MYSTERY OBJECTS

[StoneRoad]

That steamer is, I think, actually a Puffer.
However, I'm looking at the building, maybe something to do with communications ...

[Stanley]

You are both so close I have to give it to you jointly. It's a pic of the last delivery to the Isle of Eigg by a puffer in the 1960s I think. The vessel is the Glenlight (LINK)

Try this one, very closely related!

[StoneRoad]

Wrecked Puffer,
so not the Vital Spark !

[Stanley]

Yes, but can you tell me where?

[Tizer]

Isle of Eigg!

[Stanley]

Here is the Jennie before she ended up in the cave on the NE coast of Eigg. I heard about the wreck and we went looking for her, only accessible at low tide but we got to her eventually.
Next one?

[Tizer]

What's this?...

[Stanley]

Some sort of wrist worn electronic key for getting access to something? Like a swimmer's clothes locker?

[Tizer]

Wrist worn yes, but key no.

[Big Kev]

Antistatic bracelet?

[Tizer]

No. Think about the shiny surface.

[Cathy]

Something to do with solar energy?

[chinatyke]

Reflective cuff band for safety when walking on dark roads?

[Tizer]

Not solar energy, Cathy.
You're on the right track, China, with reflection and worn on the wrist. But nothing to do with walking on dark roads. Only a very few people will have needed to wear one of these and it's significance for them is way out of proportion to its simplicity.

[Stanley]

Aid for partially blind people?

[chinatyke]

I can't work out why it is that peculiar shape. It is a well made object so the shape must be significant. I can only suggest that the shape is for identification purposes perhaps in military exercises. Ian, you're the expert on these things, would it have a radar or radio reflection signature?

[Tizer]

No radar or radio involved. It's not for partially blind people but Stanley is right in thinking it helps the wearer to see something. The wearer needs it to do his/her job safely because they are encumbered by equipment. It's a simple bit of kit worn by someone in a very high-tec and dangerous job.

[chinatyke]

Worn by astronauts whilst on extra-vehicular duties. It indicates if radiation is at dangerous levels. The shape aids in cutting off the foil from Dairylea wedges.
??

[Tizer]

`Worn by astronauts whilst on extra-vehicular duties', Yes! `It indicates if radiation is at dangerous levels.' No. `The shape aids in cutting off the foil from Dairylea wedges'. Possibly, when on intra-vehicular duties!

Clue: the astronaut's suit has a control module on the chest front.

[Big Kev]

It's a mirror to see the control panel on the front of said astronaut's suit?

[Stanley]

I'll go with Kev and a bit further, the thing checked controls the suit's environment.

[Marilyn]

Rear vision mirror

[Tizer]

Kev has got the answer with `a mirror to see the control panel on the front of said astronaut's suit'. But one small matter remains - how does the astronaut read the data on the panel when the mirror reverses the image?

[Big Kev]

Kev has got the answer with `a mirror to see the control panel on the front of said astronaut's suit'. But one small matter remains - how does the astronaut read the data on the panel when the mirror reverses the image?

Is the image reversed on the control panel?

[Tizer]

Correct! For example, in the image below you might be just able to see that the `dial' on the right has numbers going anti-clockwise so that they can be read correctly in the mirror. Sometimes low-tech is better than high-tec! I guess that the mirror might also be used to see round corners - maintenance isn't easy when you're in an astronaut's suit. Perhaps in an emergency you could flash a sunlight signal to the `mothership'!

The images came from this NASA web page: LINK