What's That Then? (01)

Is it some type of historical torture device?

(i.e.- used to pinch the tongue, or worse, certain "private parts")

Are you really from Shipshewana IN ?

& don't worry none of this crowd worries about crosstalk or off topic

Yes - have you been there?

I grew up & went to school in Goshen

I used to go to the auction in the 70's...

My father worked here when they still made bags

as always... small world! (& shrinking)

the old bag factory is full of shops now; some pretty classy stuff

...and for the other poster, yes originally a livestock market but now one of the biggest flea markets around. you might even be able to buy one of the mysterious pieces of steampunk shown @ the top of this thread...

"the old bag factory is full of shops now;"

Looks more like the shop is full of old bags! Sorry, I couldn't resist.

I see a springy bit, and a handle bit, and it doesn't look like it grips very tightly, but it does reach around corners.

And since it reaches around corners I don't think you would be able to "pinch" the springy bit, so I am guessing you "push" it into engagement.

But I am flummoxed, bumfuggled, and bemused beyond that.

Forceps/clamp of some sort. Don't recognise the round (handle?) at the end.

A medical tool for operating room use?

All seriousness aside - an ob-gyn tool? a nipple clamp?

Gonna have to look deeper.

I think it looks like artificial hip replacement hardware. I hope not! It looks very uncomfortable in this view.

For clamping the big arteries during open hart surgery.

No matter how much I look, the contrast/shade on the upper picture doesn't look right. The flat bit, where you can see "PAT'D" should keep it's width before disappearing under the other flat bit. It just doesn't look that way ?

Is it part of a pair ? It looks cheaply made, and has taken some bashing. The 'squeeze to release' action (despite the quality of construction) makes me think of some kind of prosthetic hand. That's a bit far fetched, but so was grenade-on-a-bat. That's probably closer than my first guess of toilet flush lever.

_{Can I use the word 'toilet' so openly here ? I don't know what Americans call the unmentionable thing in the unmentionable room.}

It's OK to say _{toilet paper} without whispering. That was just part of a commercial (in the 1960s?). This reminds me of a story my sister told me. A lady was in the rest room and the lady in the next stall said "hello", so she said "hello".

"How are you?"

"I am fine, how are you?"

"Hold on, the idiot in the next stall is trying to have a conversation with me"

(she was talking on her cell phone)

ROFL !

Some guy is in his garden one evening and hears an owl hooting. For a bit of a giggle, he hoots back. The owl sounds off again, and he feels pretty chuffed at this new-found skill in bird talk. Over the nest few weeks it becomes something of an evening ritual. His wife is slightly bemused at her husbands late night antics, but well, it's better than slobbing in front of the TV. Sometime later, the woman has her friend over for coffee. During their chat, the friend says, "Hey, you'll never believe this; my husband was in the garden a few weeks back, and......."

Originally designed by Sir Thomas Crapper, one of your countrymen. Hence 'the crapper', take a crap, crap, etc.

Remember most of us colonists were still doing our do-do where the bears do do-do. Out in the woods.

The device seems to have a rocker at the base, maybe for extracting.... nose jewelery?

looks like an old vascular clamp

I'm sure it is a clamp. I've seen, handled, and sold too many not to recognize one.

The question then is on what and where is it used?

Because of PlbMak's wording, we can be sure it has a medical application.

Because the majority of CR4ers are male, I'd say it is for a medical condition that affects males.

Current best guess: clamp for vasectomy.

And before I forget it:

Could it be a (deluxe, professional) glorified coat hanger jimmy, for opening locked car doors when the keys are not available trapped inside?? Clampy bits for pulling up the old fashioned lock thingy...???

Sounds like you are thinking of a Slim Jim, not to be confused with a Slim Jim.

hmmm yes, your jimmy here is appropriately slim, compared with the more portly "That Then" shown above... could it have been designed for those cranky old doors and gappy windows from the days before the energy crisis..??? Intended to frustrate common thieves and those with more than two thumbs?? ok i give up...

At least, I would never try to open a locked door with a snack food. But I can see myself standing next to a locked car with "That Then" in my hand and the intent to slide it in between door/window or summat, for at least a full minute, before deciding it is really an alien pickled egg nabber and should be escorted to the nearest bar, immediately...

Hmm looks like it might be for removing hemorroids pinch in the clamp part and use the handle to give a good old yank.

Maybe it might be suitable for opening something to facilitate the insertion of something else. OR as my Late Grandfather would say, "it is a layover to catch a meddler"

TooMuchFun

Is it a tool for holding a person's foreskin during circumcision? (I haven't made this comment gender specific, as I know it is a custom in some middle eastern countries to circumcise females also).

There - somebody had to say it!

Hi,

Is this a gong used in old clocks...

Maybe a device for extracting shrapnel from wounds - make a small incision over the entry point - insert the 'device' (pointy-ish end). Squeeze the bits-where-you-squeeze to stretch the skin/muscle, then poke in a bit further until the grippy bits are over the foreign body. Release the pressure on the aforementioned, thereby gripping the object to be removed. The rest is pretty obvious.

What isn't obvious is why it's got a great big knob on the end, or why it looks as if it should be a surgical instrument, but is so battered & looks so shoddily made.

Maybe it has been used for something other than the original purpose, and was modified/damaged in the process.

The two pads on the end are a peculiar shape, the leading edge is flat while the trailing side looks involute? also, not only can it clasp on to something, it also looks like it can be used to prize things apart? like weaving cane or bamboo. And going by the size of the PAT'D wording it does not seem to be very big? Still thinking about it.

Regards JD.

The end on the left gets jammed into/onto <something>, then the round end is used to lever the <whatever> out/off ? Some kind of emergency tool to release a <whatever> from a <thingumy>. A bit vague, but it's all I've got

First aid: A device for pulling out a swallowed tounge.

My first thoughts was it was a device for doctors offices for delivering babies. The round part hooks to the table (one on each side), and the spring part holds the cloth to obscure the woman's vision. Your comments seem to discourage this, but I am going with it anyway.

For opening the can with the nuclear missilecodes?

Or is it from your own Hobby room a nipple clamp?

John: 11, 35.

And so did I _{(not being comparative, more compassionate)}.

Hurst 3-speed shifter?

Oy! ! Stop ferreting around in my skip! <Splutter>

definetly a medical clamp, probably as sugested before, a snip-snip clamp or worse a Big Snip-unich/castrado maker clamp.

you mean foreskin after no skin device?

How about (a bout?) a temporary boxing suture.

I'm offski for a couple of days, have you all had enough? Do you want to the answer yet? Or can you all wait 'till Friday?

Can you use the device when you get a double leg fracture?

Yessss?

OK, here it is. This device is used to cheat at cards. The button goes in the cuff of your shirt and looks like a cuff link. The clamp part is hidden in the sleeve and holds the ace of spades in place so that your arm is free. Cheating gits!

I'm glad no-one here knows what it is.

I'm just amazed that a device designed to cheat at gambling is patented!

Marcot got the closest with this, good answers should be awarded!

Next soon, watch this space.

remind me never to play poker with you.

I'm just amazed that a device designed to cheat at gambling is patented!

yeah - so come on, prove it ! I want to see some more info on this thingumy. It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that I don't not not trust you This dude has some Zep with his find.