Featured Tool Without a Name or Imagined Purpose: Your Turn!

Long story short: this was a gift from an old packrat who had owned it for long & long. Neither he, nor anyone he had ever shown it to, could ID it. I can attest to that truth in my own experience with it since acquisition in 1990...not a single conjecture (an' there have been many) coincides accurately with the features, materials & measurements of this tool. Unfortunately it's buried in storage, unavailable for immediate examination...my alleged memory will have to do.

It appears to be cast, but there are elements that suggest forging. The sockets for the handles are about an inch in diameter. As pic 4 shows, 3¾" between those uprights, which constitute grips for whatever the geared central pusher forces against. Iron (or steel, perhaps) that has lived in the weather long enough to become severely pitted, and long since painted with a remarkably durable black finish.

Please note the 'saddle' shape of the business end of that pusher. There's a clue there, but it has escaped disclosure to those many folks who have examined this piece in person, fondled it for lotsa minutes...not to mention those who, like you, must needs do their sleuthing with nothing better than my pics for guidance.

This has gone on for long enough! This artifact of 19C cleverness cries out for identification...Please. Help!

 

Don't know off the bat, but I have some questions. By "handles", do you mean the two moving parts with the holes through them? Are there sockets in the ends of these (parallel to the casting), or just the holes going across? Are there wear patterns in any particular direction in the holes?

Based on the cast hooks/projections on the top of the frame (above the handle & rack), and the way the handle of the rack seats into the frame, it looks like it might have fit into a larger piece of equipment, and this apparatus is some sort of release mechanism.

 

Right, 2many...there are 'sockets' in those, to accommodate (almost certainly wooden) shafts, long and stout enough to furnish whatever leverage was necessary to accomplish the intended work.

I recall nothing specific about wear in those bores.

 

Could be an ejector to eject a hot product from a mold. The two hooks show that in use, the thing is placed hooks down on an edge or in pockets made to receive hooks and position the tool so it pushes exactly where needed. Bringing the wood or iron handles together ejects the product away from the person holding handles. Might only be needed when a product sticks in mold, usually a person pushes product out with simpler tool, but when stuck,the extra force given by this tool does the trick.

 

Creative, with potential...Thanks!

 

or is it the other way around? the "d" handle is the handle and something went in the sockets to carry ice blocks or wood / lumber ????

 

Oh, the other thing that came to mind was part of a bull horn cutter .......

 

#7 sounds like a winner. Aka dehorner. The blade section is missing, but otherwise very similar to several other googulations using that term.

 

I saw those last night but kept discounting them because I couldn't see how the cutter / blade assy. would attach to that "D" ring. But maybe the cutter was on the missing part, and the D did the pushing? I just can't find one [quickly] with that configuration.