MYSTERY OBJECTS

[Tizer]

Stanley's got the final part of the puzzle! In Shanghai in the late 1800s a tax was imposed on anything with wheels crossing certain bridges in the town. The barrow taxi men got around it by making it easy to remove the wheel, cross the bridge, then replace it. I guess the passenger had to walk over the bridge or get a piggy back ride from the taxi man. David correctly wrote that the photo is "part of a collection of 19th century photographs of Shanghai by English photographer William Saunders". I saw it in this set of Saunders photos on a BBC web page: LINK

[Stanley]

I was reminded of the tricks used by carriers to avoid higher tolls on the old turnpike trust roads

[Stanley]

Next for shaving?

[Gloria]

I am trying to add a photo from my album, with a short message, but when I press submit it comes up with this......Your message contained to few characters. I've tried adding photo with no message but it still comes up with the same comment...help please.....oh it would appear I've done it.

[Cathy]

Can't see an added short message . Is this part of an artists outdoor 'studio' ?

[Gloria]

The added short message should say.......not giving a clue at this point in time, giving you time to think.
Sorry Cathy nothing to do with an artists studio.

[Tizer]

I can see the photo Gloria. There's timber to the left, something big looking like rusty iron to the right, a metal plate object with bolts in the middle, some ivy and some fallen leaves, perhaps some concrete at the front. Have I won the prize?

In the meantime Mrs Tiz looked over my shoulder and immediately said that the plate object would rotate to the right so that one of the bolts sat in the loop of the iron object. So is it a clamp of some kind, perhaps attached to a gate to hold it back?

[Gloria]

Ooooh Tizer, Mrs T is quite warm

[PanBiker]

It looks like a form of lower gate hinge with a locking mechanism for when open?

[Gloria]

image.jpeg

The gate stays open when opened wide, it also opens in either direction, and if partly opened whilst passing through it automatically closes itself. The gate and mechanism is ancient, the piece not attached to the gate was beyond use, so hence the new bit.

[Stanley]

I knew that one..... The same principle is used in a rising hinge to lift a gate opening back into a rising floor. Clever bit of kit.

[Stanley]

Try this one.....

[PanBiker]

Well, the barcode scanner on my smartphone returns Max Beckmann, painter, printmaker. Known for probing the human condition in portraits, self portraits and enigmatic allegorical tableaus. He emerged in Berlin in the early 1910's.

So is it a label off something "arty"?

[Stanley]

That's interesting Ian, I didn't know that. It's definitely nothing to do with the arts, in fact it couldn't be further removed! I'm struggling to think of a clue. I brought it back in 2000 as a souvenir from Ypres.

[Tizer]

An example of a name and bar code given out to each visitor to the WW1 museum in Ypres, representing someone killed in the battle.

[Stanley]

Tiz has got it exactly! I asked for a German soldier as I don't regard nationality as having anything to do with the tragedy of death in battle. Nice that Ian could read the barcode.....



The German cemetery at Langemark was just as poignant to me as the others.

[Tizer]

What's this and what was it used for?

[Stanley]

This rings a bell. Is it an early prototype aero engine?

[chinatyke]

Is it a turbo blower unit for a marine engine - a scavenger used to blow air into the engine?

[Tizer]

You're both on the right track. A version of it was used first in some of the very earliest aeroplanes but as more power became needed it grew larger and soon was too heavy. It was then abandoned for most aeroplanes but found use in two other main applications, one of which China mentions - marine. The navy commissioned versions for its torpedo boats in WW1. But what was the other main application and who designed the engine? The designer has a link with the test pilot Eric `Winkle' Brown but that's another story and nothing to do with the engine!

[Stanley]

We've had this before and I have searched for it but not found it.

[Tizer]

There don't seem to be many takers for this one and I'll admit it's a bit obscure, so let's draw it to a close. And anyway, I've just discovered that when I submitted the pic I forgot to `anonymise' the file name and left it as `Green engine 1914 120hp'. So either none of you thought of looking in the Gallery or you were very restrained!

It's a six cylinder, water-cooled 120hp engine from 1914 designed and built by Gustavus Green. By this stage his engines were too heavy for the aeroplanes of the time but were in favour for airships and motor boats. The wikipdia page gives a brief history: LINK

His I. Mech. E. obituary says: "Mr Gustavus Green, the pioneer of the aero engine, died recently at the age of 99. Mr Green, who was a Companion of the Royal Aeronautical Society, had his first notable success when he produced the engine which powered Lord Brabazon's prize-winning plane of 1909. This was the first all-British plane to make a circular flight of one mile, a feat previously accomplished only with foreign engines. In the following year an eight cylinder, water-cooled V engine designed by Mr Green was used to power the airship Dirigible IIa, and another first was added to his list. In the remaining years before the 1914-18 war, aeroplanes powered by Green engines won seven Michelin Competitions and the engines were awarded Gold and Silver Medals by the Aerial League, the 0,000 Naval and Military Aero Engine prize and many others. The first successful British seaplane and the first amphibian used Green engines.

"During the war Mr Green was asked to concentrate on producing power units for fast naval craft; it is sufficient to say that before the war ended he had constructed a 1000 hp marine engine. His engines were manufactured by Peter Brotherhood of Peterborough from 1917 until 1920. He retired soon after the end of the 1914-18 war and devoted his outstanding engineering skill to making clocks and watches. Perhaps the best permanent memorials and tribute to his genius are his engines; four of which, 35, 60, 100 and 150 hp models, are in the Science Museum."

This photo shows Royal Navy airship SS40 powered by one of Green's engine's in 1916. I photographed the Green engine in the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton as also this picture of the airship.

[Stanley]

Thank God for that...... You're right, I never looked in the gallery!
Next for shaving?

[Tizer]

Here's a quickie...what's this?

[plaques]

As fast as I get one Mrs P grabs it out of my hand, so I can't tell you what it is?