Mysterious Press

Here are the pics...

Looks like a giant olive pitter to me .

whatever it is, that tape measure seems very pleased to see it...

It's a device for processing shellfish. The curved back suggests a piece missing that is approximately 5" in diameter. The top is used by the palm to press the spindle down into the shell fish. Ths spring allows the spindle to return and the nut controls the depth of plunge. The six fins on the head crack open the shell fish to a controlled depth so as not to damage the meat inside. It has holes in the base for screwing it down to a work table.

My guess is: a device for cracking crab or possibly sea urchins.

It looks to be a harness makers die. Used to striate cuts in leather for decorative snap-in-out type thingamajigs. Horse jewelry gizmo.

It would need a hell of a whack to make much impression on harness leather.

Not a harness thing? Oh well, so much for your needing to purchase a horse to complement facilitation of said gizmo.

Is it fairly easy to push down on?

Is it fairly easy to push down on?

Yes.

I'm with the olive, cherry, plum pitter lot..

It would need a hell of a whack to make much impression on harness leather.

There are no markings on top of the t-nut to indicate ever being whacked with a hard implement.

That, along with the small diameter & apparently cylindrical nut, suggests pretty low force needed for hand operation - a larger mushroom head would've been fitted otherwise - so we're looking for a soft food (shaping) process, perhaps???? Or maybe a lost part????

The impressions are made while the leather is uncured or wet and the pressure required is very light.

If it was to be for leather use, what would be the purpose of the small drain on the lower ledge ?

It is called a "Hand Press", a typical method to emboss leather or paper etc.. The thumb screw is to allow a lever or to apply holding pressure against a support to allow a piece to be held firmly for lacing etc..

Updated models include the, Cstep 2 or the craftool lines.

I was led astray by luddites.............I'm with you on this.

Should that not be "Lud astray"?.........

Can you post any pics or links? The only things I've come across have been lever presses.

I tried looking, but couldn't find anything exactly like the original picture in question. However, bwire has persuaded me to swap sides - it's the hole or whatever it is (in the middle of the descending thuingummyjig) that could fit around studs, and the absence of any juice drain. Also it looks like it was designed to be screwed/bolt down. A food processing gadget would have been made more easy to get off the mounting surface (?).

I'm going to be traumatized for life if nobody can find the answer.

might be a clue.

Regards JD.

When fully open the cutting head is only 2" from the stage. So, unless one is sectioning crab apples, it seems unlikely it is used for apples. Also, it does not have a core remover.

It doesn't look like it's designed to cut anything, the "fins" aren't sharpened. In fact, they look quite blunt. I'm going to say some sort of bearing or sleeve press.

Nope, on closer zoom in they may in fact be sharp.

? SUMMIT TO DO WITH OLIVES?

It seems to be a bit of an overkill to get the pip out of an olive or the seed from a cherry.

With a 2" throat and a neat little power screw that would be capable of pushing the bearing out of a wheel hub, they would be large olives and a time-consuming process.

Now if it wasn't a screw and was powered it would be a neat little citrus juicer!

What you see as a screw is the spring that returns the cutter to the up position. The screw inside the spring is used only to set the spring tension by the small nut running up and down on the screw.

Perhaps we are being led astray here, this may not be a fruit seed remover, or slicer? the skeeter 66 web site does not say so? So is it rather for some mechanical operation. inserting or removing bearings or pins etc. there is a groove in the bottom face to allow for something? and the top looks more like a clamping or centralising arrangement rather than a slicer.

Regards JD

The bottom edges on the head are rather sharp, which has led us to think it is some type of cutting/slicing device. Also, there is a small wire device, which is inserted inside of a hole, drilled into the lower end of the shaft, which would be used to extract a tiny core, pit, or seed, etc., upon returning the shaft to its vertical position.

A hole in the centre shaft, that had crossed my mind, as a tool to pull some thing through something, hence the reason for the bottom groove. But reading the post above, my mind turned to leather work? it could be used to draw a leather strip up through some heavy material, then move along and press it down, loop it at the bottom or pass another strip through it, then pull it back through in fact when you think about it one could sew together such things as saddles, just a suggestion.

Regards JD.

Specialised tool to insert some device into another device?

Since, this item was brought home by the wife, should be related to home activities.

Maybe, this is used for sewing/tailoring purpose, to fasten/rivet those metallic snap buttons. The cloth/button/rivet is placed on the bottom anvil, and hammer on the top shaft, which then spring back to open position.

