What Is It? Game 68: We Really Don’t Know What It Is …

1. raf
   June 26th, 2008 at 7:03 am

   Looks similar to a leyden jar…so maybe an old fashioned capacitor?

2. Craig Clayton
   June 26th, 2008 at 7:06 am

   I believe it uses electrical power to create a spark show as a asusement device.

3. Zac
   June 26th, 2008 at 7:10 am

   its a door bell

4. Algonkin
   June 26th, 2008 at 7:10 am

   Looks like a miniature Tesla coil…sort of

5. Tony
   June 26th, 2008 at 7:44 am

   Looks Like a triggered spark gap switch, used for switching high voltages.

6. SoLo
   June 26th, 2008 at 7:47 am

   An electroscope of some sort? Or maybe it’s a “Sensitive Detector”: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/173/487095447_353821f781_o.jpg

7. Fuzz
   June 26th, 2008 at 7:48 am

   Looks pretty obvious to me.

   V 1.0 of the Flux Capacitor!!!

8. Sammy K
   June 26th, 2008 at 7:51 am

   It’s a device that’s mounted inside the captain’s cabin of a boat or ship. It shows whether the boat is tilted in the port or starboard direction. When the boat tilts to the right, the pin in the middle turns clockwise. When it touches the panel on the left, the captain knows he’s in trouble.

9. Dan M.
   June 26th, 2008 at 7:59 am

   http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~wellerst/atomic_patents/images/3358 605-PressureSensitiveSwitch.png

   A Pressure Sensitive Switch?

10. Aramanthster
    June 26th, 2008 at 8:10 am

    A castration device.
    Place the testicles in the two gaps, then slam your palms against the sides.
    Viola! Eunuch.

11. Jim
    June 26th, 2008 at 8:33 am

    Fuzz, you’re right on! But many people fail to realize this is also a forerunner of the Oscillation Overthruster.

    —Big Booty

12. Jeffro
    June 26th, 2008 at 8:43 am

    an early flux capacitor

13. Pat J
    June 26th, 2008 at 8:52 am

    Maybe a proof-of-concept diode?

14. Jan Winter
    June 26th, 2008 at 8:52 am

    An early mammogram device.

15. kjhkjh
    June 26th, 2008 at 8:53 am

    This is how you make nails straight.

16. hooper
    June 26th, 2008 at 9:00 am

    @Aramanthster

    LOL! I do think that you are correct and no home should be without one.

17. ThoBeard
    June 26th, 2008 at 9:03 am

    Thomas Edison’s first prototype “Liquid Fannies Enema… fo’ The Rot in Yo’ Bot” (Edison patent No. 3… not a success)

18. andrew
    June 26th, 2008 at 9:14 am

    No way I’m going out looking for proof. but my guess is it’s a level with maximums you can set on each side. so you set it down, see if the foundation you just made is within safety tolerance.

19. Miss Cellania
    June 26th, 2008 at 9:28 am

    It’s a thumbscrew.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thumbscrew

    Although a mammogram device is about the same, as Jan points out.

20. Randalll
    June 26th, 2008 at 9:33 am

    The object is a Asymatic Muromather. It was used by one Madame Urz during her famous seances in the 1930’s.

    She was revealed to be a humbug when it was proven that the Asymatic Muromather was actually a simple capacitor and when enough human being touched the brass leads on either side, while holding hands, it would collect enough static charge to display a bluish glow.

    Madame Urz was arrested for fraud but escaped her capture by assumming avian form and flying away.

21. Julia
    June 26th, 2008 at 9:37 am

    it’s a nib removing tool for ‘dip-in’ ink pens

22. sparge
    June 26th, 2008 at 9:56 am

    Emergency Bris performer, for remote villages with no live-in Rabbi.

23. firithlotiel
    June 26th, 2008 at 10:11 am

    It looks like some sort of early tuner for music… y’know, to make sure your piano/music was in tune.

24. Jen
    June 26th, 2008 at 10:57 am

    Its… uh…

    the scope for a world war one cannon?

25. roger
    June 26th, 2008 at 11:44 am

    Someone already mentioned electroscope, which it appears to be, as the side terminals do not look made for permanent wire attachment. I can’t tell if the central column is an electrode or leaves of foil. Second guess: early gas arc lamp.

26. Larry Sheldon
    June 26th, 2008 at 11:49 am

    I’m pretty sure of the device, not sure of the name.

    “Galvaniscope” is what comes to mind. It was used to detect the presence of an electrostatic field.

    The two gold-leaves repel each other in the presence of a field.

