✅ SOLVED any ideas?

[ohiowhiteguy]

found this at an 1860's home site..it was pretty green looking when found i cleaned with an sos pad.
i think it's copper.
thanks for looking.
hh
OWG...

 

[nhbenz]

Tent rope tensioner

 

[Tpmetal]

i have one of these as well, always wondered what it was.

 

[DCMatt]

Tent rope tensioner

Ben is correct.

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/what/104524-brass-rope-adjuster.html

 

[ohiowhiteguy]

holy cow..that was quick..thanks ben..any idea of it's age?
HH...
OWG..

 

[Tpmetal]

I found mine on land that has history back tot he 1600s so I have no idea on age. maybe 1850s to 1900s?

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Nhbenz is of course correct. You asked about its age. It was invented in 1880 by H.B. Thompson and patented by him as a "tent slip." The US Army adopted them for military use in 1889. Early ones (made before the Patent expired) were marked with the Patent date. After expiration, anybody could manufacture them without having to pay the inventor a royalty, so they were no longer Patent-date marked. See a Patent-dated one in the photo below, and scans of the original US Patent document, and the Army order adopting them for US Army use in 1889. They are definitely not from the civil war era.