✅ SOLVED Test your skills on this one! Spent years trying to ID this.

[musclecar]

I found this in Alaska about 10 years ago, and have never been able to ID it. It is an aluminum piece, about 3 inches square. It has 15 teeth and is numbered 1-15. There is a stop preventing it from spinning freely. The back has two tabs that may have been used to mount it. ANY GUESSES?

Thanks,

MC

PS The quarter used for size was found yesterday! 1935S Yeah!

 

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[adh247]

I think i figured it out! Its a counter, and then it gets to 15, It means that your 15 minutes of fame is up! hey yoooooo!

 

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[BuckleBoy]

I think i figured it out! Its a counter, and then it gets to 15, It means that your 15 minutes of fame is up! hey yoooooo!

Yes.  15 minutes of fame as long as your post sinks quietly to the murky depths of Tnet--AND STAYS THERE! 

 

[CRUSADER]

I think i figured it out! Its a counter, and then it gets to 15, It means that your 15 minutes of fame is up! hey yoooooo!

Yes. 15 minutes of fame as long as your post sinks quietly to the murky depths of Tnet--AND STAYS THERE!

This is my fav ancient artefact

 

[BuckleBoy]

I think i figured it out! Its a counter, and then it gets to 15, It means that your 15 minutes of fame is up! hey yoooooo!

Yes. 15 minutes of fame as long as your post sinks quietly to the murky depths of Tnet--AND STAYS THERE!

This is my fav ancient artefact

It's obviously a Colonial Trade Axe.

 

[Ohio Jerry]

​

I haven't been shot,that's me after reading this thread for the umpteenth time and just jumping from the highest spot i could find :P

 

[BlessedBlogger]

It reminds me of a ladies ring sizer. You know, like the kind you can print out to measure your fingers to see what size ring you'd wear. I'm sure I'm wrong but that's what came to mind.

 

[Burger]

Somebody already got it but:

This is the temperature adjustment dial from a refrigerator. It is identical to the one on my grandparents' OLD refrigerator that was out on the porch when I was growing up in the late 1960s/early 1970s. I am guessing that it probably was from the 1940s because that is when they built the house and they might have bought it at that time. (The refrigerator they had inside was probably from the late 1950s). I don't remember what brand it was.

The freezer compartment was an aluminum box with curved corners inside the refrigerator compartment, which had only one door on the outside--the freezer was INSIDE the refrigerator. It had matching ice cube trays made of aluminum, too. I am 99% sure that the temperature dial was actually for the freezer compartment only and not the refrigerator part. I remember thinking it was really neat and playing with it on more than one occasion. It was set so that you could only move the dial a little, maybe one or two numbers, without putting your finger in another slot.

Send the pic to one of the online vintage appliance sites or show it to an OLD appliance repairman to confirm this. You can see that the dial is made to turn with a finger--those are not mechanical gears. The part is actually pretty flimsy, not made for heavy use. If you think about it, it would also make sense being the simplest explanation for what machinery or appliance would be commonly found at a homestead. However, I cannot tell you how it actually changed the temp or interfaced with other parts.

 

[Born2Dtect]

At first I thought it could not be a freezer control, but now. If you look at the first second picture the enclosed end with the spike barely visible could have been mechanically couple to a flap that simply let more cooling out of the freezer.

Ed D.

 

[ivan salis]

easy its a pigg nut counter -- once it hits 15 the world ends .

 

[BuckleBoy]

​

I haven't been shot,that's me after reading this thread for the umpteenth time and just jumping from the highest spot i could find :P

LMFAO!

 

[BuckleBoy]

Somebody already got it but:

This is the temperature adjustment dial from a refrigerator. It is identical to the one on my grandparents' OLD refrigerator that was out on the porch when I was growing up in the late 1960s/early 1970s. I am guessing that it probably was from the 1940s because that is when they built the house and they might have bought it at that time. (The refrigerator they had inside was probably from the late 1950s). I don't remember what brand it was.

The freezer compartment was an aluminum box with curved corners inside the refrigerator compartment, which had only one door on the outside--the freezer was INSIDE the refrigerator. It had matching ice cube trays made of aluminum, too. I am 99% sure that the temperature dial was actually for the freezer compartment only and not the refrigerator part. I remember thinking it was really neat and playing with it on more than one occasion. It was set so that you could only move the dial a little, maybe one or two numbers, without putting your finger in another slot.

Send the pic to one of the online vintage appliance sites or show it to an OLD appliance repairman to confirm this. You can see that the dial is made to turn with a finger--those are not mechanical gears. The part is actually pretty flimsy, not made for heavy use. If you think about it, it would also make sense being the simplest explanation for what machinery or appliance would be commonly found at a homestead. However, I cannot tell you how it actually changed the temp or interfaced with other parts.

We have a WINNER!

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Somebody already got it but:

This is the temperature adjustment dial from a refrigerator. It is identical to the one on my grandparents' OLD refrigerator that was out on the porch when I was growing up in the late 1960s/early 1970s. I am guessing that it probably was from the 1940s because that is when they built the house and they might have bought it at that time. (The refrigerator they had inside was probably from the late 1950s). I don't remember what brand it was.

The freezer compartment was an aluminum box with curved corners inside the refrigerator compartment, which had only one door on the outside--the freezer was INSIDE the refrigerator. It had matching ice cube trays made of aluminum, too. I am 99% sure that the temperature dial was actually for the freezer compartment only and not the refrigerator part. I remember thinking it was really neat and playing with it on more than one occasion. It was set so that you could only move the dial a little, maybe one or two numbers, without putting your finger in another slot.