From the picture I note the groove. Could it be a clamp for something peculiar to Portugal? According to the Onion Atlas, Our Dumb World, the Portuguese Economy is based on corks. I can't see how it would make sense to use the pictured device to grind down corks, but maybe if you were recycling corks for life vests, and had a lot of time on your hands to grind down corks, and then drink the wine that fell from the groove into a thimble, then that is the device you use. Fishing is big in Portugal, at least according to the picture book of the world I have: Around the World in 1000 Pictures, copyright 1954. What in Gods name you could use that device for in the preparation of fish, is not yet known to me. It may be a tool for a lost recipe. Once you do discover what that tool does, don't tell anyone, because then you will have job security.

The groove in the bottom flange is tapered, this suggests a centralising fitting? something like a die that must be correctly aligned to the top press, so when operated it moulds into shape what ever is placed between the die and press, the bottom die then needs to be removed so as to remove what ever it is that has been pressed into shape, because it maybe a neat fit or it maybe hot? still a bit vague.

Regards JD

My sixth sense has been telling me that the press is related to processing food, but I have not discounted that it may, indeed, somehow be used in manufacturing, as you have described. But, then again, my sixth sense has been wrong only once before. :-)

My 3rd eye sees food processing and cork.

Cork, probably because you said it was stamped or cast Made in Portugal.

Food and cork would be the biggest industries that would use a device so small in my way of thinking.

Ask your wife. She paid for it and brought it home. She must know what it is used for.

Well... she knows I have an interest in gadgets, so that is why she brought it home after paying $0.50 for it at a thrift store. We're still waiting for that aha! moment. Hopefully, there is someone who has seen or used one that can identify it at first glance. I appreciate all of the suggestions.

Skeeter, I don't think it is likely to be an eyelet press for clothes or canvas sails; these have a "full" area for a constant force rather than a serated type area. In some cases like clothing eyelets, the end result is serated but as a result of metal tear of the expanding eyelet ring from the force. It also appears to be aluminium which would make it more likely to be food related than industrial and if it was eyelet related it would probably have a lever arm, not a spring mechanism.

Now knowing it is a spring rather than a screw, I am gussing that it is olive, cherry, fruit seed remover and corer and/or citrus, say lime or lemon juice squeezer/rotator.

But if you need to do a wheel bearing replacement it could probably do that too!

It's a metapolar refractive pilfrometer as fully explained by Dr David Blumenstein in his seminal work "Zie Schrift ver Electrotechnicher Startischer Donnerblitzer" available from Amazon at $999.99.

For Rockwell's ingenious deployment of this fascinating device, see here;

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=lVZ8Ko-nss4

No liability for misinterpretation of the above information can be accepted by Rockwell Inc, its descendants and heirs or its affiliates.

Heehee, haha, HAHAHA!

If you look in the gray box to the right of the player, you see a link that says (more info). Click on that and you see another link to Wikipedia.

May be an orange squeezer, with the cup missing?

or perhaps a nut cracker? (nut placed in slot well.)

My bet is.. it's a clamp, where the work piece is held
in a position by the star shaped top tool, under spring
pressure to the anvil, so that it can be worked on?

Interesting....

jt.

The best way to win an argument is to start by being right.

If you look at the bar above the editor box, there is a mini "Camera", you can use this to get photos in your post. If you need more help, just ask, anyone can help you further....

I think maybe its for removing stones from some fruit and slicing the flesh of the fruit at the same time....as a help for making Guacamole for example....

The ABC (Aust) TV show "Collectors" may help. Try sending a good selection of pictures to abc.net.au/collectors.

It reminded me of a tyre patch clamp but I doubt that is right. You may not have all the parts.

Since it is your wifes she can use it for whatever she wants...It may be designed to do a particular task but i am sure it will do many others...Have you played with it,perhaps crunched a few pickles,punched out some delicate litlle bread shapes,or vegetable shapes,tried putting patterns into thin wood,leather,cloth,paper etc...Looks like a great device designed for the long haul.....and from this distance looks to be some sort of aluminum alloy substantially aportioned for durability.....Marty W.

Sorry, everyone, I haven't heard/read a single suggestion yet that I'd go along with. A question, Skeeter, does that 6-bladed portion rotate, or just go down and up?

Sorry, everyone, I haven't heard/read a single suggestion yet that I'd go along with. A question, Skeeter, does that 6-bladed portion rotate, or just go down and up?

The shaft to which the die is attached rotates easily by turning the top t-nut.

Are there any stains on it that might indicate what it was used on? If not, then it was well taken care of, or it was used on something that doesn't produce stains.

