Equipment Identification please.

[robincaz]

Hi
Could somebody please tell me what this is? It stands about 1/3 M high, has a spout just above the larger bottom section and the lid with a chimney in comes off to reveal a narrower copper cylinder inside. Is it Hope's?
Thanks in advance
Caroline

 

[Baluncore]

What is “Hope's” ?

Copper with solder seams showing suggests it is functional rather than laboratory equipment which would be polished brass. Maybe an outer case and some insulation has been removed.

It looks like a “one off” or prototype item, the solder spread suggests an apprentice.

The spout seems to have been used for a hose attachment, probably to partially drain it.

Do you have the lid upside down. Does the chimney align / mate with the inner tube?

The rolled bead on the upper edges of the main body and chimney suggest removal of sharp edges which implies human contact when being used. It could be part of high voltage or VHF cavity resonator. But I would have expected a greater radius of curvature than the simple bead shown.

Part of a water heater or a “Bain Marie” for some process carried out in the central tube, like calibrating thermometers ?

Without some idea of the inner tube attachment geometry I can make no more deductions, only guess.
Are there any wires attached ?
Is the central vertical line at the very top of the picture in the background ?

It looks like scrap copper, or an interesting puzzle, depending on the space you have available to store it.

 

[jedishrfu]

i think its a still.

from ebay something similar to its design:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/copper-stills-moonshine-alcohol-distiller-whiskey-still-/170925149149?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27cbeecbdd

 

[sophiecentaur]

Are there any more inlet / outlet pipes?
It has aspects both of a Hope's apparatus and a form of still.
How many separate chambers are there, inside it? That ebay picture looks similar - you are, perhaps, just missing the condenser bit.
You could ask your local customs officer, perhaps?

 

[AJ Bentley]

I can identify this precisely, I've seen countless examples.

It's a piece of copper scrap

 

[sophiecentaur]

I can identify this precisely, I've seen countless examples.

It's a piece of copper scrap

Oh Man. Where's your romance? You could at least allow it to be a Flux Capacitor.

Remember, someone lovingly crafted it - even if the soldering's not that well done.

 

[AJ Bentley]

Well...
It doesn't look like a still to me. Pot stills are usually simple tubs with a feed to a condenser on top. A drain would be rare and would have to be right at the bottom to be of use.
Fractionating stills are much more complicated but this doesn't look like that either.

Maybe some sort of calorimeter? The lip might have supported insulation for the upper section. In which case, we have some sort of flow-controlled calorimeter.

OK - I'll agree with sophiecentaur, Probably a Flux-Calorimeter.