27. jmp478
    June 26th, 2008 at 11:50 am

    It was used to perform experiments with ionized gas (plasma)

    A vacuum was formed by sucking all the air out from the tube at the top. An inert gas was pumped in, electrical current was introduced by the two electrodes on the sides. The flat plates inside the device would glow, creating light.

28. Jaxx
    June 26th, 2008 at 11:50 am

    Can’t prove it, but I think it’s an early Triode tube or transistor.

29. Larry Sheldon
    June 26th, 2008 at 11:51 am

    Nope.

    “Electroscope”

    http://www.tutorvista.com/content/physics/physics-i/static-electric-cu rrent/gold-leaf-electroscope.php

30. jmp478
    June 26th, 2008 at 11:53 am

    Here are some pictures of what it would have looked like.
    http://www.plasma-world.com/frontpage.html

31. Jill
    June 26th, 2008 at 12:10 pm

    It looks like a metronome to me.

32. anon
    June 26th, 2008 at 12:43 pm

    My money is on thermostat. The high and low temperature are adjustable by both sides.

33. Sonora
    June 26th, 2008 at 12:50 pm

    Looks like it could be a metronome…

34. Sonora
    June 26th, 2008 at 12:54 pm

    anon- I like the thermostat idea… sounds cool. Not sure how plausible it is, but certainly interesting.

    “Flux Capacitor V. 1.0″ LOL!

35. neatoramafan
    June 26th, 2008 at 12:59 pm

    Whoa! It’s an early Gold Leaf Electroscope! That would sell for big bucks on the market!!! Below are a few electroscopes–though they are a bit more modern (the 1st link offers ones that resemble this model more).

    http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/instruments/archaic/electroscopes.html

    http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Gold_leaf_electroscope_with_gr ound_strips.png

    http://www.school-for-champions.com/science/static_detection.htm

36. lewis
    June 26th, 2008 at 3:03 pm

    its a storm/lightning alarm. one of the terminals on the side is connected via a wire to a lightning conductor. the other terminal is connected to the earth. if lightning strikes, the central pendulum swings rapidly back and forth between the two terminals hitting them and ringing the bell at the very top.

37. Neddick
    June 26th, 2008 at 3:15 pm

    Its an alarm or alarm clock. The thing at the top is a bell and the metal rod shakes back and forth according to alternating currents at the plates on either side. The knobs on the side would be a connector for oldschool electrical wires.

    Maybe it was Tesla’s?

38. tripleX
    June 26th, 2008 at 4:37 pm

    Every person that wanted to be part of a TV-audience in the ’50s was first tested with this device. They had to slap the buttons, with a hand on each side, to test the strength of their applause. Only the ‘top clappers’ were permitted in the audience.

39. tripleX
    June 26th, 2008 at 5:24 pm

    With both hands pushing the knobs the bell would ring. If two people worked a dangerous machine, the machine’s operator would know by the bell that the other person’s hands were not on the machine so the machine could be operated safely.

40. RyeBokeh
    June 26th, 2008 at 10:24 pm

    It’s a Flux Capacitor!

41. EP
    June 27th, 2008 at 12:06 am

    It looks like an old level for masonry.

42. KingBee
    June 27th, 2008 at 8:24 am

    Simple: It’s a device for placing your pocket watch, converting it into a mantle clock.

43. oldbdwow
    June 27th, 2008 at 2:25 pm

    This old digital optical trainer was used on the Three Stooges movie sets. For best effect, the eye poke needed to fall as closely as possible to the center of the eye orbits. The left and right plates were adjusted to approximate the outside edges of the eyes, while the center post was raised or lowered to the length of the nose. The Stooges could then practice quickly jabbing their fingers into the resulting spaces without actually contacting the device. The resulting pokes proved much more entertaining than the previously unrehearsed pokes and the device was soon found on the set of every Stooges short and feature film…….

44. lenny
    June 27th, 2008 at 7:29 pm

    gee thats a puzzler isnt it.
    i think it could be a door bell or a buzzer
    if the bar in the middle pivots {looks like it might]
    running an ac curent through the electrodes might make it swing and ring the bell like thingy on the top.
    if the ends of the bar were wrapped in wire id say thats what it was but no wire.
    hmm maybe a soleniod

45. tripleX
    June 30th, 2008 at 9:39 am

    It’s a Love Meter! You hold one button, your love holds the other. If sparks fly, you are a match. If the bell rings, it means you should keep your other hand above the table, or you should stop playing silly games and get on with it!

46. bbriley
    June 30th, 2008 at 8:18 pm

    My guess(at first glance, before reading other posts)is/was also a metronome.

47. Papaw
    July 2nd, 2008 at 9:52 pm

    I think that must be a ship’s inclinometer. If the ship lists too far to port or starboard, the bell will ring when the rod contacts one of the side posts.

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