It's to heat things up. You put the hot water in the hole, close the cap tightly, so the heat doesn't escape, and let the heat make its way though the coils to warm up something that is stuck in there, clothes-pin style.
Or it could be a dunce cap. Place it on the head, of the punished child (there's no bottom - it's hollow) an hang a paper from the coil, stating what the child did wrong.
Or it could be a dunce cap. Place it on the head, of the punished child (there's no bottom - it's hollow) an hang a paper from the coil, stating what the child did wrong.