✅ SOLVED Animal Trap/Shackles/industrial Use?

[USNFLYR]

Hey all,

I took the canoe out to my favorite Columbia River beach for a low tide beach combing/metal detecting excursion. I found the usual iron debris left from when the shoreline had wharf activity and gill net fishing. I’ll post photos, but after chipping off blobs of rust, one item caught my eye. It appears to be hand forged (thick heavy metal) that on one end has an ornate tapered tip with a curled lip. The other end has a broken iron spike (which also appears to be hand made). Between the tip are an arch/crescent shape. As this beach was once visited by trappers, I thought I was looking at some sort of trap. But internet searches do not show many solutions. Call me crazy, but I can see this device being closed and clasped to hold someone/(some thing) under lock and key. Maybe a type of shackle? But then, I realized so many industrial usages could explain this. Pipe holder, hydraulic line or just normal stuff you’d find in a 1900 era shop.

But the taper and curl design has me thinking…..

Any help gang?

 

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[Tony in SC]

Cool find!! Strap hinge/journal for holding a shaft or pole in place. Used in many ways.

 

[Blackfoot58]

Could even be a brace for a pivot on a rudder. I agree with Tony. It can have many uses as a hold down.

 

[USNFLYR]

Cool find!! Strap hinge/journal for holding a shaft or pole in place. Used in many ways.

That makes sense. Thanks Tony.

 

[gunsil]

Looks like a trunion cap from a cannon carriage.

 

[USNFLYR]

trunion cap from a cannon carriage.

Wow. It does indeed look like that.. Fort Vancouver used to conduct live fire drills in the area. Now you have given me a rabbit hole to chase down

 

[dougachim]

Spanish Colonial shackles found in Chihuahua.

 

[dozer dan]

I did a lot of searching on this one and it seems to me that it’s too long (6 inches ID) and too thin For a trunion cap.

 

[USNFLYR]

I did a lot of searching on this one and it seems to me that it’s too long (6 inches ID) and too thin For a trunion cap.

Thanks! Although I marked it solved as a basic "hold down" device, I’m still actively researching what it held and how old it is. The curled tip leads me to believe it may have been from the trapper era (vs timber era).