Mystery Object - What is it?

While visiting with the curator of the Heath, Massachusetts Historical Society Museum, she revealed to me the most mysterious of objects. She has no idea what is is, though her husband postulates that it has something to do with metering the flow of water.

I promised I would consult with the most brilliant of minds (Alpine Zone of course) to identify precisely what this object is. I have enclosed some photos and will attempt to describe it.

The object is made entirely of wood. I would estimate it is between 100 and 300 years of age. I am assured it was used in Heath Massachusetts, settled in the 1700s as a "frontier village". So far, nobody has the answer.

It appears to be a wooden shaft, about 12 inches in height. the interior shaft is round and holds within its bottommost a wooden ball, which moves freely but cannot escape from the upside-down "U" opening. The bottom of it is has a small carved depression, about one-eight inches deep. Along the sides of the "U" are wear marks, as if something rubbed up against it regularly.

In the middle of the shaft, above the "U" is a blocking device, much like a choke on an old carburetor. However, this choke is made up of two half-moon shaped wooden disks, at a not-exactly perpendicular angle to the shaft. One of the half-moons slides back to open. At the bottom, two screw mounting holes are evident. If mounted in this position, it would be at an approximately 60 degree angle to the mount.

At this point, I go along with it being some sort of water-controlling devices. there are no stains to suggest any other type of liquid could have been used in it.

Lastly, a small strap of metal was apparently added at some later time to hold this object together, across the top back.

Any takers?

check valve for a wooden water main?

It's a big whistle.

Thanks for the thoughts. Sleeping on this overnight, two things bug me. 1) There ws no rot at all from water (was it ever used?) 2) Why would a village of 300 people have something like this? A mill perhaps?

Trekchick said:

check valve for a wooden water main?

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It does look like a check valve of some sort. I'm wondering how it would have been used though???

i think its a bong.

2knees said:

i think its a bong.

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I'm glad I consulted with the experts! 8)

Has me intrigued. I hope someone comes up with an answer. It is built somewhat like a check valve but it's difficult to visualize this thing being liquidtight in a useful way.

2knees said:

i think its a bong.

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Hah my guess too

powhunter said:

hah my guess too

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+420

Edd said:

Has me intrigued. I hope someone comes up with an answer. It is built somewhat like a check valve but it's difficult to visualize this thing being liquidtight in a useful way.

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I got this suggestion from other correspondence:

I'm wondering if the mystery object might be a wooden version of one of the key valves of a water ram. I found a good animation of a ram on the internet that I've included below. There's a valve with a ball that rolls back and forth, but I don't know if a wooden fitting would work.

http://schou.dk/animation/

I doubt the internal baffle (what I am casually calling a "choke") could withhold much pressure. It's also not a "flipper" - It slides half-open manually. The wood slider is perhap 1/8" thick.

If you envision it upside-down, perhaps the ball was expected to spin due to water coming down to the side of the ball - not directly - maybe you put something in the bottom of it, as if you were creating a round impression on something.

Which way do the choke flaps move?

I think it's a self-feeder for livestock. if you push the ball up, would it open one of the choke valves? That would allow grain (or Marc's underpants) to fall into the depression (and into a bowl or trough, one would assume).

I'm also thinking that maybe they've got it wrong way around- the screw hole might actually attach it to the underside of a horizontal surface- bump the ball bup and back into the choke to open it, releasing oaty goodness.

So, I sent my Dad a copy of the image, as he likes these kinds of 'puzzles'. Here is where he is so far: (he did suggest it could be a very old, very large Pez dispenser)

Dad: "Down near the bottom, on either side of the "U slot", there appears to be a couple of small nails, or something. They appear only as white spots. I wonder if that's of any significance?

The corners are beveled giving it a more appealing presence, indicating to me that it was something to be seen, and not used in an outbuilding. Also, the bevel does not extend all the way down which could indicate that the "U slot" was covered. Further indication of that is a difference in the color of that front board. It's darker around the "U slot", which indicates that it may have been covered..."

If there is more, I will post. I am also giving him your updates.

noski said:

So, I sent my Dad a copy of the image, as he likes these kinds of 'puzzles'. Here is where he is so far: (he did suggest it could be a very old, very large Pez dispenser)

Dad: "Down near the bottom, on either side of the "U slot", there appears to be a couple of small nails, or something. They appear only as white spots. I wonder if that's of any significance?

The corners are beveled giving it a more appealing presence, indicating to me that it was something to be seen, and not used in an outbuilding. Also, the bevel does not extend all the way down which could indicate that the "U slot" was covered. Further indication of that is a difference in the color of that front board. It's darker around the "U slot", which indicates that it may have been covered..."

