✅ 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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[PBK]

I still think it's a simple rotary counter or numerical indicator. That's the one obvious function that it can perform. There are no other evident working parts— just a wheel numbered 1-15, with a stop at 15, and a pointer to align with the selected number. What else does it do? What else can it do?

 

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[Angelo]

It's for employee's that get paid on the 1st and the 15th.

This think also looks familiar and it is driving me mad.

Tony

 

[dg39]

An early CIA cypher machine?

 

[dg39]

I still think it's a simple rotary counter or numerical indicator. That's the one obvious function that it can perform. There are no other evident working parts— just a wheel numbered 1-15, with a stop at 15, and a pointer to align with the selected number. What else does it do? What else can it do?

He,he,he. :P
Its the brass acorn all over again....

 

[Monty]

Doh! Well, let me try a bit of detecting. I think we all pretty much agree it's some kind of tally or counter....right? There is a lot of caneries in Alaska that would require machines with some means of keeping a tally............so.... Where did you find it, near civilization or in the wilderness? Monty

 

[musclecar]

The piece was found at an old homestead. I tend to agree that it is a counter of some sort, although it spins freely, and if bumped, it would easily move to a different number. There are no detents to keep it in one place other than the stop at 15.

MC

 

[relic lover]

I still think it's a simple rotary counter or numerical indicator. That's the one obvious function that it can perform. There are no other evident working parts— just a wheel numbered 1-15, with a stop at 15, and a pointer to align with the selected number. What else does it do? What else can it do?

Amen!

 

[MiddenMonster]

I'ts obvious that there is no linkage that would connect it directly to a mechanism, or any indication of anything it does other than spin. What we do know is the the following:

1. It's numbered from 1-15.
2. There is a stop at #15.
3. The wheel spins freely.
4. There are sprocket teeth on the wheel.
5. The sprocket teeth appear to be splayed at the same angle as the cut-out behind them.

Based on this, I suspect that it is a counter that is designed to stop some currently unknown function/task at 15. I further suspect that it does this by means of a rotating swing arm that enters the down-sloped part of the cut-out on one side. This centers the space between the teeth in between the sloped sides of the cutout. The swing arm sits there until the currently unknown function/task is completed, then the mechanism that drives the swing arm causes it to exit the opposite side of the cut-out from which it entered. In doing so, the swing arm moves the counter one notch and positions the teeth on the wheel for the next tally. When the counter reaches 15 the stop prevents the swing arm from moving it any further without some intervening action. Think of a clock mechanism that uses sprockets of varying sizes to turn others. Some sprockets are continuously turning, such as the sprockets that drive the second hand. Other sprockets turn less frequently, such as those that drive a date mechanism or chime. When the counter on this device hits the stop at 15, a mechanism would either lift the swing arm out and drop another one in to rewind counter, or the same swing arm would rotate in the opposite direction to rewind it as the currently unknown function/task clears the decks of the just finished task and readies itself for the second task. As has been noted, 15 is a fairly strange number for counting. But think of a machine that drops product into a 5 x 3 unit grid (such as bottles) or fills a bag with 15 units of product (like licorice/twizzler sticks). The movement of the product actuates the swing arm. The movement of the 16th unit of product is halted by the stop on the counter, which also switches off the forward action of the machine. This trips the mechanism that resets the process, and the product movement continues. If eggs were sold in lots of 15 instead of 12 or 18 I could see this type of process being used to fill egg cartons. Just call me Sylar...

 

[stoney56]

He,he,he. :P
Its the brass acorn all over again....

Please no! LOL

I'm still thinking timer. It can be set anywhere from 1 to 15 and when it reaches 1, it shuts off. Could be in minutes or hours, etc. Naturally it would have to be mechanical

 

[ctalmadg]

That's easy. This is a device that allows you to count to 15 with one hand.

 

[ivan salis]

ok which one of the (1950's) period classified radar early warning station in the very far north of alaska did you fetch this object from? you do know that its a sweep counter from a early warming radar dectector (15 sweeps a min) don't you --so be careful those old sites were known to stay hot for many years due to the massive radation they put out --many of the old operators wound up with cancer from being there & working at those sites.

 

[Montana Jim]

ok which one of the (1950's) period classified radar early warning station in the very far north of alaska did you fetch this object from? you do know that its a sweep counter from a early warming radar dectector (15 sweeps a min) don't you --so be careful those old sites were known to stay hot for many years due to the massive radation they put out --many of the old operators wound up with cancer from being there & working at those sites.

Now... this is interesting! This item kept me up at night trying to figure out what it was months ago!

Okay... Ivan, do you have some kind of information that we can see, diagrams, pics... anything to show what this is? I guess I'm asking for another source that this is a classified radar early warning station sweep counter from an early warning radar detector!!

 

[Daisy]

For some reason, it reminds me of an old style rotary phone. Obviously they didn't count up to 15 but I still can't get it out of my head. Strange...
Good luck with the ID.
D.

 

[crapshooter]

It looks like some type of embosser to be. Maybe it was used to stamp numbers on maybe a thin strip of something. I've used them to emboss on thin stips of metal tags.

 

[Daisy]

:P Smarty pants.

 

[Born2Dtect]

Lets state the obvious. It is a counter or measruring device for going to 15 repeatedly. fishing, manufacturing, who knows?

Ed Donovan

 

[relic lover]

Geez Guys, this was so easy to ID I can't believe you hadn't figured it out by now.
It is part of an old dial telephone. They only had 15 people living in Alaska when it was made, so everyone had their own #. Any takers?
-MM-

OK you got me! I am one of the 15 give me a call my number is 12

 

[scotto]

That tab sticking up by the "15" must have been there for some reason...maybe it counted something, and when it made it up that high it flipped a switch for some kind of limit...dunno. I was an electrician for years, and never saw anything like it, I worked on lots of old stuff too.

My first thought was an old feeler gauge for spark plugs, but it doesn't look like the tabs are different thicknesses. And there would be no reason for the stop by the 15 either.

 

[EggyOG]

One pound is slightly over 15 troy ounces. Alaska= gold - best guess I have

 

[Pulltab Parson]

Its an old distance wheel used for topographical maps, probably 1:100,000. you would set it for the distance you wanted to travel and then roll it along a specific azmith until it stopped.

granted this a SWAG