What is this? Recognize it? Used for?

[Bill Foster]

The upper arm is immobile. The chain attaches to something which leads into the box. I imagine that when the chain is pulled, it pulls that lower arm up, against spring loaded tension from inside the box.

Whatever it's meant to hold, it cannot be too heavy, or the whole thing will tip over, given the moment arm since it looks like it's mean to hold it at the top of the shaft. So a beaker full of liquid is out of the question.

 

[Evo]

The upper arm is immobile. The chain attaches to something which leads into the box. I imagine that when the chain is pulled, it pulls that lower arm up, against spring loaded tension from inside the box.

Whatever it's meant to hold, it cannot be too heavy, or the whole thing will tip over, given the moment arm since it looks like it's mean to hold it at the top of the shaft. So a beaker full of liquid is out of the question.

The beaker would likely only hold a tiny amount.

 

[Bill Foster]

I don't see how a beaker would attach to those arms anyway.

 

[nazarbaz]

This thread could be a lot more interesting to an archeologist from the future than the object itself... A civilisation sinking in an ocean of useless stuff looking nonetheless for some meaning and purpose to what it did not so long ago...

 

[dlgoff]

My attachment says it all.

Similar to:

 

[jim mcnamara]

[P I T A]
Nice try - when was brass declared a resistive material? Musta missed that one.
[/P I T A] - had to edit the dummy dumb-xxx psuedo-code tags because of the "filter" on three letter words that mean butt.
[/color]

I feel just as confused as ever.

 

[dlgoff]

zoom in and you'll see the strip (resistive material) isn't attached to the brass. maybe.

 

[jim mcnamara]

PS: I thought the profanity filter worked generally on four letter words. --- is a word that means diminuative cousin of the horse. Missed that. Of course --- hole would be descriptive but a real problem in post.

 

[Michael Redei]

zoom in and you'll see the strip isn't attached to the brass. maybe.

I think the technical term for what you all seem to think of as brass is, actually, "muck". And as materials go, this is immensly resistive, at least to cleaning.

My guess is that this photo shows HÄGAR, an unsucessful prototype of a new IKEA lamp.

 

[Dadface]

1.Search around in the dusty corners of your lab for broken bits of ancient equipment.
2.Lay the bits out on a bench and look at them with a thoughtful expression.
3.Choose some of the bits so that you have an eclectic mixture.
4.Cobble the chosen bits together to make a random structure.
5.Take a photograph of your handiwork and send it to PF under the heading:
What the ____ Is that?--- part 2.

 

[Bill Foster]

You all haven't identified this contraption yet?

 

[Evo]

You all haven't identified this contraption yet?

I already guessed what it is. The others just haven't admitted I'm right.