✅ 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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[dozer dan]

I'm afraid whoever bought it wont know what it is and re-post it here to find out.

 

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[NGE]

They wouldn't DARE, :P

 

[CamoQueen]

lol i hope not!!!

 

[tr snyper]

I'm not sure that it counts 15 turns. When a clock turns 12 times the 13th turn starts it back at 1. I think it counts 16 not 15. The little tab that stops the dial from turning is probably bent and was used to hold other parts of the counter together. It counts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 then 15. When it passes 15 the 16th count, it starts back at 1. 16 would make much more sense as it is used in a lot of measurements. 16 ozs. in pint, 16" is a common construction increment for joists, studs, rafters etc. Just a thought!!!
Steve A

 

[Zephyr]

Why is this topic checkmarked as "solved" when our little mystery object hasn't been identified yet? Sorry, until it's verified, it's not "solved"....

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

I'm not sure that it counts 15 turns. When a clock turns 12 times the 13th turn starts it back at 1. I think it counts 16 not 15. The little tab that stops the dial from turning is probably bent and was used to hold other parts of the counter together. It counts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 then 15. When it passes 15 the 16th count, it starts back at 1. 16 would make much more sense as it is used in a lot of measurements. 16 ozs. in pint, 16" is a common construction increment for joists, studs, rafters etc. Just a thought!!!
Steve A

A clock counts 12hours, not 13. Im not sure I understand your reasoning.

 

[Michelle]

Happy New Year everyone.........

Umm...dang this thing!

 

[wolcottdigger]

I was watching some old TV commercials on YouTube and saw something that looked similar.
Watch the third or fourth commercial, its an old Secret Squadron TV show commercial sponsored by Ovaltine.
He talks about a message decoder, I thought it looked like this thing.

 

[Goodyguy]

Its BaaaaaAck!
Really it never left.

Ok Just to let everyone know.
I admit it!
I'm the one who bought it.
Yep Paid $48.00 for it.

Why you ask?

Well I thought If I could just hold it in my hands and get up close and personal with it
I could easily figure out exactly just what in the world it really is.

Wrong!

I still cant figure it out
But I ain't giving up!

As for the money.
Heck I have had way more than my moneys worth of fun with it!
Just carrying it around with me showing it to people, telling them the story behind it.
Then listening to their ideas of what they think it could be is just priceless!

As for re posting there is no need because it is already posted.
It just has a different owner now that's the only thing that has changed.

I am having a ball with it as a conversation piece.
But honestly have had some sleepless nights trying to figure out just what it could be.

I still have plenty of avenues left for id'ing it and will be exploring them as time permits.
Until then I appreciate all of your help with this and would love for this mystery to be solved.

Sincerely,
GG~

 

[Michelle]

I was watching some old TV commercials on YouTube and saw something that looked similar.
Watch the third or fourth commercial, its an old Secret Squadron TV show commercial sponsored by Ovaltine.
He talks about a message decoder, I thought it looked like this thing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFbCGT_AWBI&feature=rec-HM-r2

Okay I am apologizing first hand..................



ahhhhhh

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Its BaaaaaAck!
Really it never left.

Ok Just to let everyone know.
I admit it!
I'm the one who bought it.
Yep Paid $47.00 for it.

So you are the lucky winner. How many people were bidding on it? Maybe you could resell it for a profit.

 

[Ohio Jerry]

Its BaaaaaAck!
Really it never left.

Ok Just to let everyone know.
I admit it!
I'm the one who bought it.
Yep Paid $47.00 for it.

So you are the lucky winner. How many people were bidding on it? Maybe you could resell it for a profit.

Hope your not superstitious BCH,your last response was number 666

 

[Goodyguy]

So you are the lucky winner. How many people were bidding on it? Maybe you could resell it for a profit.

Just for the record: there were 28 bids among 8 bidders with mine being the highest.

As for resale. I just want to solve the mystery.

However, if my efforts are unsuccessful and I have exhausted all possibilities.
Then I will reluctantly pass the object on to the next seeker.

GG~

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Hope your not superstitious BCH,your last response was number 666

Nope Im lucky. Someone may have removed a post because now you are #666 Jerry.

 

[Michelle]

Its BaaaaaAck!
Really it never left.

Ok Just to let everyone know.
I admit it!
I'm the one who bought it.
Yep Paid $47.00 for it.

Why you ask?

Well I thought If I could just hold it in my hands and get up close and personal with it
I could easily figure out exactly just what in the world it really is.

Wrong!

I still cant figure it out
But I ain't giving up!

