MYSTERY OBJECTS

[Stanley]

My American students thought the existence of a pudding called Spotted Dick was proof that the English are a depraved race! I arranged for them to have it for pudding one evening and only a third of them enjoyed it.....
Remember when some craven supermarket chain renamed it 'Spotted Richard'? HERE'S a later example of the syndrome.

[Stanley]

Can anyone tell me what this is and what's special about it?

[Stanley]

No offers?

[Gloria]

A guess, is it out of a tachograph?

[Stanley]

No Gloria. Clue, think lathes.....

[Gloria]

Face plate off a lathe?

[Stanley]

Correct Gloria, but this one is a bit different. Look carefully at the image and ask why brass.
It's off Johnny's big OT lathe and that's a clue in itself.....

[Gloria]

To reduce the risk of sparks. Was it used in an armaments factory?

[Stanley]

Good thinking but no. It's cruel to keep you guessing Gloria and you are the only one who is interested.
If you look carefully at it you'll see white metal in the grooves. This is solder. The faceplate was used for doing turning operations on thin brass that was too flimsy or awkward to be gripped in a chuck (like gear wheels or dividing a brass clock face). You soldered it onto the face plate and heated it to get it off afterwards.
In some delicate operations pitch was warmed and used for the same purpose but I think this brass faceplate was an improvement to the principle. I have an idea that Velcro is used in a similar way in woodturning.
Next one?

[chinatyke]

It's cruel to keep you guessing Gloria and you are the only one who is interested.

I was interested but had no idea what it was. Thanks for the explanation.

[Stanley]

Sorry China, you're right, that could have been worded better! I should have said made a bid instead of interested.

[Gloria]

Don’t know what this is, hope someone does. There are quite a few on pavements in Eccleston. 2p placed to give size.

8E1685E7-1D90-41AF-A731-546832201CDA.jpeg

[PanBiker]

It could be a surveyors marker to indicate a precise position for equipment used in surveys

[Gloria]

There seems to be quite a few about 25yds apart, we've seen them in other parts of the country as well. They don't look as though they're used, or if they are it's very rarely.

[StoneRoad]

I thought surveyor's mark as well.

But the spacing might mean "chainage" ie distance measurements (a chain is 22 yards, if I remember my old money stuff)

[Gloria]

When I go up there again I will pace out the distances, they are only on the footpaths and not on the roads.

[Tizer]

We've seen them too and wondered what they were. I'd meant to take a photo and ask on OG so thanks Gloria, you've done it for me.
What we've seen are isolated instances in various places and we haven't noticed any pattern or distances.

[PanBiker]

Yes, there are plenty in Barlick. Probably just installed as required for a particular survey.

[Big Kev]

I'm with Ian, I reckon it's a datum point for surveyors.

[Stanley]

That's what they are, datum points for a survey. The old theodolites had a pointed plumb bob hung beneath them and you registered the point on the centre of the disk. If they are on a wall they are marked with a chiselled 'broad arrow' and a line and called benchmarks. Don't confuse them with lines of holes the same size, they are 'sniffing' points made by the gas company if they are looking for leakage.



A benchmark.

[Gloria]

We'd thought maybe they were sniffing points, but then wouldn't they be everywhere there was gas, and these don't seem to be.

[PanBiker]

The benchmark on Stanley's photo represents a spot height, hence the flat line. That particular mark and exact height measured at that point is traceable on the OS map for the area. Shown on the map as a single spot (.) with the height marked in feet asl.

[Stanley]

Try this one....

[Stanley]

No takers?

[chinatyke]

I was waiting for Big Kev to respond!