MYSTERY OBJECTS

[Stanley]

Yes, it's a spirit level but why so small?

[Big Kev]

Sits on top of a camera?

[PanBiker]

It's for "Borrowers"!

[catgate]

It is for checking very small levels.

[Gloria]

It's known as a bit of a leveller.

[Stanley]

I've wondered about it for years but after seeing a small spirit level in the collection of a man who collects snooker and billiards ephemera I suspect it was for checking the level of a table. The trade name on it is 'Vest'.

[catgate]

I've wondered about it for years but after seeing a small spirit level in the collection of a man who collects snooker and billiards ephemera I suspect it was for checking the level of a table. The trade name on it is 'Vest'.

Well that makes it obvious then, doesn't it?
It is for checking if your vest is level.

[Marilyn]

...or if your nipples are straight...

[Stanley]

Maz, in my experience they are almost always asymmetrical... Trust you! I shall see what I can find for another object.

[Nolic]

Not sure Comrade. There are different ways of looking at this issue. Nolic

[catgate]

...or if your nipples are straight...

I have seen quite a lot with a distinct bend in them.
However they are the sort seen on machinery for forcing grease through.

[Stanley]

To the pure, all things are pure!

Have a crack at this one.

[Marilyn]

A black marble pastry roller?
Difficult to tell as it just looks like a black rod, one foot long.

About the nipple thing. I didn't explain myself very well. I meant the level could be used to make sure nipples were level within the freshly levelled vest. Nothing looks worse than a skewiff vest, with shoulder seams and underarm levels not right ( throwing potentially level nipples visually askew). Pretty soon the nick name 'Loppy' is bound to be assigned. Perhaps your belief that most nipples ARE askew comes from meeting ladies who do not take care when leveling their vests? A shocking result of rushing the undergarment leveling process...my Granny would turn in her grave! If she had one rule, it was that vests were level with waist elastic of bloomers, which ( of course) is correspondingly level with the tops of socks. Sock tops had to be equidistant from the level of the cobbles...

[Nolic]

Maz, I think us guys were referring to grease nipples on machines. You've just opened up a whole new vista!! Nolic

[Marilyn]

Oh! ( sorry)
Well I won't go off into side seams, middle seams, buttons, zips, hemlines and bum cheeks then.

Actually, this all took me back to when I was in a children's home. One of the little girls there had a fanatical streak ( early signs of obsessive compulsive disorder I think, though at the time I just thought she was a bit odd). Watching her get dressed was quite an experience, because absolutely everything had to line up. Things had to be donned in a certain order. When her undergarments were all in order (and she was finally happy) she would then tie a piece of elastic around her waist so nothing would move during the day. I was a child that barely looked in the mirror. I couldn't care less what I looked like, or if anything matched or clashed. I couldn't even see the point of brushing the back of my hair. Who saw it? Not me! But I often think of that little girl. I do hope facing life became easier for her..

[Bradders Bluesinger]

Ebony ruler....There used to be one in the office at Bradley Nelson's....I could never figure out how to draw a striaght line with it , as it was cylindrical......(My Mum seems to think it's still in the family somewhere)...It had concentric turned rings on each end and I'm pretty sure it was about 18" long.

[catgate]

... Sock tops had to be equidistant from the level of the cobbles...

I got so exited thinking about your granny in her underwear that I read.."cobblers".

[Marilyn]

I think if you were to measure equidistantly from cobblers, sock tops would be at different levels?

[Bradders Bluesinger]

Maz ..."now then"...!

[Marilyn]

quite right Bradders...enough about sock tops.
You are always up late. Is this your 'quiet time'? I always imagine you sitting there quietly sipping something before bed.

[Stanley]

Maz, he doesn't have a bed.... Comrade, speak for yourself, I was on the human nipples! Maz, not a product of being badly dressed, the observations which were the basis of my opinion were au naturel.....
Bradders is right, it's an ebony ruler that was used in the office at Bancroft. Handy because you could rule parallel lines by rolling it without lifting from the page. Another advantage which has been lost sight of these days is that the ruler wasn't in contact with the page where the line was being drawn. With old fashioned ink pens this prevented ink being trapped between the rule and the paper causing a smear. That's the reason whu most rulers to this day have a bevelled top. You soon learned to turn them over when ruling lines with ink so you got clean lines.

[Marilyn]

100% aligned here. Pass me the spirit level...( I would put £100 on it!)
Self assessment only of course...no correspondence entered into.

[catgate]

100% aligned here. Pass me the spirit level...( I would put £100 on it!)
Self assessment only of course...no correspondence entered into.

I do hope you warmed it first.

[Marilyn]

Results are more accurate if I dont warm the spirit level first, but then, you knew that, didn't you!?

[Stanley]

Never mind Maz's nipples! how about the last picture!