What is this?

southerngrwn · Feb 29, 2020

I’m trying to get this identified for a friend. He said he found it in a swamp near a railroad. I know I’ve seen something like it before but can’t figure it out. It’s solid brass. I know it’s nothing special but he’s new to detecting and super excited about finding it.

Tnmountains · Feb 29, 2020

Looks like some kinda crank. No idea...

ToddsPoint · Mar 1, 2020

The rod with the gears makes me think it's part of an oil lamp. The gears raise and lower the wick. Gary

ANTIQUARIAN · Mar 1, 2020

I don't think it's oil lamp related, it's construction is far too heavy for that.
Looks like it was originally round, so maybe a type of hose clamp from an old coal or steam locomotive? :icon_scratch:

Dave

creskol · Mar 1, 2020

Could be Dave .. I was thinking along the lines of any emergency pipe clamp, too!

chub · Mar 1, 2020

ToddsPoint said:
The rod with the gears makes me think it's part of an oil lamp. The gears raise and lower the wick. Gary

I agree and the *crank is actually bent. Could be a signal lamp or one of those lamps on the front of a steam train?

chub

southerngrwn · Mar 1, 2020

I was thinking oil lamp as well but the shape of it didn’t seem right for that.

ticndig · Mar 1, 2020

The stem has a gear on it and at the top you see another gear. in my mind it is a wind up motor . maybe for a toy , clock or music box.
40 years in the trades I can assure you it's not a pipe clamp or plumbing related in any way.

the clue is in those gears, between them you see rivets . those are holding more gears for reduction or the spring "motor".

Tony in SC · Mar 1, 2020

The star gears are are usually for wick adjustment. Maybe for a type of smudge pot?

ToddsPoint said:
The rod with the gears makes me think it's part of an oil lamp. The gears raise and lower the wick. Gary

ticndig · Mar 1, 2020

Sure it could be from a lamp, I've dug my share but none like that.
but there's a whole lot I've never seen or dug. that's what makes the "WHAT IS IT " forum my favorite.
always something new on here

GoldieLocks · Mar 1, 2020

Why doen't anyone think it is a simple automobile hose clamp?

ticndig · Mar 1, 2020

GoldieLocks said:
Why doen't anyone think it is a simple automobile hose clamp?

because we know it's not a hose clamp. this is a hose clamp which looks nothing like the pic shown above.

I'm wrong on my guesses pretty often too but it's still fun to try.

Machkin · Mar 1, 2020

oil lamp burner

Gambrinus · Mar 1, 2020

I agree with Tony in SC about the star gear for wicks. The other gears are puzzling and one idea I have is a single control for a double wick lamp, so you could turn one knob but adjust two wicks.
It might be helpful to see pictures of the ends of the item.

civil_war22 · Mar 2, 2020

Those two other rivets obviously carried over the remaining two gears, what’s got me is the two spur gears. Can’t figure those out. Hell I can’t even figure out the whole dang thing, but what I can say is it doesn’t look anything like double or single oil wick adjusters I’ve dug in the past. It does look like some sort of early clamp. I know it’s no modern clamp at all, especially those cheesy ones for automotive purposes, because those break far too easy. The one here looks like it stays in place via the gears, maybe some sort of catch kept the gears locked in for tightness

southerngrwn · Mar 2, 2020

Here are a few more pics of the end of it.

Inspector Comet · Mar 2, 2020

I'm pretty sure it's a lamp wick mechanism as some others have suggested. At least, it would certainly work well as one.

Pardon my lack of artistic talent, but if each of the rivets did have an idler gear, it would cause shafts on either end to turn in opposite directions, which is what you would need if one knob was driving both shafts to extend a wick. It looks like those star-shaped spurs would grab the wick to drive it upwards. It's hard to tell because of the smushedness (technical term) but it looks like there was a cutout allowing for the shaft to go inside the otherwise round housing so the spurs could bite into the wicks. It's all just speculation, but it certainly could have worked that way. All the right components are there.

Gambrinus · Mar 3, 2020

Inspector Comet said:
I'm pretty sure it's a lamp wick mechanism as some others have suggested. At least, it would certainly work well as one.

Pardon my lack of artistic talent, but if each of the rivets did have an idler gear, it would cause shafts on either end to turn in opposite directions, which is what you would need if one knob was driving both shafts to extend a wick. It looks like those star-shaped spurs would grab the wick to drive it upwards. It's hard to tell because of the smushedness (technical term) but it looks like there was a cutout allowing for the shaft to go inside the otherwise round housing so the spurs could bite into the wicks. It's all just speculation, but it certainly could have worked that way. All the right components are there.

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You did well explaining that and with illustrations. Thanks for the technical term too I am always trying to broaden my knowledgableness.
BTW I did learn the correct term is "star wheels" for the star shaped part.