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.