MYSTERY OBJECTS

[Bradders Bluesinger]

I've got a phone that looks a bit like that !
Is it a self propelled rubber stamp ?

[Julie in Norfolk]

I think I have seen one of these, is it a stapler?

[Big Kev]

It's a novelty stapler.

[Stanley]

You're right, it's a powered stapler that sat on a mate's desk for years and every time I visited I tried it out! Last time I was there I pointed out that a bearing had collapsed and so he gave it to me. One of these days I'll give it two new bearings in the stapler head.

[Stanley]

[Nolic]

Its a can opener...... used by army and scouts etc. Nolic

[PanBiker]

I would agree.

[Big Kev]

So would I. A can opener.

[catgate]

leather slicer.

[Bradders Bluesinger]

Can/finger/thumb opener ......
also known as ...."can content launcher" , if your hands aren't bone dry !

[Stanley]

That's right, one was enclosed in every pack of C Rations.

[Stanley]

That seems to have stumped you! Remember the small cast iron key I posted which was used for tightening the fasteners used to join leather belts in the Mill? I came across one of the buttons the other day and that's what it is.

Have a crack at this one:

[Cathy]

Looks like a wig worn in a courtroom, but is probably wool wrapped in a special way ??

[Bradders Bluesinger]

Bath Robe , stolen from the en-suite of a posh Hotel ? (unlikely , I admit .....)
...................
is it something to do with "stuffing boxes"....?

[Big Kev]

Is it wadding to pack around a shaft of some sort?

[Nolic]

Non impregnated gun cotton? Nolic

[Stanley]

Funnily enough Comrade you are the closest, it's soft cotton yarn and would have been ideal for conversion to gun-cotton. I get queries about obscure textile matters and the other day I was asked how hand loom weavers transported warps. This bundle is enough yarn for a weaver's warp bundled up for transport. I found this example at Ellenroad and nicked it. This wouldn't have been bundled for a weaver but for chain warp dyeing but the package would be exactly the same. Wrapped in cloth it could be easily carried by a weaver or made part of a pack-horse load. I wonder how many homes have something as rare as this in the cellar!

[Stanley]

Dead easy I suppose. But where did it come from and why two firms named on it? Bit esoteric but could be educational.

[Stanley]

No theories?

[Nolic]

The only thing that comes to mind is that the first company is the owner of the shed and possibly rents out loom and power. The second is another company actually operating as a manufacturer. Nolic

[Stanley]

It's a bit esoteric I grant you. I may be the only bloke who has looked at the companies long enough to have a clue. The Nutter family had several firms and common directors between all of them. After c.1890 Wilfred Nutter was the main man and ran James Nutter and Sons at Bankfield Shed. In 1920 another firm he controlled, Nutter Brothers, finished Bancroft Shed (Started By James in 1914 but held up by the war and his death). When Bancroft started it was Nutter Brothers who were also weaving at Grove Shed in Earby. c.1932 when hard times hit Nutters at Grove failed and concentrated on Bancroft. James Nutters moved into Bancroft and Nutter Brothers moved to another shed for a while but eventually because of contraction of looms in WW2 both firms concentrated in Bancroft, hence the two names. After the war when the entity of Nutter Brothers wasn't needed to get enough licensed looms to fill Bancroft (Bancroft wove right through the war) Nutter Brothers was liquidated and they got a new brass plate made. When the mill closed someone pinched the James Nutter plate before I could! But, I found this plate in the wreckage of the office block. All right, it's stolen property but I only borrowed it to save it. One of these days there might be an exhibition or museum......

[Stanley]

Dead easy? But.... it may be a pocket knife but it isn't a penknife. The knife has a specific name and the blades have specific uses. What are they?

[Big Kev]

Dead easy? But.... it may be a pocket knife but it isn't a penknife. The knife has a specific name and the blades have specific uses. What are they?

For cleaning out your pipe?

[Nolic]

Is it a skinning knife? The long slim blade looks like it could slide easily down bone. The middle sized blade looks like it would cut skin. Nolic

[Bradders Bluesinger]

Only time I've seen a "stub-ended" blade, like the one on the left, was on a fixed bladed knife sold by George Rowney for artists.....
Dad had a pipe smoker's gadget with a spike, a blade and a flat "tamping" end to it ...
Mmmm !