MYSTERY OBJECTS

[plaques]

I guess it could have been a giant `bung' that was fitted into a conical orifice and could be adjusted back and forth to control the flow of water.

I had similar thoughts but rather than being manually adjusted it lifted itself into a balance position. Could be used for water or for gasses as a blow off valve.

[Big Kev]

Is it for standing a wooden building on, one on each corner?

[Stanley]

I can see where all these answers come from but none is correct.
The nearest we have got is Ken's in that it is connected to the flow of a gas.....

[Big Kev]

Is it a venturi for cooling gas?

[Steeplejerk]

Methane gas vent?

[Stanley]

You are getting very close but for quite the opposite to cooling......

[Steeplejerk]

Nossle from a flare stack?

[Stanley]

Tom you are getting so close! Come down to ground level and follow the same thinking....

[Cathy]

A heat spreader, a bit like the ones you put in a pie when cooking.

[Stanley]

Sorry Cathy. But no.

[Tizer]

I was going to suggest a gas vent for a sewage pipe but Tom has already said methane vent and that was rejected.

Was it used in a boiler or furnace?

[Stanley]

You're red hot Peter, almost there. Think of a gas being forced into a combustion chamber. (And remember that air is a gas....)
(PS. The name derives from the French......)

[Stanley]

Peter, you are almost there. You have me on the edge of my seat!

[Big Kev]

Nozzle from a Bessemer furnace. For blowing oxygen into pig iron to remove impurities?

[Stanley]

Actually it isn't! But If I didn't give it to you you would never forgive me. It's a TUYERE from a blacksmith's hearth and it's for blowing air in to promote combustion of the bed of coals. What you describe is a tuyere but not exactly the same as this one but I have to be fair I think and give it to you.....

[Tizer]

Well done Panbiker!
Correction: Well done Big Kev!

[Stanley]

Peter, you're almost as bad as I am at remembering names, It was Kev who cracked it....

[Tizer]

Peter, you're almost as bad as I am at remembering names, It was Kev who cracked it....

Thanks for pointing that out. Mrs Tiz is always correcting me on names. I get all the radio presenters mixed up. Every time I mention Starmer she says `Keir, not Keith!' (although he seems more of a Keith than a Keir to me! ). It's the heat wot does it!

[Stanley]

I understand, I frequently get it wrong.
Now. How about the next object?

[PanBiker]

I'll give you a rest Stanley and offer this one, been on before but nearly ten years ago.

[Stanley]

Is it for stripping the insulation of electric cables?

[Tizer]

An item from the KGB Museum in Moscow?

[PanBiker]

Stanley basically has it but what kind of cables? It is designed for a specific type and usage.

[Big Kev]

Stanley basically has it but what kind of cables? It is designed for a specific type and usage.

Coax?

[PanBiker]

Indeed Kev, here's the explanation:

The V section at the end is spring loaded and operated by the slider on the top. Cable inserted in the V and held by the clamp. There is a small flat blade cutter in the centre of the knurled nut which sets the height and hence the depth that the blade will cut.

The cable had to have the outer PVC jacket, foil and screening removed in sections along the length of the cable in order to attach network points to the inner cables. The stripper is designed to do this without cutting the cable, this is to avoid unnecessary losses in the infrastructure. The exposed internal wires were then looped up and through the network socket and punched down into IDC connectors.

Cable is clamped in the V and the tool rotated around the cable, moved along about 3"" and rotated again. There is a button on the side that when pressed rotates the flat blade within the tool head by 90 degrees. You can then pull the tool backwards along the lateral line of the cable and it will slice the outer jacket, foil and screening from the cable exposing the inner conductors.