✅ 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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Agony and Death on a Gold Rush Steamer: The Disastrous Sinking of the Side-Wheeler Yankee Blade - Grab it through Amazon!

[Bigcypresshunter]

My wife thinks I am crazy, but I keep all of the parts from old appliances. Motors, fans, switches and such.
I have 2 boxes of parts just in case I need to build a robot. I love to tear (mechanical) things apart once they are dead to see how they worked. I emphasize once they are dead, cause when I try and put them back together I always have parts left over....

I do remember seeing the pigg nuts now. But I didn't get wrapped up in that one.

I had a garage full of parts I saved and now I have to rent a warehouse to keep them all LOL. I dont have too many parts anymore for 40s-50s Frigidaires. If anyone wants to search Frigidaire and General Motors were most popular I recall.

 

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[Bigcypresshunter]

it's part of a timeclock for lights. the clock adjusted itself every 15 days (1/2 month)to compensate for time change of rising and setting sun.

I know because I had to check one every day for 28 years

There is no way to connect this dial to electric.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

I think I know what it is. But gosh, after all this time and mystery - do you REALLY want to know?

yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.

Its a long shot but who knows? ...do tell.

 

[curbdiggercarl57]

It's back! And I still can't figure out what it is! Good luck!

 

[harrysmartz]

Aren't billiard balls numbered 1 thru 15? Is the space between the wheel points sized for the tip of a pool cue?

 

[Hardy]

MARK 4 , BUBBLE SEXTANT FILTER WHEEL

 

[Hardy]

HEY, I WAS THE 500 TH REPLY TO THIS PUZZLE, DO I WIN A TRIP

 

[camb1]

I believe it is a 15 minute counter to a key wound clock that chimes once ever 15 minutes. It strikes on the hour and half hour. I got this idea after finding a piece of a clock at a local college. In which I can't seem to find now or I would post. Now whats my prize.

 

[jollyca]

Hello evb,

I've seen this long ago in a TV documentary. It's part of the device used by old chariot drivers to charge customers. It's like an ancient vending machine if you will - the slots are equal and they are calibrated to the size of the coins used back then.
This whole device was put in a box having one slot for the coins. The "customer" would put the coin in the slot of the box and then the driver would manually operate the disc to rotate the wheel in order to free up more slots for other coins. All the coins would fall through the back of the "wheel" into the box.

Hope it helps

 

[trikikiwi]

Quote from jollyca - and Welcome
"Hope it helps "
Not unless you can provide a photo of your own, or picture in a publication.

HEY, I WAS THE 500 TH REPLY TO THIS PUZZLE, DO I WIN A TRIP

Hardy, I have long promised a bottle of fine New Zealand wine to the proven 'winner'. That still stands. Someone else promised a $100 of produce, from memory - meat from Chicago (you'll have to research the thread to find them )

and please

I think I know what it is. But gosh, after all this time and mystery - do you REALLY want to know?

Do tell

Mike

 

[Peerless67]

It is a part of an old camera, it is the exposure counter from a camera LIKE the old kodak pocket camera.
The cameras of the time used to use 120 film which was good for 12 exposures. however sometimes you would get 11 or 13 exposures from the film roll depending on how much space there was between each exposure you had used.
As you can see from the picture the number 15 is not used but is rather a stop.
So why 14 ? well when you put a film in those old cameras you had to manually set (wind) the exposure number to (1) but you could have upto 13 exposures on the 120 film roll and so if you add 13 to the (1) that you set at the beginning you would finish your roll on 14.
Also those cameras were generaly made of aluminum covered with leather. I have dismantled one of those cameras when I was a kid and recognise the part, but I've tried in vain to remeber exactly which model camera it was. One of the more investigative members may be able to hunt it down. But that is what it is.