Send the pic to one of the online vintage appliance sites or show it to an OLD appliance repairman to confirm this. You can see that the dial is made to turn with a finger--those are not mechanical gears. The part is actually pretty flimsy, not made for heavy use. If you think about it, it would also make sense being the simplest explanation for what machinery or appliance would be commonly found at a homestead. However, I cannot tell you how it actually changed the temp or interfaced with other parts.

Welcome to Treasurenet Burger. I think you got it. I worked on some old fridges but didnt think of it because they usually dont number 1-15.. All we need is a pic or link to confirm and this one may be closed.

 

[edale]

I think whomever suggested it mounts on a cage and is a hand operated
counter for whatever, quarantine days, vaccination, gestation on something
is right. It appears to hang on a wire from the two V prongs and the two
tabs on the bottom are bent upward around the wire to secure it. Looks like
it was used a little by the wear under the outside edge of the teeth but the tabs
to secure it were never bent up or were bent back so that you can't see they
were once bent up.

If the distance between the two wires I photoshopped into the pic below
is close to two inches, seems like it would mount on standard cage wire
or dog fence material.

It is almost certainly a hand operated device. I bet the wheel had more friction when it was new. I'm guessing it counted weeks, not hours or days.

I found interesting info on a web site:

"Food: I start my chicks on a medicated 20% protein chick starter food for eight weeks. Then I switch to a nonmedicated chick starter or an 18% protein grower food for another 8 weeks. I don't give the chicks any scratch only their chick food. Scratch only has about 8% protein and the chicks need more than that to grow to their best potential. The percentages stand for the protein content in the food."

Notice the 16 week period in the above instructions. If you were raising multiple sets of chicks hatched at different times, you would need to keep them in separate coops, and would want to keep track of the hatch dates of each group.

The web site I got this from is: http://www.cyndilou6.com/care.html

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Somebody already got it but:

This is the temperature adjustment dial from a refrigerator. It is identical to the one on my grandparents' OLD refrigerator that was out on the porch when I was growing up in the late 1960s/early 1970s. I am guessing that it probably was from the 1940s because that is when they built the house and they might have bought it at that time. (The refrigerator they had inside was probably from the late 1950s). I don't remember what brand it was.

The freezer compartment was an aluminum box with curved corners inside the refrigerator compartment, which had only one door on the outside--the freezer was INSIDE the refrigerator. It had matching ice cube trays made of aluminum, too. I am 99% sure that the temperature dial was actually for the freezer compartment only and not the refrigerator part. I remember thinking it was really neat and playing with it on more than one occasion. It was set so that you could only move the dial a little, maybe one or two numbers, without putting your finger in another slot.

Send the pic to one of the online vintage appliance sites or show it to an OLD appliance repairman to confirm this. You can see that the dial is made to turn with a finger--those are not mechanical gears. The part is actually pretty flimsy, not made for heavy use. If you think about it, it would also make sense being the simplest explanation for what machinery or appliance would be commonly found at a homestead. However, I cannot tell you how it actually changed the temp or interfaced with other parts.

Im not so sure now. You sounded so sure of yourself Burger. I looked at the backside and could see nowhere this could attach to an electronic control or air vent.

 

[trikikiwi]

welcome back welcome back welcome back

BigCy', I agree with your latest.
From what I have seen, all the while along this journey we are taking there's no way you would want electricity anywhere near that if you turned the dial by hand and I can't see how that dial could have physically connected otherwise to anything else, which would have to in turn, be connected to electrics to have anything to do with refrigeration controls.
Mike

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

welcome back welcome back welcome back

BigCy', I agree with your latest.
From what I have seen, all the while along this journey we are taking there's no way you would want electricity anywhere near that if you turned the dial by hand and I can't see how that dial could have physically connected otherwise to anything else, which would have to in turn, be connected to electrics to have anything to do with refrigeration controls.
Mike

The overall (freezer) control is always electric.

The fresh food part control usually would adjust the airflow and need no connection to electric but I cant see how this could adjust the airflow either. I can't see how that dial could have physically connected to anything else

 

[NGE]

Has anyone ever thought about an odometer or pedometer? It counts yer steps or mileage on an automobile.......NGE (T)

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Musclecar, if youre still with us, find a section of chcken wire fence and see if that attaches to it with the fold over tabs on the back.

 

[jgowans]

Ok, yes I have read all of the pages..... and you folks are truly disturbed.
I agree on a temperature control device but you are confusing the sprockets.
It isn't electric but mechanical. The sprockets move another gear. The adjustment part is the "stop tab".
Like someone showed earlier there would have been a face plate but the tab would penetrate through as well. There would have been enough friction to keep it from free spinning but loose enough to use the tab.
Your fingers would use the tab to adjust the setting and the sprockets (hidden from view) would adjust another gear below. I know I have adjusted something similar and hurt my finger on the tab when the dial would get tighter. I had to use a coin to move it. If I get a moment I will photoshop my thought.

Now what the heck is a pigg nut and where do I find that thread?
JG

 

[time4me]

I too have read through all of the posts, and like many of you I am now haunted by this thing. I sent the post over to my buddy David Pescovitz, one of the editors at a website called BoingBoing that is a blog about all things curious, and he posted it there. Great - now I've infected thousands of others with this madness!!!!!!!

Here is the link to David's post...

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/11/06/metal-detectorists-m.html

He just put up the post yesterday at 3pm, and already has 150 replies - guesses about as good (and funny) as ours have been.

BoingBoing gets millions of page views each month - who knows, maybe one of David's readers will know what the heck this thing is and end all of our misery.

Jim