What is it?

A: an eBay opportunity (not an endorsement)?

It looks like some kind of glow plug, but I don't see how it could be energized.

It looks like those are expansion bolts and that they work with the other parts found in that blue box. I suspect the bolts hold something temporarily while other work is performed but what gets held and onto what baffles me.

Looks like some sort of pressure operated valve, at least a part of it...

Any clues amongst the other parts in the box?

How about a few more hints?

It looks like the body is made from stamped sheet metal. Is that correct?

You have two cylindrical items being held in place. One is hollow and seems to act like a holder. The other is solid and seems to act like a rod or post. Are they rubber, carbon, anything else you can identify?

Do the rectangular parts seem to be made from the same material as the round parts?

Do the rectangular black parts seem like they fit in the rectangular slots in the gray "channel parts"?

Does the finish on the part look like military green?

Is there anything helpful written/painted on the box?

How about a few more hints? I will describe the best I can below

It looks like the body is made from stamped sheet metal. Is that correct? The body of the threaded piece appears to be a stamped brass piece, I will refer to it as the "shell" for lack of a better term. The assembly has the shell, in the bottom there is a small spring, then the finger holders which retain the black material. The black material looks like graphite although when rubbed left no residue.

You have two cylindrical items being held in place. One is hollow and seems to act like a holder. The other is solid and seems to act like a rod or post. Are they rubber, carbon, anything else you can identify? The black material looks like graphite although when rubbed left no residue which leads me to believe it is not carbon or graphite but I am no expert in either of these.

Do the rectangular parts seem to be made from the same material as the round parts? Yes, they appear to be. In stick form the black material has a granular texture. They are roughly 3x9x30mm, I didn't measure just estimating.

Do the rectangular black parts seem like they fit in the rectangular slots in the gray "channel parts"? No they do not fit.

Does the finish on the part look like military green? The color is more of an old brass look.

Is there anything helpful written/painted on the box? There were no lables on the box.

While showing the pictures around work and talking through it the consensus is it looks like an ignitor of some sort.

Well, this is fun!

Is the black bit magnetic?

They look like carbon electrode holders for an arc lamp, but I really don’t know why I said this. I have only ever worked with arc lamps for testing paper color fastness, and that equipment was ancient in 1985, and I don’t think the carbon element holders looked like that. These do look very familiar for some reason.

I was thinking electrode holders and electrodes and the "B" part is the terminal lug holding the spring and pushing the carbon block down the ceramic channels that seem to be there.

I was thinking brushes for some motor or reactor or generator, but it could be an arc lamp or something like that.

I think they are oil pan plugs for automotive or farm use with magnets for collecting iron fragments.

A brush holder without the springs that push the brush into the armature.

See the brushes and the loose spring?

This was probably a small appliance parts box for drills,grinders,mixers,etc.

The used to have an assortment of these at the local hardware store.

Here is a whole page of different brush holders.

https://store.eurtonelectric.com/brushholders.aspx

If they are brushes then they are all really worn out or someone has inserted lots the wrong way round:-

Shouldn't the fingers engage with the shoulder so that the contact end can extend beyond the fingers? Or am I missing something?

The brush holder is shown without the internal spring that pushes the brush further out and maintains contact with the armature.Did you notice the spring in the photo? and the additional rectangular brushes for other applications? The old (1960's70's) Kirby vacuum cleaners used a similar brush,and some drills.The fingers maintain contact when the brush wears down and allows for some irregularities on the armature.

Notice the other type brush holders and brushes?Notice the whole spring to the right of the holder,and the spring inside of the holder,and the empty holder?

Most modern DC or Universal motors use a integrated brush/holder assembly not meant to be repaired.

We have become a throw away species...the problem is,there is no "AWAY."

The small end goes inside the holder.The spring seats around the small end,inside of the holder.Someone that didn't have a clue,or a kid, probably had been messing around with the kit and got things all mixed up. The contact end label in the photo is incorrect.It is the spring end.

Notice a concave surface on the carbon?That is the curvature of the armature that it seats against.

And yes,the brush does look worn out.Probably swapped out the complete holder and brush to save time and make extra $.

These were probably to be rebuilt in the shop They do not come when new with the proper radius,it must be done in the shop.They must be formed using flint paper(never emery cloth..emory cloth residue will short out the armature).

Even after this,the brush should be seated using a seating tool.

Here is a link to a tool,but there are many types available.

https://store.eurtonelectric.com/brushseaterhandles2000-cs.aspxhttps://store.eurtonelectric.com/brushseaterhandles2000-cs.aspx

What I'm trying to understand is how the armature makes contact with the brush with the ends of the fingers in the way?

The brush is longer than the fingers,and is normally pressed into contact with the armature by the spring which is ,at the top of the brass housing,pressing it out.

The fingers provide good electrical contact with the brush as it wears.The brush holder case is connected electrically to the voltage source.As the brush wears down,it becomes shorter till the point when contact is intermittent,and arcing of the armature begins.Sometimes this is severe enough to require resurfacing and undercutting the armature.

Thanks! Now I get it.

What confused me was all these units with the brush held below the "knuckle" of the fingers.

I guess they were all really worn out, but, were pushed inside to prevent loss of the spring.

i went to the website to look at these tools but they look like they are meant to dress the commutator, not to radius the brush.