As for the money.
Heck I have had way more than my moneys worth of fun with it!
Just carrying it around with me showing it to people, telling them the story behind it.
Then listening to their ideas of what they think it could be is just priceless!

As for re posting there is no need because it is already posted.
It just has a different owner now that's the only thing that has changed.

I am having a ball with it as a conversation piece.
But honestly have had some sleepless nights trying to figure out just what it could be.

I still have plenty of avenues left for id'ing it and will be exploring them as time permits.
Until then I appreciate all of your help with this and would love for this mystery to be solved.

Sincerely,
Buddy Clark~

Well I knew it was someone on here!
OK Goody Guy it's up to you now to save us from this thing!

Please show it to some older guy who has worked on refrigerators all his life! Because I still think it's a temperature adjustment wheel for an old refrigerator/freezer. It would have just opened a blend door or something nothing electrical. It has a stop on it so it can't "unwind" very far. (to 15 & that's it) And it has no return spring so it can't reset it self back to zero automatically after reaching 15. So it's not a counter! The teeth & wheel are way too thin to be used as a drive sprocket of any kind & show no wear of being used that way. Unless the other gears is made of a softer material like plastic as in onamission's pictures. (See Pic below) Maybe that's how this thing moved the door, it "drove" another softer gear attached to the blend door/flap some how? With a rod maybe?
But the spaces in the wheel do seem to fit the tip of your finger. It also seems to be a light weight item not designed for a heavy job & heavy use. You don't adjust your freezer much if ever & I'm sure they didn't in the old days eather.

Very good detail....as a kid i remember looking at those on the old freezer...cant remember though if it was exactly that...I still wonder how it would attach itself to the electrical part of its function...being aluminum.

Awesome demo!

 

[tr snyper]

bigcypresshunter - I shouldn't have used the clock as a comparison. A clock reads it doesn't count. If you count the notches up to 15 after it turns back to 1 to start the cycle over there is a small tab that would advance another wheel. So it is counting 16 as the incremental number. The secondary dial would count the total number. If it were counting 15 the notch would advance the secondary wheel after passing the 14th.
Steve A

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

bigcypresshunter - I shouldn't have used the clock as a comparison. A clock reads it doesn't count. If you count the notches up to 15 after it turns back to 1 to start the cycle over there is a small tab that would advance another wheel. So it is counting 16 as the incremental number. The secondary dial would count the total number. If it were counting 15 the notch would advance the secondary wheel after passing the 14th.
Steve A

Ah Ok. Your assuming there is a secondary wheel. We were thinking of a counter on a camera that on a roll of 12 exposures would never go over 15 and would be hand wound back to zero.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Very good detail....as a kid i remember looking at those on the old freezer...cant remember though if it was exactly that...I still wonder how it would attach itself to the electrical part of its function...being aluminum.

Awesome demo!

Keep in mind a Freezer control that just operates a blend door/flap is not electrical. It just opens Or close's a small flap.
Check yours & you will see what I mean.

I had thought of a refrigerator/freezer control that is not electrical and operates a door flap but cant remember now why I eliminated it lol. I will have to back search. Most of those type of controls are ABC or 1 to 10. I also dont think the control made a complete circle. Its been a while since I worked on fridges and I cant remember. Why dont everybody check their vent controls at home and post.

 

[eldonsmith]

Round in circles we go...

...but we didn't stop at 14/15!

Just think about the film counter for a while. The holes would need to be the same distance (or multiples) apart as the fingers on the wheel. This is ok with small format film, but the camera then wouldn't have a 3" wheel in it. To advance a number on the wheel, the film frame would have to be about the same width as the finger spacing. Either that or have the holes further apart and let the wheel just grind away at the film until it finds and drops into the next hole. (see pic)

As for fridge, well there's no connection point or shaft. If it opens a flap, then so be it, but wouldn't that be a ramp rather than a tab to allow graduation between 1 & 15 rather than nothing (x13) then open??

So someone suggests this wheel drives another? why not use the second as the indicator. Ah but the pedometer shows a second wheel. But that's a pedometer and it's used for gearing, and it rotates continuously not stopping.

The problem we have here is that a lot are offering suggestions such as "it looks a bit like this" Well it's a circular disc with numbers on, couldn't it be a roulette wheel?

 

[mapo]

To me, it looks like a dispenser. I picture it lying flat and doling out jelly beans or nut, etc., from a coin op machine,hence the cut away. It wouldn't be the 1st time a coin maching was busted up for it's booty. My humble opinion-Mark