If there is more, I will post. I am also giving him your updates.

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I also noticed the beveled edges, which I would be an odd touch for something the was purely functional in nature (like a check valve), I also thought the base looked fancier than it would need to be. The area around the U-slot looks worn and uneven, which makes me think it's doubtful that anything was attached to that area.

ctenidae said:

Which way do the choke flaps move?

I think it's a self-feeder for livestock. if you push the ball up, would it open one of the choke valves? That would allow grain (or Marc's underpants) to fall into the depression (and into a bowl or trough, one would assume).

I'm also thinking that maybe they've got it wrong way around- the screw hole might actually attach it to the underside of a horizontal surface- bump the ball bup and back into the choke to open it, releasing oaty goodness.

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I like it. However, the choke doesn't "flap". There are two half-rounds next to each other to block the opening. By sticking your hand up the shaft (ball-side) one half round can be manually slid to open it's at a 45 degree angle to the shaft. There is nothing "automatic" about the choke - it's not hinged and there is no way for it to slide back and forth by itself, it takes a little work to wiggle it across the slide.

There very well may be something else missing from the insides, I don't know.

The ball itself appeared symmetrical with no obvious signs of weathering or wear. No holes or mounting signs on the ball. Solid wood.

The two holes - looks as if it was screwed into something, but I'm not at all convinced which way it would be mounted. Remember, the shaft is at a 45 degree angle.

The other curious thing is that the straight sections of the "U" have noticable wear, fairly symmetrical but by no means smooth. It's as if something had been pressed up to the "U".

A fellow who restores mills wrote me and thought it might very well be something home-brew, a failed invention or a curiosity.
He wrote in part:

"In the 1700's before pumps became a standard of building supply and other catalog items there were itinerant pump makers. They basically built pretty much all wooden pumps and hydraulic rams, and they were much like the rural barn builder. Another barn builder or pump maker could identify the maker just by looking at the final product."

"I know the item looks like a mill chute, but mill chutes were traditionally not round on the inside like a wooden water pipe would be. "

"They did use round wooden balls with holes in the center mounted on the round arms of bolting or sifter reels that slid back and forth from the axle to the outer screen covered reel. So as they rotated the balls moved back and forth hitting the screens knocking the clogged flour free from the mesh of the screens. They they did use small wooden balls on the flat screens of the plansifters. A large wooden box that hung from the ceiling on a series of maple dowels that oscillated back and forth. The wooden balls bounced around the screens as it shook keeping the screens free of clogs, but this machine did not appear until the 1880's and afterwards. "

"Perhaps it is just a parlor game to ask people after they ate dinner, if they know how to get the wooden ball out of the chute without destroying it, or taking it apart."



Glad this is providing some entertainment.

I am beginning to think it's for air, not water. The interior baffle is rather thin wood - perhaps 1/8". I can't see that stopping water for too long- it's either going to rot out quickly or break from water pressure.

I started to wonder if it was for a pipe organ. ...

And I also believe, but cannot prove that it was part of something else, perhaps mated where the "U" was, or at least something pressed up against it.

And no, I didn't inspect the white spots any closer, only to notice the entire surface was smooth. I know my camera lens had some dust on it, but the dust doesn't track from photo to photo.

I don't think it's for air- there's no way it would ever be tight enough to be worthwhile. Almost certainly grain or something dry, I'd think. It looks like there used to be metal pins in the side right about where the chokes are- there look to be rust marks there- that would allow the choke to flap rather than slide. The ball would be effective at blocking the choke, if moved out of the way material could enter the U and move through the choke and out. Of course, you probably wouldn't need the choke then, except maybe to keep small critters from moving up the pipe and into the grain bag or whatever fed into the U.

in that last photo, what is that copper lookin wire sticking straight up out of the ball? Or is that just a crack in the back? Also it looks like there's some kind of black rubber ball at the top of the opening. Or is that just a bad photo?

SkiDork said:

in that last photo, what is that copper lookin wire sticking straight up out of the ball? Or is that just a crack in the back? Also it looks like there's some kind of black rubber ball at the top of the opening. Or is that just a bad photo?

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That's a crack in the back.

That "black rubber ball" is an alien image. I got some light distortion. It's a empty space.

ctenidae said:

It looks like there used to be metal pins in the side right about where the chokes are- there look to be rust marks there- that would allow the choke to flap rather than slide. The ball would be effective at blocking the choke, if moved out of the way material could enter the U and move through the choke and out. Of course, you probably wouldn't need the choke then, except maybe to keep small critters from moving up the pipe and into the grain bag or whatever fed into the U.

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those two rust marks - missed that one. I also believe that a line drawn through those two rust marks/holes would be perpendicular to the choke. Excellent....