Comments on: Guessing Game: What Is It?

By: Alex

Alex — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 18:09:17 +0000

Answer from what is it?: Ballot box or blackball box, black and white marbles were kept in the open end, a white marble dropped into the hole signified a supporting vote while a black one signified a "no" vote. Congratulations to Kevin Register, who won this round of the game! I quite enjoy some of the wild guesses here. You guys are a hoot!

By: Monte

Monte — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 10:18:31 +0000

its a Fleshlight circa 1872

By: Meg

Meg — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 20:11:54 +0000

Looks like a game to me, where you flip a ball out of the open part like flipping a pancake, and try to catch it in the hole, you can flip towards you, or away, since the top slides back and forth. People seem pretty sure that it’s a voting box, but the description says the top slides to cover either side. If only one side is ever covered, how can that work? It just reminds me of something I’ve seen with a wiffle ball.

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 16:17:57 +0000

Voting box used by the Free Masons. Still in use today.

By: Charles

Charles — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 13:22:11 +0000

This is obviously a primitive periscope

By: Jimmy

Jimmy — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 12:53:02 +0000

I think it is a Zune?

By: Natasha

Natasha — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 05:31:37 +0000

I’m not sure but I think that this thing is used for making butter into blocks. I think I saw it in a development museum or something

By: arthur

arthur — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 02:25:51 +0000

Looks like the telephone that Doc Baker had in his office on the “Little House on the Prairie” tv series, but it probably is a blind voting machine.

By: Hugh G

Hugh G — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 01:13:01 +0000

I think it is used to sort out the long bits of wheat and the seed bits which are used for flour. So you get a whole lot of the long bits of wheat and bung it in the box, and then slide over the bit with the hole, and then shake it. And all of the seed bits are poured out when you shake it (now holding it upside down) and poured into a bowl for grinding or something into flour, and you can then feed the long wheaty bits to the cows, or your wife, or your fax machine.

By: Deborah

Deborah — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 00:04:00 +0000

It is a coffee grinder (old school)

By: Meghan

Meghan — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 21:20:47 +0000

I say it’s a camera.

By: Starstonight

Starstonight — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 20:53:50 +0000

it’s an antique bowl…;)

By: Ozmo

Ozmo — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 20:39:29 +0000

Id say it was a type of humane mousetrap looks old so i guess who ever invented it was more hungry then merciful =p

By: Tamme H

Tamme H — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 20:02:40 +0000

Looks kinda like something a bird would go in – so i say Birdhouse

By: Anton

Anton — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 19:57:19 +0000

My guess is that’s it for spooling out line from a center pull spool similar to bailing twine or a skein of yarn.

It was common before the days of automation to run a string when planting a field to keep the rows straight.

By: Brian Frost

Brian Frost — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 19:41:02 +0000

Voting box…

By: hermit_man

hermit_man — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 18:46:01 +0000

I think it might be a toilet.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 18:25:21 +0000

It’s a very early cell phone prototype.

You hold it by the handle, of course, and listen through the large earpiece. At this stage, Bell hadn’t quite worked out the microphone part on bottom.

By: Mindy

Mindy — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 17:56:08 +0000

kind of looks like a camera obscura

By: mrbingly

mrbingly — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 17:45:20 +0000

it’s a wooden box with a handle on one end, an open space, and a funny hole on it. it can be used for voting, putting secret messages in, or storing mice for the winter when your cat might be hungry.

By: Anthony Garone

Anthony Garone — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 17:31:42 +0000

From that angle, it looks like the world’s first iPod/storage device.

By: Ã¶zi

Ã¶zi — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 17:29:49 +0000

keep your bed warm? by lighting it on fire?
i believe the right answer has already been given by kevin on the second guess… there goes another t-shirt.

By: Tiffany

Tiffany — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 16:35:07 +0000

It’s an old bed warmer. People put in in between their sheets to keep their feet warm.

By: Chris Barr

Chris Barr — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 15:46:30 +0000

looks like a Zune to me, HA!

By: Jimbo

Jimbo — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 15:36:44 +0000

Now you guys probably have an idea where the term “Black Box Voting” comes from.

By: lookyloo

lookyloo — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 14:55:32 +0000

Voting box for sure.

By: emtoh

emtoh — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 14:55:28 +0000

Definitely a voting box. My fraternity had one. Used for voting on whether or not pledges would be admitted to the brotherhood. One black ball and the candidate would be, well, blackballed. This system ensured uniformity among the brotherhood, giving the each fraternity a unique character.

By: Kiera

Kiera — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 14:06:08 +0000

It looks like an old fashion coffee mill/grinder. I know it’s already been stated, but I second that opinion.

By: Britt

Britt — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 14:05:43 +0000

I was thinking a tinderbox?

By: Arnau

Arnau — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 13:49:04 +0000

I think it is an old photo camera.

By: Kurt

Kurt — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 13:48:26 +0000

Kevin Register is correct. It is for voting, but more precisely it is a “blind ballot box”. A Steward would carry the box from its station to a table in the middle of the hall. Each voting member would then be lead through a procession (by the Steward and the Assistant Steward one for each side of the hall) to the voting table in a single file line. This prohibits anyone from seeing another person vote. The open portion of the box would contain both black and white marbles. If you were casting a yes vote you would move a white marble into the closed portion through the hole–black for a no vote. Once the vote was complete and everyone is seated the Steward would carry the ballot box the Master (or President) of the organization who would open the closed portion and look to see if the vote was passed (frequently a membership vote). Incidentally, more recent versions of this box have been reformated slightly and fully lined with a thick felt inside of the closed portion. This has enabled the substitution of black cubes for the black marbles allowing blind members to vote as well by dropping a black cube in rather than a white marble.

Or maybe its just a maraca.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 13:30:04 +0000

It’s a coffee grinder

By: c

Thu, 30 Nov 2006 13:21:02 +0000

Storing tobacco

By: Ryan N.

Ryan N. — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 13:15:23 +0000

i believe it is something you hold a candle with. you hold the handle at the end and put the candle in the top holder, then when you are finished, you can store the candles in the box.

By: Tyler

Tyler — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 12:48:59 +0000

Kevin is right. One compartment holds stones/marbles/objects of a uniform size/shape/color and a different set of stones/marbles/objects or a different size/shape/color. In order to vote a person will choose a stone (normally white and round) for a yes vote, or a different stone (normally black and square) for a no vote. The top slides back so that the votes can be counted.

By: Tim

Tim — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 12:45:54 +0000

I think it’s a box for collecting donations in church. The top is closed so the ‘collector’ can’t see that you donate buttons instead of money

By: brayden

brayden — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 12:30:33 +0000

it’s a percussion instrument

By: Kevin Register

Kevin Register — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 11:39:38 +0000

It’s a box that’s passed around at meetings for voting on various things, such as whether a prospective member should be admitted to the club. A “blackball” box.

By: Adam Walker

Adam Walker — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 11:23:53 +0000

I think its for making cheese. Dunno why but I think I’ve seen one before.