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Join Date: Feb 2015
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Mystery Tool???

02/24/2015 8:56 PM

Hello,

I work in facility maintenance and some engineering co workers have set me on a challenge to discover what this tools purpose is. It is completely unlabeled with the exception of L and R. When you squeeze the handles it opens. Apparently it is an older tool but still serves a function today. I cannot find anything on it on the internet so am looking for answers.

Any help out there?

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#1

Re: Mystery Tool???

02/24/2015 9:17 PM

L and R? Where, on the handles?

First guess is a slump test tool for smaller quantities of grout or cement.

Pour/pack the stuff in the container then open it and test the slump?

Maybe SE can find a picture.

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#2

Re: Mystery Tool???

02/24/2015 9:21 PM

Damn that looks like it would work well for making cakes on site.

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#3

Re: Mystery Tool???

02/24/2015 9:33 PM

Looks like something for cutting the heads off chickens....

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#16
In reply to #3

Re: Mystery Tool???

02/26/2015 1:34 AM

Jeez...don't scare me like that again! I thought it was my boss!!

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#4

Re: Mystery Tool???

02/24/2015 9:40 PM

It's what they got the first year apprentice to make to keep him busy while the tradesman was doing real work.

It was designed as a task allocated to the work experience engineering undergraduate to keep him out from under the feet of the chief designer over the shutdown period.

Its sole purpose is to baffle new employees when they are asked "What does it do?"

By the way, welcome to CR4.

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#5

Re: Mystery Tool???

02/24/2015 9:44 PM
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#6
In reply to #5

Re: Mystery Tool???

02/24/2015 9:58 PM

Mystery solved.

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#7
In reply to #5

Re: Mystery Tool???

02/24/2015 10:00 PM

And here I was thinking it was for dispensing cake.

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#8
In reply to #5

Re: Mystery Tool???

02/24/2015 10:02 PM

WOW! You guys are awesome! Made me laugh and solved the mystery around 45 minutes from the post. Just curious...pantaz, how did you find out the tool so fast? Was there a specific search you did from the pictures I posted or did you already know what it was?

Thanks again

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#10
In reply to #8

Re: Mystery Tool???

02/24/2015 10:48 PM

pantaz, how did you find out the tool so fast?

I've used similar ones, so I Googled it for confirmation.

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#17
In reply to #5

Re: Mystery Tool???

02/26/2015 4:32 AM

Well done....

It should work well on CR4, we have plenty of "Nuts" here!!

Not the ones between your legs!!!

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#19
In reply to #17

Re: Mystery Tool???

02/26/2015 9:21 AM

"It should work well on CR4, we have plenty of "Nuts" here!!"

Hey! I resemble- er resent, that remark! I've had my coffee this morning, and the voices in my head are (mostly) agreeing that I'm looking 'saner than usual' today.

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#20
In reply to #19

Re: Mystery Tool???

02/26/2015 9:32 AM

Are we sure of that.

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#21
In reply to #5

Re: Mystery Tool???

02/26/2015 10:18 AM

You know, I bet that would work well for dispensing other items in good repeatable measure, not actually the same way as packing peanuts from a large bin, but as a scoop and dump pre-weighing device. I can almost see the line bending around the corner at the U.S. Patent office now.

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#22
In reply to #21

Re: Mystery Tool???

02/26/2015 12:32 PM

Large economy size butter mold.

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#9

Re: Mystery Tool???

02/24/2015 10:35 PM

Go back and tell them it's a snipe catcher.

(Kinda like a left handed monkey wrench).

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#14
In reply to #9

Re: Mystery Tool???

02/25/2015 9:51 AM

No, it is not a snipe catcher. It is a defective smoke sifter. There should be a screen in the bottom of it. The screen provides proper shifting of the smoke and the handles with blades allow proper portions of the smoke to be dispensed.

Sorry, the snipe comment got me off on the smoke sifter idea. Actually it is what they use at McDonalds to make the round with vertical sides fried eggs for the Egg McMuffins.

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#11

Re: Mystery Tool???

02/24/2015 11:47 PM

What do you use to dispense popcorn peanuts into this device? An infinite regress?

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#12
In reply to #11

Re: Mystery Tool???

02/25/2015 8:31 AM

The mechanism shown is at the discharge end of a flexible supply tube, this fed from a large overhead bin.

That's why there is no separate holding handle; the mechanism is suspended and supported by the feed tube. Just squeeze and dispense.

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#13

Re: Mystery Tool???

02/25/2015 9:13 AM

L and R is for Left and Right! So you cannot confuse the two!

Guess that explains the last bit of the riddle!

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#23
In reply to #13

Re: Mystery Tool???

02/27/2015 4:53 PM

But is it calibrated for metric or English capacity?

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#24
In reply to #23

Re: Mystery Tool???

03/10/2015 4:52 AM

You are kidding!

Left and Right is empirical, wait its imperical. No wait its medical. no its clerical. No that's definitely not. Its imperial! Thats what it is, maybe!

Whatever it fits the bag!

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#25
In reply to #24

Re: Mystery Tool???

03/10/2015 4:09 PM

This is beginning to feel like the Three Stooges skit 'The door goes on the left.'

(Summary: Moe and Curly are arguing about where to put the door, Moe says it goes on the left, but Curly heads to Moe's right to install the door. After they argue a bit, facing each other and unable to agree on which direction 'left' is, Moe Calls Larry over. "Hey, porcupine, point to the left!" Larry, who is standing so he can see both Moe and Curly's faces, naturally points to his left, adding a third direction to the mix.)

(For those needing help visualizing, from the camera's viewpoint, Moe, with his back to the camera, wants the door on 'House Left,' or 'Camera Left,' Curly, facing the camera, thinks he needs to install the door on 'Stage Left,' or 'Camera Right' and Larry, facing 'Stage left,' points 'Upstage,' or 'away from the camera.')

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#15

Re: Mystery Tool???

02/25/2015 11:10 PM

Fidel, in his never ending quest to create the ultimate cigar nipper, has ordered that state industries spend at least 5% of GDP, in anticipation of tourist demand for the giant Cubano.

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#18

Re: Mystery Tool???

02/26/2015 8:42 AM

And here all this time I thought it was a hamburger press. I guess I will have to give mine back to the shipping department. I wandered why they were swimming in packing peanuts all this time.

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