Refer to my post #18.They are curved to shape of the armature by using flint paper,the tool is indeed for refinishing a slightly worn armature and for fine tuning after an armature resurfacing if it is arcing.This has to be done with the motor running,and is applied until the arcing stops.There are different grits and mediums and shapes and sizes available for this purpose.Some look like a stick of chalk,others like hard leather with fine abrasive embedded into it.Just depends on the application.

In a pinch,when we didn't have a powered grinding wheel for undercutting, we would take a hack saw blade,grind off all of the pitch off the teeth to make it flat,and thin enough for the pertinent armature slots,wrap the handle part with tape until sufficient for comfortable fit to hand,then,with the length of the home-made tool appropriate for use,and the other end ground at a 45 degree angle,teeth pointing toward the handle,it would be used to "rake" the mica down to below the surface a specified amount.And as you say,it was tedious work and after 8 hours of this,your hands would get blisters and cramp up at night.But,right back at 'em the next day.My experience was at a motor repair shop that had hundreds of industrial motors every year when the local plant shut down for maintenance. The armature diameters ranged from 8 inches to 20+ inches.

They would also repair any type of motor you brought in A/C or D/C.

No motor too small or large; drills,mixers,100HP and up AC motors,up to medium voltage(4160VAC) and 1000 hp.

What a valuable learning experience that was.!

Experience is the opposite of traditional school:

You get the test first,and the lesson afterwards.

Sure have used those modified hacksaw blades as well but when you are undercutting 6mm wide commy segments around a 900mm dia comm, the air die grinder with a 0.9mm wheel made a tedious job, noisy. The comms were in three bands under the brush sets.

Small universal motors were a pleasure to do though with the die grinder it was easy to put your signature on a segment , least that was our story.

Have also undercut comms on large DC motors.

Excellent exchange from both of you.

Reminds me in Junior High School shop class, our instructor showed us this procedure to turn down the armature and remove the insulation by chucking it up in a lathe and doing it with an attachment. It was actually meant for high school demonstration, but the interest and curiosity he made an exception.

Unfortunately, being 12 years of age when he showed us we didn't have enough background to fully understand at the time the reasoning... but enough understanding to make us look forward to high school.

Rednek,

You might be onto something. Electric motor brushes was our first guess also based on the white-ish ceramic holders and the springs to maintain friction that go in the brass fitting, but none of us had ever seen this type before. There was nothing else in the house to indicate the pervious occupant had been rebuilding motors, but this small box may have been overlooked while moving.

I went to the website but didn't see any brush holders like these. In fact i have never seen circular brushes.

These are SIMILAR brush holders.The ones pictured in the OP are probably not in production anymore.

I have rebuilt many small motors over the years,and have seen many circular brushes,usually in drills,etc.Modern manufacturing makes it easier to buy a brush/holder combination as an assembly that to make brushes easily replaceable.

Plenty of round brushes on this link:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=round+tubular+carbon+motor+brushes&t=newext&atb=v313-1bc&iax=images&ia=images&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fsc01.alicdn.com%2Fkf%2FHTB1J9ZwHFXXXXaRXFXXq6xXFXXXa%2F201293231%2FHTB1J9ZwHFXXXXaRXFXXq6xXFXXXa.jpg

This is a brush similar to the one in the original post,with spring,but not worn out.

The brush holder in the OP is probably obsolete,due to cost of the brass in it.

They now make the holders and caps from Bakelite or other plastic.

The brush with lead does not rely on the fingers for electrical contact,current is carried by the lead itself.Much cheaper to make.

Here is an image of a modern version brush holder:(of course,it is not round,but you get the idea)

And here is what the OP brush may have looked like before being worn out.

O.K. I am still alive as i am still learning. Good to know. These round brushes come in 0.21" and 0.31" can the O.P. give a dimension for the diam of the hole in the annular carbon held in by the fingers?

Next question.

Why doesn't a person get an electrical shock from the hex nut? Is it inside a covered part of the motor?

Jim

Local elctrical motor shop person happened to be here today and I showed him the pictures. He confirmed that they are indeed brushes for a motor, he would try and figure out what they went to more specifically when he has time.

Thanks all!

Very similar to those found in an old kitchen aid stand mixer.

Could even be a commercial institutional size mixer.

depleted carbon arc stick holders.

Maybe I’ve seen them in big banks on old style telephone switchboards where outside lines come into a building? Lightning arrresters? Surge arresters for very low voltage lines, where the carbon resistance does not shunt a lot of current, but when the voltage is high, the current path is large and robust.

The old style carbon protectors looked very similar.They had a gap of.003inch,designed to arc at 300 volts.The metal washers on the terminal blocks had a .006 inch gap to ground,to arc at 600 volts.

When the carbon arced,it fused and had to be replaced.Carbon is unique in that when it gets hot,the resistance decreases.

The same type carbon arc protection was used outside of homes to protect from excess voltage on the phone lines.

Based on all of the brushes shown in the original OP, and my experience,my bet is on brushes.

I think the letter "B" stamped on the cap end helps to identify where a repairman will find the Brush for easy repair.

I was looking at the point on one of the carbons, looked like more of a concentric type point gap rather than commutator surface...

Thank you. Makes more sense to me. G.A. from me.