MYSTERY OBJECTS

[PanBiker]

Going off the clues above I would say it is a tool for cutting threads.

[Stanley]

You're right, and by hand as well. What was known as 'striking a thread'. Surprisingly effective when done by a good man and also used to clean up a thread cut by other means. When I needed two large lubricators for Ellenroad John Kirkham at Bolton told me he could make the castings but not the lubricators as he had lost all his old skilled men so Newton and I had to make them. I got three castings in case we had a cock-up and Newton made two and I made one. Newton had more time than I had so it is his two that are on the banjo oilers at Ellenroad. I never finished mine...



Here's another specialised lubricator. What for and what's the name usually given to it?

[chinatyke]

It's easy for you engineers but I have to use the internet to try and find something similar.

My guess is an oiler. But you obviously want more than that. A displacement oiler? A Lunkenheimer marine type oiler? (found something similar at http://www.prestonservices.co.uk/lubricators.html, picture no 12.

You do keep me busy. As I look for your objects I come across all sorts of interesting articles and spend ages reading about them.

[Stanley]

Well done China, you stumbled across it. Commonly called a Lunkenheimer oiler because it was an American with that name who perfected the design. Widely used on steam engines but can anyone tell me what for? It had a specific use.

[StoneRoad]

I think an oiler like these is there to supply a regular/constant supply of lubricant to a part that needs the oil, but is less than easily accessible when the engine is working.......

[Stanley]

Getting close but not quite there yet.

[Bodger]

the pump action, it probably feeds where gravity cannot, or feeds to inaccesible places, propellor shafts, and bearings inside moving parts ?

[chinatyke]

I read that this type was usually used for lubricatng what I took to be the the crankshaft bearings on a steam engine but they called these by a different name which I've forgotten - possibly crank case journals? Sorry, I'm not an engineer, and I can't find the reference now, but it might have been Wikipedia. So Bodger and StoneRoad would be correct.

[Stanley]

Bodge is close enough. All the lubricators on a normal steam engine were gravity feed except the ones supplying cylinder oil to the cylinders, particularly the HP cylinder where gravity was no use, the lubricator had to overcome steam pressure. While the engine was running this need was catered for by the mechanical high pressure lubricators which contained small pumps to lubricate essential parts of the cylinder, usually the steam valves and the atomiser in the main steam pipe above the stop valve which was the most effective as it entrained oil in the steam and lubricated the whole of the internal parts of both cylinders. The Lunkenheimer was used via a series of pipes and small cocks to dose the cylinder before starting and occasionally to top up the supply to any part while running say if a feed from the mechanical lubricator failed as this meant you didn't have to stop the engine. The one in the mystery pic is brand new and was made by Kirkham's at Bolton. The pic below is of one of the HP cylinders on the Ellenroad Engine, you can see it is mounted on a manifold for delivery selection and on the left of the valve bonnet you can see the mechanical high pressure lubricator also by Kirkham which fed the oil in while the engine was running.

[Bodger]

Stanley, you may have used one of these at Ellen Road ?, or an afterthought, you could have used similar in the army

http://www.3d-china.com/Uploadfiles/201 ... _27677.jpg

[Bodger]

Heres another object, not engineering based, but maybe should be on the "Jacks" forum ?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_ ... LvuG1pTJeg

[Bodger]

Stanley will know this

[EileenDavid]

Is it a cream separator Eileen

[Stanley]

Dead right Eileen. I've twined one of them for many hours! Bodge, first one looks like a theodolite. Second looks like a ceramic insulator. I suppose the jack connection could be on lightning conductors but in practice they were all fastened direct to the chimney with copper clamps. A wet chimney could be a useful conductor for a lightning strike. Same with trees, that's why in very heavy rain a tree can be struck and hardly damaged.
Nice to see someone else posting objects! Here's another one for you. Why, specifically, would an engineer want to have a 2" BSP tap about his person?

[Bodger]

Eileen, you're correct,
Stanley, not a theodolite, but close it is a auto collimator, can be used when levelling long machines etc, it works by reflecting a beam/ /ray off a squared mirror at the opposite end of the machine, adjusting the machine height untill the reflected beam shows you are level at both ends see link, i think they were also used in aiming large guns to give accurate angles ?

http://www.micro-radian.com/Principles.html
the "insulator" is about 2" to 3 " high x 1to 1-1/2" dia, and without being sexist, mainly uesed by the fairer sex

[Wendyf]

A pie funnel? I used to have a ceramic bird with an open beak, that one looks a bit more industrial. I suppose it might be called a pie chimney.

[Pluggy]

Its a pie vent, so so it says in the URL

[Bodger]

2" BSP, part of a drum kit ?

[Bodger]

Stanley probably used one of these

[Bodger]

general use pre 1950, ignore writing

[Pluggy]

Sorry Bodge, but it isn't much of a challenge when mousing over the image gives you the answer :

[Stanley]

Bodge, collimator outside my pay grade, we didn't even have range finders with the guns, we used rack of the eye! I thought it was a pie crust stand but you put me off with steeplejacks. I have a drawer full of old paraffin heater wicks. We used them on the Ellenroad engine for wipers to supply oil to the cross-head.
The 2" BSP tap is used to clean the seat for the size of fusible plug used in the crown of a Lancashire boiler furnace tube.

[Stanley]

Forgot to say, yes, I've used a hay knife many a time but for cutting blocks of silage out of large stacks. Slightly different shape than the one in the pic but they varied around the country rather like bill-hooks, there were many different patterns of them.

[Bodger]

Stanley, re 2" bsp, i was thinking of bung thread on oil drums ?

[Stanley]

Can't remember the exact size but was it a bit bigger than 2"? (Looked it up and you're right, they are 2")
How about my bit of rusty iron?