 

[BuckleBoy]

It is a part of an old camera, it is the exposure counter from a camera LIKE the old kodak pocket camera.
The cameras of the time used to use 120 film which was good for 12 exposures. however sometimes you would get 11 or 13 exposures from the film roll depending on how much space there was between each exposure you had used.
As you can see from the picture the number 15 is not used but is rather a stop.
So why 14 ? well when you put a film in those old cameras you had to manually set (wind) the exposure number to (1) but you could have upto 13 exposures on the 120 film roll and so if you add 13 to the (1) that you set at the beginning you would finish your roll on 14.
Also those cameras were generaly made of aluminum covered with leather. I have dismantled one of those cameras when I was a kid and recognise the part, but I've tried in vain to remeber exactly which model camera it was. One of the more investigative members may be able to hunt it down. But that is what it is.

We Have A Winner!

 

[Peerless67]

My drawing is not the best but the first picture is the film with the holes in the top which pass over the points at the second picture numbered (1)

(2) is the display which shows the exposure number in a little window.

 

[mojjax]

I think Peerless67 is on the right track !

http://www.google.com/patents?id=_S...&as_miny_is=2008&as_maxm_is=1&as_maxy_is=2008

 

[Angelo]

Peerless67...Your Picture is great!

I'm pulling for you Bud!


Tony

 

[eldonsmith]

Would that not make the body of the camera greater than 3 inches across? Also why would the teeth need reinforcing for the light lateral load applied by the film? Does enough of the tooth protrude to permit this solution? Would the wheel need a seperate bracket with clips if installed in a camera body?

I am as mystified as anyone. I can say that what you see (and it may not be the complete item) cannot interact. There's no mechanical or electrical linkage or connection which rules out thermostats. The earlier post about stopping a production after a certain number is flawed due to the manual reset back the way it came. So the wheel is moved either manually or by a small drive sprocket to the teeth. Never seen anything like it in the UK though it is vaguely familiar

 

[Peerless67]

Would that not make the body of the camera greater than 3 inches across? Also why would the teeth need reinforcing for the light lateral load applied by the film? Does enough of the tooth protrude to permit this solution? Would the wheel need a seperate bracket with clips if installed in a camera body?

I am as mystified as anyone. I can say that what you see (and it may not be the complete item) cannot interact. There's no mechanical or electrical linkage or connection which rules out thermostats. The earlier post about stopping a production after a certain number is flawed due to the manual reset back the way it came. So the wheel is moved either manually or by a small drive sprocket to the teeth. Never seen anything like it in the UK though it is vaguely familiar

The box brownie type cameras were sometimes much greater than 3 inches across (late 1800s - early 1900s)
Are the teeth reinforced? or are they shaped to make being guided into the small slots in the film roll easier?
The teeth do protrude.
The manufacture date would dictate why they were made that way.

 

[eldonsmith]

Peerless67
would this site help you track down the camera you remember?
http://www.butkus.org/chinon/kodak.htm

seems to have manuals for cameras dating way back. Maybe with a model we can look for parts??

 

[Peerless67]

Peerless67
would this site help you track down the camera you remember?
http://www.butkus.org/chinon/kodak.htm

seems to have manuals for cameras dating way back. Maybe with a model we can look for parts??

eldonsmith, when I was a kid my dad worked for the local council as a transport manager, his main job was looking after the councils dust carts (garbage trucks) his job entailed working at local tips/ landfills. That is where he came across the camera. ( he was like a magpie) I was a kid when I took it apart. I tried to remember the exact model before posting and spent some time looking on the net, but was unable to find it.
I do recall the body was aluminium covered with leather, and it had a bellows like leather body behind the lens.
The leather was faded red and textured. other than that I remember little, although I will take a look see if I can find it or something similar. I am in the UK to, so it could have been just about any manufacturer.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

I wish someone had some old 120 film that could post the distance between notches and musclecar could see if it fits.

I believe you Peerless but I have heard other members say they were 100 percent sure before. We really do need a pic or link. Great diagram. BTW.