Stone top steel table, 760 lbs.

What was the real purpose of this 36 x 24 x 42” table with 4 1/2”-thick stone top? It has the footprint of a typical end table but is taller and way heavier. Posters on the thread are very scattered as to its real purpose.



https://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/general/purpose-stone-top-table-352645/#post3207054

 

Is the top very smooth, like polished marble?

 

Is it soapstone? If so it might have been for lab use.

 

He said on the other site that it isn't soapstone. I just noticed that he also says:
"Top surface is about like sidewalk concrete. It is filled in with some black substance except where it appears “worn.”
So that rules out any use for sweets, confectionery, like tempering chocolate.

 

An actual literal antique, meant to handle stone lithographic printing plates? Those were too heavy for most wooden tables and they were frequently awash in black ink...

 

The really odd thing about this table is how and why two pieces of stone were joined on the bottom layer of stone. The perfectly curved joint between two obviously different pieces of stone is interesting. Easy way to piece them together is with a straight line cut on both. Why this way, needs more skill and special saws? Perhaps some scientific principle of which I’m ignorant was important here. (Doo-dee-doo-dee Twilight Zone theme.)

 

Maybe it was designed to be resistant to resonance within a certain band of mechanical input frequencies?