Denis and I were in a very charming antique shop the other day and came across this interesting relic:
Does anybody know what it is?
We tried to guess and I think the shop owner was quite mortified by some of our more sordid ideas but finally she told us the purpose of this antique device. If you are the first to guess it correctly, we’ll send you an autographed book of your choosing. Well, not any book of your choosing, it has to be written by one of us. By me or Denis. The heat is getting to me, I’m finding it really hard to explain the rules of this very simple contest. Is it clear? If you can guess what the thingamajiggy is, you get one of our books. If you want one. You don’t have to have one, of course.
And now, how about a nice sunset?
A small keg closing device.
This reminds me of older Yankee magazines. My husband being a police officer said hand cuffs. But the doesn’t make sense to me. Otherwise I don’t know, not much of a creative mind on me.
Nice guesses Kurtis and Audrey, but no
First thought is that it’s a cuff for a prisoner or slave, but the two handles could mean it’s for hauling or dragging something like timber.
Could it be used for cat herding?
Funny
Is it a jar opener? It looks kind of nasty doesn’t it.
A pillory for rotten kids??
Ha!
Did they use it for canning?
Jar opener?
Something for tightening or loosening jar lids?
Something for tightening or loosening lids on jars?
It looks like a Mason jar opener. I guess Kate and Lori think so, too!
Im with Kate, my guess is for canning tool too, but will confess my first thought was male (no idea what species!) chastity belt?
NOPE
Is it for carrying something hot? Or for herding piglets?
How about a bucket carrier? So two people could carry a bucket of water at the same time? Put the handle inside, close it up…and one person on each side?
We want a hint! LOL
My husband says a device to remove an oil filter from a car! Gee, and I thought he was going to come up with something fabulous …he is turning 70 this year!
Well, okay, a hint: Traditionally, men would use it. Not women.
LOL Sueso…….my husband thinks it looks like something from a covered wagon; like a horses bridle or such. I thought he might know since he watches old westerns.
is it used to help remove a wheel from a wagon?
Some sort of harvest tool?
I have to go to bed, good luck everyone!
A blacksmithy-thingy? (And after this, I’m filling out my Mensa application!!!!!!)…
I think it’s some kind of a wrench.
New guess—a log scraper. You put the log inside of it; it scrapes the bark off the log when making a log cabin.
Could it be a tool to make the spokes of a wagon wheel? Not sure exactly how big they are but the circle would make them uniform in size. Wild guess!!
Hmmm, maybe you put it around the arm to help you carry stuff? You know, where you would hang let’s say a barrel left and right….or is it maybe from an old bike – like a movable handle of sorts? (Clearly I have no idea)
Is it some sort of clamp to keep a valve shut? Ha! I’m not even sure what that means, but that’s my guess.
My pathetic guess has been blown out of the water by the clue, as no man has ever been known to use my suggestion…
A spaghetti portion measurer?
I know that’s not right (but amusing, no?), so my second guess is something to do with building a barn (the age of it and the look of it). Hang on, I’ve just looked at the shape of it, and thought ‘man use’, and now I’m having sordid thoughts, too.
Hmmmm. I just know I’ve got one of those hanging around the house. I’ll get back to you. Not.
I’ll take stab at it … to carry a fireman’s hose or steady its nozzle?
Those Puritans knew how to keep things interesting.
Maybe the device is more recent than that. How about a device to go around a fire hose for use like handle bars to diect the spray? Or for pulling a hose from a reel/ spool (on the horse drawn vehicle of course) toward the fire? Wrangling fire hose in some way….
That’s all I got right now.
Ding! Ding! Ding! We have two winners!
Yes, it was used by firemen to attach to the hose so that they could pull it and direct its spray. I know that I had said that the first person who gets it right wins, but Joan’s comment was sent to my “awaiting approval” bin, for some reason, and Carol’s appeared on the blog a few moments before I actually approved Joan’s. So let’s call it a tie.
Lol. Aislinn’s comment was the last one showing on my phone when I guessed. The server must have been slow. One thing is obvious: great minds run in the same direction!
woo-hoo!
(Ann – would both you and Denis be willing to sign Outtakes From a Marriage
Congrats Joan and Carol! (If I’m ever on a quiz show, I’m calling YOU!).
Maybe my wielding a hose to bathe six animals yesterday helped in some way.
That and my Dad was a mechanical engineer so I’m supposed to notice certain things.
Not to mention that this item interested Denis and Ann!
And their interest in firefighting et al helped set my thinking cap in that direction.
Late again!! I would have won this too!!!!!!, alright well probably not, but i would have enjoyed trying!
Congratulations Carol and Joan !
aw, thanks
Thanks, Barbara.
Well, now that we know what it is, and especially since it’s connected to firefighting, did you buy it?
Congratulations Carol and Joan!
Thanks
Thx! It’s was fun and somewhat surprising.
Linda, no, the shop owner wants to donate it to a fire-fighting museum. Denis suggested the one on Spring Street in Manhattan.
I’ll have to go there some time to see it first hand.
Bet it was pretty high tech in its day, with that push button release and precise brass work.
Very cool.
So, I’m late to the party of this post, but I just have to say – looks like they were workin’ with small hoses. (or maybe it’s the photo?)
Oh, excellent of them!
Gotta love the old tools, little pieces of beautiful pragmatic art.
Looks like a castrator to me.
HAHAHAHA
amanda – i was going to guess that…. even had it typed into the comment box last night but chickened out, for fear that i would embarrass myself with the guess. and, now, i just did!!
Great minds…….
Everybody’s tweeting that Amy Winehouse has been found dead, but I’m not near a TV and the links on Twitter won’t open, probably because everybody’s trying to open them at once. I hope it’s an internet scam but suspect it’s probably true. So sad.
Ann, sadly, it’s true. I just read the headline. The cause of death is listed as “unexplained.” So sad. She was a troubled soul.
I’m so sad for Ms Winehouse’s family, and have a lump in my throat hearing of this as I had a nephew of the same age found dead due to drug related causes a few years ago.
May she rest in peace!
So sad about this.
I feel physically sick about the killings in Norway. Every new headline just gets worse and worse.
I know. I think the immediacy of dreadful news is making us all sick. Annoying journalists were weighing in about the Norway event before the facts were known. There was an editorial in the Washington Post earlier, I’m going to find a link, but the writer thought it was a jihadist attack and was blaming the Obama Administration….let me find it.
Here it is. You’d think they’d take it down now:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/norway-bombing/2011/03/29/gIQAB4D3TI_blog.html
how does the washington post not know better?!?!
Unbelievable. Some real wishful thinking on their part. I get the feeling that if they work and wish hard enough, they feel they will be able to make those invisible lines solid to the terrorist of their choice. The arrested man couldn’t be more blond, Norwegian and clear in his reasons, twisted as they are.
It’s all very scary stuff, isn’t it?
Who, pray tell, is the liberal columnist for the Washington Times???
That’s pretty cool that Denis is going to donate it. Has he gone through all of the withdrawl from his show yet?Hope you are having a grand time
I’ve been on holiday for a few weeks and am dying to know… handcuff????
possibly a farrier’s tool
It’s a berdeezo (spelling). Used to castrate bulls.
.