What is It? Game 31

Posted by Alex in What Is It on August 2, 2007 at 5:50 am


Today’s collaboration with What is It? blog brings you this strange object – can you guess what it is? First one to guess correctly will win a FREE Neatorama T-Shirt!

Place your guess in the comment section (post no URL, please – let others play). Check out What is it? blog for size and material information.

Update 8/3/07 – the answer is:

Fiber optic magnifier, made from over 15,000 tapered fibers. Created by heating the central region of a cylindrical bundle of fused optical fibers, pulling it into an hourglass glass shape, and then cutting it in the middle. Lots of drawings can be found on the patent page, number 5,600,751. These are also made to be used as part of night vision scopes.

Congratulations to chris #21 who got it exactly right. Close guess by libon #4, but I was looking for an exact match.


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48 comments to "What is It? Game 31"

  1. joe
    August 2nd, 2007 at 6:03 am

    its a quarts bowl that when you hit it with a rubber mallet and sircle it it makes a loud noise. also called singing bowl

  2. Augustine
    August 2nd, 2007 at 6:07 am

    Something to sit on?

  3. dave plint
    August 2nd, 2007 at 6:23 am

    is it a drawer pull?

    some kind of handle

  4. libon
    August 2nd, 2007 at 6:28 am

    Magnifying glass, (well, magnifying-glass-fiber-stuff)
    Right ?

  5. Miss Cellania
    August 2nd, 2007 at 6:28 am

    Try as I might, I cannot see this as an instrument of torture.

  6. johan
    August 2nd, 2007 at 7:08 am

    >>4
    Really?
    I think it's a concave surface on the top to fit on the eye, with the extension on the back to partially block the eyelids from closing and to fit the light. With this mechanism you'll maybe be able to keep your victim from sleeping (due to the intense light) and ultimately dry out the eyes leading to permanent damage of the eyes.

    see? that wasn't so hard.

  7. Dale
    August 2nd, 2007 at 7:10 am

    Looks like a reservoir spill over, when the water gets too high it goes down the plug hole!

  8. felipe
    August 2nd, 2007 at 7:11 am

    its a lamp!

  9. Lewis68
    August 2nd, 2007 at 7:24 am

    it looks like one of them special lightbulbs you see in discos. when they light up the shape of the glass disperses the light properly and evenly.

  10. soops
    August 2nd, 2007 at 7:43 am

    Microscope/Telescope lens?

  11. Sid Morrison
    August 2nd, 2007 at 7:44 am

    It's a lamp shade, probably glass.

  12. soops
    August 2nd, 2007 at 7:45 am

    or a spit bucket!

  13. matt
    August 2nd, 2007 at 7:45 am

    das is un fancy chair! mein schizer!!!!

  14. duende
    August 2nd, 2007 at 7:51 am

    nebular galactic cloud

  15. Dave
    August 2nd, 2007 at 8:03 am

    It's a small globe for a light fixture.

  16. Trey
    August 2nd, 2007 at 8:16 am

    light fixture is my guess

  17. Ari
    August 2nd, 2007 at 8:25 am

    its a light fixture but on the ceiling, just photographed upside down to throw us off!

  18. Chris
    August 2nd, 2007 at 8:53 am

    An optical condenser/magnifier. The diameter is almost the same as the diagonal of a 35mm negative or slide so i'll guess it is used to transfer light from a lamp to the film.

  19. taryn
    August 2nd, 2007 at 9:02 am

    it is a drum!

  20. jamie
    August 2nd, 2007 at 9:10 am

    It's a table that has a light inside it.

  21. Chris
    August 2nd, 2007 at 9:22 am

    A fiber optic magnifier. This is a refinement of my previous guess.

  22. TheGoodReverend
    August 2nd, 2007 at 9:27 am

    I don't know, but it's waiting for you in your hotel room at the Oslo Ikea.

  23. Randall
    August 2nd, 2007 at 9:41 am

    A voble resonator, used to communicate with the deceased by mystics. Unlike other gimmicks, this one actually works. The unfortunate truth is, the dead say very little that is of use to the living.

