MYSTERY OBJECTS

[Gloria]

Well done, spot on. 1949 Singer sewing machine attachments, don't think they have ever been used.

[PanBiker]

I do take notice in Sally's sewing room. She has about 80% of the loft whereas my hobby is shoehorned into the corner, can't help but notice.

[Stanley]

Singer manufactured to a very high standard. I always admired the quality of their castings..... Lovely iron!

[Stanley]

This battered little object is about an inch square. What can you tell me about it......

[Tizer]

A seal for shipments of chicken approved by the US Department of Agriculture?

[Stanley]

It was a bit too obvious wasn't it Tiz. Every chicken sold in NY had to have this clipped into one of the wings and this included the Kosher chickens as well. I love the fact that so many things sold in the US still have the number of the 'Local' on them. This was the local union branch and proved that the item wasn't made by sweated labour.



Try this one. It's a small piece of oak and it's had a hard life. Can you tell me what is special about it and why it's in my clutter?

[Tizer]

Is the special aspect to do with its previous life rather than being, say, an exotic species of oak tree? For example, was it cut from Nelson's flagship or something similar?

[Stanley]

Previous life but land based.

[BillHowcroft]

I was going to suggest it was a bearing pad from a machine but it's not oil-stained.

How about it's part of a textile washing or bleaching machine?

[Gloria]

A sanding block?? Or a stopper or block for something??

[Stanley]

Bill you are so close! In fact so close I have to give it to you. It's a piece of oak cut from old timber in a fulling mill. In much the same way as Bog Oak is formed, it has hardened over many years of being soaked in water that contained caustic and soapy substances. It is as hard as the hobs of hell and a man who owned a joinery works at Colne said I could have a job any time I wanted when he questioned me about how I was managing to plane it. In case you're wondering, the secret is to sharpen the plane iron as usual to a high finish but end up by coarsening the edge by a couple of stokes on a coarse stone. That way the sharp minute saw tooth edge can bite.



The fulling stocks on the left at Higher Mill Helmshore. I was refurbishing them......
Next one?

[Stanley]

Can anyone make a guess at what this is? And yes, you're right, it's at Higher Mill at Helmshore and I had to refurbish it.

[chinatyke]

Cloth guide for cloth in rope form?

[Stanley]

You are on the right track China, but what is the machine doing to the cloth?

[chinatyke]

Another guess because I'm not up to speed with woollen cloth processing. After fulling the cloth needs to be unplaited or untangled. Was this what this contraption did?

[Stanley]

You are so close I have to give it to you. It's a rotary fulling machine. The length of cloth was threaded through to guides and rollers at the back , sewn into an endless loop, wetted with the fulling agent , and then passed through the cycle long enough to full it. Much faster than the stocks. Modern fulling is done in much the same way. By the way, the earliest way of fulling was treading with bare feet in tubs and that's why if you find a mill called 'walk mill' it was almost certainly originally a fulling mill.
Next one?

[chinatyke]

By the way, the earliest way of fulling was treading with bare feet in tubs and that's why if you find a mill called 'walk mill' it was almost certainly originally a fulling mill.
Next one?

And the fulling solution used was urine. There was a Walk Mill in Green Road, Colne, don't know if it is still there, but I didn't know that was the origin of the name.

[Stanley]

Quite right China. It was called 'lant' and was collected from the local houses who saved it for the fullers. At Helmshore they have evidence that the lant from Methodist households was preferred as it wasn't diluted by imbibing large quantities of beer. The lant carrier had a two wheeled cart with a suspended tank that could hold about thirty gallons and used it to do the collecting in the village.

[Stanley]

I forgot to Mention China Walk Mill in Colne was indeed a fulling mill and if I remember rightly was mentioned as being important in the 13th century when of course a lot of the weaving was 'de laine', (wool). The weavers carried the cloth in from as far away as Barlick and Earby on their backs.....



Can anyone tell me where this old bridge was? I say was because it has since collapsed.

[PanBiker]

It's on Springs Beck just into the field at the bottom of Pickles Hipping or Shitten Ginnel, whichever takes your fancy. Just on the bend before the path rises up to meet Calf Hall Lane.

[Marilyn]

I'm sorry...did you say "shitten ginnel"?

I can't get past that. ( blame the glass of wine I had with dinner)...
You wouldn't want your postal address being No.2 Shitten Ginnel, I am thinking...
No.1 would be bad enough!

[PanBiker]

Dead right Maz, a local colloquialism, don't worry there are no houses on the path just a few hens.

[Stanley]

Quite right Ian......

[PanBiker]

This should really go in forgotten corners but from my youth and memory of the best trout holes there was one in the banking just above the old bridge. A usual starting point for a session in Springs when tickling. Most of the holes and hiding ledges in Springs were accessible from in the beck by approaching carefully from downstream. It's quite a shallow beck unless in spate but with some very good pools. Down in Cloggers (Fools Syke) you needed a mate to hold your legs so that you could get your arms under the bankings for the best fish, a lot of the bankings are undercut and made the best hiding places in the flow. It's only a small beck but I had 4lb fish out of there on more than one occasion, which is a couple of handfuls for a young lad.

[Stanley]

I knew there were fish in there Ian but didn't know they got to that size.

Try this one.....