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What Is It?

What Is It? is a place for engineers to test their knowledge (and sense of humor). Each week (or month, or...) the CR4 team will post an unidentified picture of an object, tool, animal, something. We're looking for your best (or funniest) guesses at what it might be in the comments.

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What Is It? for 6/3/12

Posted June 03, 2012 12:00 AM
Pathfinder Tags: What is it?

This week's image:

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#1

Re: What Is It? for 6/3/12

06/03/2012 1:32 AM

It looks like an ancient one-banger air compressor.

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#9
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Re: What Is It? for 6/3/12

06/04/2012 12:41 AM

I agree, thats what it looks like to me
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#2

Re: What Is It? for 6/3/12

06/03/2012 2:29 AM

Looks like a gas engine....

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#3

Re: What Is It? for 6/3/12

06/03/2012 7:22 AM

An old hit-and-miss engine.

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#4

Re: What Is It? for 6/3/12

06/03/2012 10:54 AM

Air-motor in a shearers shed?

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#5

Re: What Is It? for 6/3/12

06/03/2012 5:25 PM

Bovine breast pump.
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#6
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Re: What Is It? for 6/3/12

06/03/2012 5:34 PM

What an udderly strange answer.

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Re: What Is It? for 6/3/12

06/03/2012 8:41 PM
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#8

Re: What Is It? for 6/3/12

06/03/2012 11:06 PM

ALERT! ALERT! The humans have discovered grandpa! ALERT!

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#10

Re: What Is It? for 6/3/12

06/04/2012 3:02 AM

makes me think of those speed differentials in old factories run by steam engines and leather bands going all over the place

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#11

Re: What Is It? for 6/3/12

06/04/2012 10:14 AM

Antique refrigerant compressor...

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#12

Re: What Is It? for 6/3/12

06/04/2012 6:47 PM

An one banger cylindr. It is too simple for anything else.
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#13

Re: What Is It? for 6/3/12

06/05/2012 5:15 AM

On the left there is a flywheel,on the right there is a loose pulley & tight pulley. What is in the middle is confusing,is it a compressor,shock absorber or single cylinder engine?. Why no connections are shown on the middle one?.

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#14

Re: What Is It? for 6/3/12

06/06/2012 10:57 AM

USBPORT is correct. It is a "hit-or-miss" gas engine.

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#15

Re: What Is It? for 6/3/12

06/07/2012 6:26 AM

According to the contributor of the image, it is a belt-driven compressor.
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#16

Re: What Is It? for 6/3/12

06/07/2012 6:38 PM

I'll go with the first reply--an air compressor likely made to be driven by a belt from an overhead line shaft. I can't explain 2 pulleys on the right end.

All the hit-n-miss engines I have seen are "hopper" engines with a reservoir of water for cooling. The cooling fins on the cylinder are typical of air compressors.

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#17
In reply to #16

Re: What Is It? for 6/3/12

07/08/2012 10:57 PM

The one pulley runs the compressor the other one is a idler pulley where you put the drive belt when you don't want to run the compressor.Most things that were run by a lineshaft had the two pulleys for this purpose
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Users who posted comments:

Anonymous Hero (1); Epke (1); IdeaSmith (1); Inventer (1); Johannescnc (1); Lehman57 (1); leveles (1); pnaban (1); redfred (1); ronseto (1); SavvyExacta (1); SolarEagle (2); Tornado (1); Usbport (2); WAWAUS (1)

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