Submarine ship door opener found on the river in Tx :)

[firehorse12]

?? My curious find today by the river that I hauled in my backpack with my husband laughing. What is it? Any guesses? I'm going with submarine ship door opener found in Glen Rose, Tx river bed I'd say it looks great by my mermaid

 

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[GaRebel1861]

It's cool looking and old. I say a handle from some type of large valve. Should display well in your yard with your mermaid.

 

[mtholen]

Cog or gear of some sort, it looks like it has teeth on that one side

 

[firehorse12]

Everything I find I say is a tooth or tooth related. It was heavy though and I carried it to the car so it is treasure of some sort I like it. Maybe a bank vault front haha

 

[cactusrat]

Maybe a gear from an old (flour?) mill.

What ever it is, it’s a nice piece of yard art.

 

[firehorse12]

Thank you - the mermaid likes it but my back hurts a little haha

 

[old digger]

My guess; It is the rear pinon gear drive to a car or truck,(rear end)

 

[austin]

It's part of a gear system that opened or closed to let water through an old dam on your river, especially when it used to flood.

 

[QUICKSILVER (appletree)]

it would be a ring gear the pinion would be the fist looking gear! it could be off anything from a drill press to a windmill?

 

[generic username]

looks like the drive gear off a old portable cement mixer.

 

[austin]

Wow, nobody agrees. What the hell, go with submarine hatch or as you call it a submarine ship door opener. As long as the mermaid doesn't mind. We can change Texas history too. There was supposed to be a WWII german submarine that went up the channel at Port Aransas and sunk a freighter. The coast guard never found the sub. Now we know why. It headed upriver to Glen Rose, the door came off and it sank like a stone.

 

[frankendime]

Some kinda drive gear of a farm implement is my guess. Maybe repurposed as a trotline weight. Got the Lone Star look.

 

[digging wv]

I go with a pinion from ?? What gives the idea it's water related? Just asking??

 

[firehorse12]

I just use my imagination - I'm no expert but value other people's knowledge.

 

[firehorse12]

Austin, I love it - and the mermaid doesn't mind! LOL

 

[archer63]

im going with the cement mixer

 

[cti4sw]

That's not a ship's hatch wheel. While a hatch wheel is around the same size as yours, they are made from brass, are entirely round and smooth, and do NOT have the cogs that yours have. Having served in the Navy I know that almost all large ships, military and civilian, use the same basic hatch design and have done so throughout history. Here is an example of a Navy hatch:



If it IS a gear (such as a rear differential as suggested by some), it is a rather old one, because modern rear differentials have angled cogs and are shaftless:



If I had to venture a guess, I would agree with those who suggested an old valve handle. It may very well have come from a ship of some sort, and that would explain why it was on a riverbed. The valve handles I saw on Google shared the general shape as yours; the boxy flat design with some sort of grip pattern on the surface, and I'm willing to bet the striations on the shaft were grips for pipe wrenches.

Hope this helps!

~CTI3(SW) JB

P.S. The US Navy still uses gas-turbine engines in almost every ship class except aircraft carriers and modern submarines, which are mostly nuclear-powered. Just an afterthought.

 

[austin]

cti4sw-She knows it's not a sub hatch cover and so do I. We were just messing around and having fun. Relax.

 

[nhbenz]

There didn't happen to be a laundromat in the immediate area back in the 1910's-30's? The first thing that popped into my head was a gear from a commercial sized Mangle/Wringer. They tended to be located next to the water, as did a great many other industrial entities of the day, yet were more often than the others in a stand alone building, more likely to eventually be torn down than the old mill buildings.
Ultimately I think you're going to have to go swimming to find more parts before we can conclusively nail this one.

 

[Kevo_DFX]

cti4sw-She knows it's not a sub hatch cover and so do I. We were just messing around and having fun. Relax.

Actually, I thought his opinion (with supporting documentation) was probably the most informed on this thread.