% alcohol.
An intriguing nose of brambly, dark cassis flavoured fruit continues on a smooth and nicely concentrated palate. Truly harmonious and approachable, it has a perfect blend for this 2012 vintage and the delicious


"Truly harmonious and approachable" - something like myself. But I guess I can't afford it.

[Stanley]

Why would I want to stop smoking my pipe?
David is on the right track. We drank it 27 years ago. Tell me something about the estate and the size of the bottle. John Martinez asked me the same questions when we were going to drink it.... I'll spill the beans tomorrow.

[Gloria]

Chateau Beychevelle has added anti counterfeiting measures to their bottles using the Tesa PrioSpot system. The Tesa PrioSpot method adds a unique code to each bottle that is stored in a database that allows purchasers and sellers to check for the authenticity of each bottle along with the name of the original, authorized distributor.

[Stanley]

Nothing like that on this bottle Gloria. This large bottle (I forget what it is called, is it a Jeroboam?) was given to my mate John for giving a lecture on wine in about 1960. He decided it was time to drink it and so we had it with a very expensive meal at a restaurant near Harewood House. The Beychevelle Estate gets its name form the fact that at one time the owner was the Grand Admiral of France and all French navy ships passing had instructions to lower their topsails as a salute, 'baisser les voiles'. This was corrupted in time to Beychevelle. At the time we drank it the bottle was worth about £700.... Those were the days!

Don't go looking for the original, just tell me what this is:

[PanBiker]

Whatever it is it looks interesting, electrical, probably some kind of rectifier (Selenium)? maybe used in a regulator or voltage multiplying configuration.

[Tripps]

No research - is it a voltage inverter.? Changing DC to AC.

Edit - Oh dear - I've progressed down the page and see I was wrong. I knew mercury was involved somehow though. It was all a long time ago, and just a picture, and a diagram in a classroom. I'll be brave, and won't delete my answer.

[Stanley]

Right choice, it's a mercury arc rectifier, a big one I came across in an old print works at New Mills.

"A mercury-arc valve or mercury-vapor rectifier or (UK) mercury-arc rectifier is a type of electrical rectifier used for converting high-voltage or high-current alternating current (AC) into direct current (DC). It is a type of cold cathode gas discharge tube but is unusual in that the cathode, instead of being solid, is made from a pool of liquid mercury and is therefore self-restoring. As a result, mercury-arc valves were much more rugged, long-lasting and could carry much higher currents than most other types of gas discharge tube. Invented in 1902 by Peter Cooper Hewitt, mercury-arc rectifiers were used to provide power for industrial motors, electric railways, streetcars, and electric locomotives, as well as for radio transmitters and for high-voltage direct current power transmission. They were the primary method of high power rectification before the advent of semiconductor rectifiers such as diodes, thyristors and gate turn-off thyristors (GTOs) in the 1970s. [quote from Wiki]

Now we need another one......

[plaques]

Came across this at Gretna Green. Don't know what it is. I'll leave that to the farming experts.

[Stanley]

Barn machinery. Most likely for kibbling oats for stock feed. Not a turnip cutter I think unless it was a very different model to the ones I am used to which had side feed to the cutting disc.

[Marilyn]

As it is at Gretna Green, could it be used to change the minds of reluctant grooms?

[Gloria]

Think I am with Stanley, it could be to roll oats.

[Stanley]

Same as Kibbling Glo, you just adjust the pressure on the rollers. I've rolled many tons of barley for cattle feed and here's a little known fact. The way to find out if you are crushing the grain enough is to examine the muck. If there are no whole rolled grains coming through the system you have it just right! (You all needed to know that....)

[plaques]

Kibbling oats. There you are, you learn something every day.
I think Marilyn could have been on the right track but not for reluctant grooms before the marriage but for putting them through the mill after the marriage.
Here's one a bit more local. A mile stone. Try to give the "exact" location. And much more difficult, the year it was erected.

[chinatyke]

The stream in the back reminds me of Gargrave for some reason. That would be about 7 miles to Gisburn as the crow flies. Just guessing again.

5 minutes later: I know now! And the date. And I've gone passed this many a time, I thought it looked familiar.

[plaques]

Well Cinatyke it looks like there's only me and thee who know where this thing is.
Its in Barrowford virtually opposite the White Bear. It could be that the new Sat Nav's have made them redundant or that in their rush to get into the pub and the resultant vision loss afterwards have made it invisible.
7 mile to Gisburne. 5 mile to Burnley.The date 1863. That's 150 years old. Dare I say a mile stone in its lifetime.

[plaques]

Another one in the same village. Exactly 100 yards from one of Marriot Edgars monologues.
And before you start its NOT Stanley's stove.

[PanBiker]

So, 100 yards from the George and Dragon, Heritage Centre? Stanley will know if it is.

[Gloria]

Is the oven in the Barrowford Heritage Centre? Roger Frost was saying there is one in the top house below the Bowling Green in Harle Syke, another in Worsthorne and one more at a farm "up Thursden" in Briercliffe (forgot the name of it). I think two of them are still in working order.

[plaques]

The last of the "where is it" series".
Technically in Pendle but Burnley often claim it.
This little devil may suit you to a "T".

[PanBiker]

Is that a cryptic clue Plaques, if so, I'll guess Marsden Golf Club - is there one?

[Gloria]

Town Hall?????

[plaques]

Sorry Ian, your reply on the last one was so quick that I thought "I'll get them this time". Perhaps I was being a bit too cryptic using the wrong TEA.
Here's a part view of the staircase window.

[Stanley]

The images are coming too quick for my old brain to cope. If the stove is in PHC it's after my time.

[plaques]

The last and final clue, I hope. The man who built this opened a chain of grocery stores then went into the travel business.
Come on Gloria, get that dangerous brain going. You know who it is.