🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Gear made from a one cent copper? Year ID?

[Underwonder]

I found this gear which seemed pretty substantial and when I cleaned it up, it appears to have leaves and letters. I have twisted and turned it in the light and it seems to say “ONE CENT” and have a wreath. The onverse is more difficult to see. My best guess is between 1796 and 1804 penny based on the face looking right, and the distinctive patch of hair bumped out in the middle… Any other ideas on this date? …or why a gear was fashioned from a penny? and for what purpose? Thanks!

 

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[TheCannonballGuy]

IMHO, your find is definitely a homemade replacement for a spur's lost rowel. We find the same thing in civil war Confederate cavalry encampments. (The Rebs often did not have the luxury of simply going to the Quartermaster to be handed a whole replacement spur, and tossing their old lost-rowel spur into the trash pit.)

Plug N Play's photo of a tub full of clock gears shows a hugely important difference between the "form" of a gear's teeth and your find. The teeth on your rowel-replacement taper to a point IN ALL DIRECTIONS. (Like the top of the Egyptian Pyramid... all four of its sides taper to form a sharp point at the top.) Gear-teeth taper to a point in one direction but in the other direction are wide and flat all the way to the tooth's tip.

Also, in order for the gear to function properly, its teeth MUST be identical in shape and precisely evenly spaced. Your find's teeth show small but important differences in shape and spacing, which would be important if your find was used for a "mechanical" purpose.

 

[Tpmetal]

I think you nailed it down as close as you will get as to what year it is. Quite likely made to replace a clock gear, I think the teeth are way too small for use as a spur rowel.

There is absolutely no way this would work in a clock....the percision needed just to allow the mechanism to spin, let alone keep time, is quite high.

 

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[dozer dan]

Very cool find I think whatever it's use was it was very ingenious to repurpose a penny. I actually have done it with two pennies to fix my overall straps they folded to the same size and shape as the piece that broke off.

I’ve drilled holes through them (copper pennies) to make crush washers for bolts when I needed them. Saves a lot of time when the only option is running all over town looking for the right part.

 

[DCMatt]

I'm liking the find a lot.
The repurposing of a LC into a functional item is so cool.
Got one cent they have a replacement-cost effective-as they might had to go to town (miles and miles away) or it just wasn't available and had to be ordered in.
Though I'm thinking it was made into a pastry jigger.
View attachment 1990841

Agree. Pastry cutter. Do a Google image search on 'large cent pie'. You'll see a number of examples.