Need a little help on ID

[gunner45]

I went to an auction today and I normally stick with buying gold and silver. Well this item came up and no one knew what it was. There were a lot of antique dealers there and the auctioneer asked if anybody had any idea what it was....nobody! So I decided since it was brass and heavy (49 pounds) I'd take a chance.
I bought it and now I'm stumped.
At first I thought it was some sort of tumbler but I don't think since there are bolts protruding on the inside.
It's 16" long and weighs 49 pounds and the inside lid has a seal around it.
Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

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[Back-of-the-boat]

Looks like those things the banks used to send thru the pneumatic tubes, minus the cushy parts.

The problem with that is the weight of the item, imagine how much air pressure it would take to push that up the tube,

 

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[gunner45]

I would plant 'Violets' in it

Ha, I don't think "violets" would help.
At least not on this one. He was clueless about this

 

[gunner45]

Well I think I found an explanation on another forum and I believe this to be the best one so far. I copied and pasted it:
back in Victorian times, many Banks had elaborate deposit boxes in which a business could come by after hours to deposit the days transactions safely. The piece you have is the inner workings of that safe drum. Lets say I was the merchant, I would walk up to the bank and go to make a deposit. I would approach a solid metal usually bronze door with a key lock, inside would be a drum, part of which you have above, I would place my daily deposit inside, use the latch that you show to close the lid and secure the deposit, the close the drum, then turn it a few times. Once the drum was turned, the latch was released and the deposit was dumped safely into the bank for the tellers to tend to in the next business day. Then I would close the door, lock it, and walk away knowing my money is safe and sound. How do I know this, because I have actually used one of this antique deposit boxes before.

 

[bowser]

Traveling safe for a parapalegic who doesn't believe in banks

 

[unclemac]

i have been thinking like gunner...just can't find a good image....

 

[outdoorfunblonde]

Looks like those things the banks used to send thru the pneumatic tubes, minus the cushy parts.

At least I'm not the only one who thought that!!
I didn't want to say it, because I'm sure it was something else.
I agree it looks like a cooking/ roasting thingy of some kind.

And, as usual, it takes me so long to post something... several people have posted and put the correct answer before I finish!! LOL