    "Uncle Benjamin, where did you bury the money?"

    'oooo-ooooo, I'mmmmm deeeead, ooooo'

    "Its me your nephew Charley, where is the money uncle Benjamin?

    'ooooooooo, its daaaaaark heeere, oooooooo'

    And so on.

  24. Milkman
    August 2nd, 2007 at 9:42 am

    Blank for a contact lens

  25. Kris
    August 2nd, 2007 at 10:10 am

    ottoman

  26. Francine
    August 2nd, 2007 at 10:19 am

    A votive cup for a chandelier?

  27. Matt
    August 2nd, 2007 at 10:21 am

    I would say a lid or top for some kind of fancy decanter.

  28. neko
    August 2nd, 2007 at 11:41 am

    it's one of those internet-connected light orbs they sell at thinkgeek. this is just a custom-shaped one or something.

  29. Bobby the K
    August 2nd, 2007 at 11:53 am

    ok, what it looks like to me is a light magnifier.

    i saw something like it only a pyramid shaped one. below deck on old ships it was dark. and this may be one of those things that worked like a mini sky light. you put the narrow end above to catch the light and the wide end to disperse it below.

  30. Bobby the K
    August 2nd, 2007 at 11:54 am

    (i may have described using it upside down, now that i think about it.)

  31. ken
    August 2nd, 2007 at 11:59 am

    It's a fiber optic bundle, for transfering the image on one flat surface to the other, while magnifying (or shrinking) the image.

  32. Luke
    August 2nd, 2007 at 12:08 pm

    total paperweight. :)

    actually, maybe a small coffee table, or end table of some sort?

  33. Sky
    August 2nd, 2007 at 12:20 pm

    Its a frosted glass lamp shade cover. . .

  34. Chuck
    August 2nd, 2007 at 1:03 pm

    Its a device to make disguise a compact fluorescent light bulb as an incandescent lamp bulb.

  35. BMnkyStar
    August 2nd, 2007 at 1:08 pm

    It's a pensive! Wizards use this to "collect" their thoughts after first pulling them from their minds with a wand....duh!

  36. Paul
    August 2nd, 2007 at 1:47 pm

    Much as chris stated above, it is a condenser, but what he neglected to mention is that its more important purpose is to even out a field of light, dispersing any hotspots or dark areas that may result from imperfections in the light bulb, reflector, or lensing system.

    (1050 is a lug used to connect wires to buss bars in a breaker panel)

  37. Jennie
    August 2nd, 2007 at 3:01 pm

    Isn't it a torchiere shade? I can't tell if it's flat on the top.

  38. Akiro
    August 2nd, 2007 at 6:10 pm

    some sort of optical lens

  39. Jung
    August 2nd, 2007 at 7:56 pm

    isn't it a camera flash diffuser dome? like Gary Fong's lightsphere

  40. Elex Tech
    August 2nd, 2007 at 8:36 pm

    It's obviously a flux capacitor!

  41. Elex Tech
    August 2nd, 2007 at 8:38 pm

    A factory-reject light saber.

  42. Elex Tech
    August 2nd, 2007 at 8:40 pm

    A Martian toilet bowl.

  43. tim
    August 2nd, 2007 at 8:48 pm

    glass lamp shade

  44. borovec
    August 2nd, 2007 at 9:17 pm

    I think "Bobby the K" has identified it, except he has it the wrong side up. The big end should go up and the small end down, to bring light below deck on an old wood ship.

  45. Heretic
    August 2nd, 2007 at 10:10 pm

    It's gotta be a part of a light fixture.

  46. beajerry
    August 3rd, 2007 at 5:06 am

    It's a mortar.

  47. fine
    August 3rd, 2007 at 5:55 am

    It's - the container to storage of light.

  48. jesus
    August 3rd, 2007 at 12:57 pm

    actually a replicator from star trek, or possible a light saber crystal duh! :X


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