Where it says Made in Portugal, is it written in Portugese? If it's written in English, then it's probably made for English-speaking markets.

Also, I wonder about that groove. A groove can either allow something to pass through, or to hold something in place.

Just some things to think about.

Are there any stains on it that might indicate what it was used on?

No stains. When I removed the tiny wire in the lower end, a crumbling bit of dark gray material fell out, but it was nothing I could recognize.

Where it says Made in Portugal, is it written in Portugese?

Yes, the embossing is written in Portugese. It just says, "Portugal." :-)

I'm with the juicers. This isn't all that different ;

You could squeeze most of the juice out with a press, then chuck the skin etc to one side for making marmalade or whatever. I don't know if the Portugal Quince originated there (don't think so), but they have them, and quince was the original maramlade fruit.

Now you have told me there's a wire from the anvil
(lower part) and, I think it is some sort of clamp....

I would suggest it's a cheese cutter?

Cheese clamped in the space and "wire cut" into sections.

jt.

I had to leave home when I was 3; couldn't get on with my mother.

An interesting thing about this device is that it's made of cast aluminum. Why that extra expense? Works with something wet? Food grade? Or carried about, a weight issue? Or both?

What's the black dot in the center of the cutting head? A different material? Permanently mounted? So many questions.

Maybe cutting head thing is zincd steel?

What's the black dot in the center of the cutting head? A different material?

What you see in the end of the cutting (?) head is a small wire device that, apparently, serves to eject material/matter that has entered the bottom, hollow end of the shaft, during downward motion of the head and shaft. As the shaft returns to the pre-set height, the wire pushes the material down and out of the hollow. Hope that helps.

Who let the monkey out?

Now I'm getting cranked. What the hell is it exactly? Seems by now we would have come up with a definitive answer. Who knows maybe Skeeter and his wife took my advice, and are hiding it now from us for job security. Tools of unknown use may well be a terriffic anthropolical museum. I suggest a CR4 collection of stuff nobody knows the use for. Way to go Skeeter and the Mrs.! I hope you find more machines that cause such curiosity. Henry Petroski at Duke would be a good ally.

P.S. anthroprological anthrowprological anthropological got it.

post #31 nailed it

It's a Bip-ity Bop-ity Boo ! You know, like in Jungle Story. Come now everybody sing along "The thing-a-ma-bob that did the job is a Bip-ity Bop-ity Boo!"

When I think of Portugal, I think of garlic, so for just a stab in the dark, how about a hand press to separate the garlic cloves?

Regards JD.

A rough sketch of how I think it may work, there is a dish with a pin in the middle on which something is located, a handle which has a wedge below the dish to align the centre pin with the hole in the shaft, the top die is then pressed down to segment the item, I think it was possibly garlic bulbs?

Regards JD.

Possibly but your garlic would have to be less than 2" including the bottom fixture.

It works well though. The round scalloped cutter could fit around a pin.

Brad

I'm not convinced, but I'm giving you a GA for taking the time to draw that + making a good case.

The hole in the vertical spindle doesn't seem to have a purpose (?), and would a 6-segment cutter be a problem in separating garlic cloves ? Also, is the Garlic you've illustrated the right way up - if inverted, the gadget in the picture would help to centre it for splitting (the pointy end of the clove would align with the slot/hole in the platern).

This is possible a better picture I've googled. It gives some idea of size and as you can see garlic comes in pods that have to be cut open. The purpose of the hole in the top shaft is to accommodate the pin, which is holding the garlic bulb.

You load the bottom plate by pressing the bulb down over the pin, then locate the plate by the wedge underneath that fits into the slot shown in the picture of the press. Locate the top die in the opening of the bulb and press.

Thats the theory, don't know if its correct.

Regards JD.

Thanks JD,

I'm still hovering 50/50 on the leather working type thing, or food (mainly your garlic splitter). Somewhere out there, a person must have/know of this device. I can't leave until I know the answer now !

I tested the press on a tangerine the other day. I had thought that the sharpened edges on the die would have no trouble slitting through the peel, but all it did was make indentations in the peel without breaking through. Given... it was an old tangerine.

You've got to go get a garlic bulb....I'l die for want of knowing if you don't. Please, don't accept bribes to let this happen.

Here is the route to the photo of the wire. The tiny wire slides up and down in the groove in the shaft/spindle. When the spindle is on the return stroke, the little arm of the wire strikes the lower end of the spindle holder/tube, which then acts to extract any debris that is caught in the hole in bottom of the die.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/iskeeter/?saved=1