MYSTERY OBJECTS

[Stanley]

Is it one of those small forked knives with one tip protected that you use for opening stitched seams?

[Cathy]

I think Big Kev is the closest
And Stanley you will kick yourself, It's basically a mini Stanley knife. You push the red slider to the left, and hold your thumb on the red slider or the blade automatically retracts. I use it (at work) for ripping thru packaging tape on boxes or plastic covering around packages etc. A very useful and nifty little tool.
The little piece of white paper covers up the words "Warning Sharp Blade".

[Tizer]

A good mystery Cathy! I've never seen one of those but it looks useful, especially on a key ring.

[Big Kev]

A good mystery Cathy! I've never seen one of those but it looks useful, especially on a key ring.

You'd get arrested for carrying an offensive weapon if you had that on your key ring

[PanBiker]

Shades of Peaky Blinders.

[Wendyf]

I thought Big Kev had said it was a craft knife straight away.

[Stanley]

"It is illegal to: sell a knife of any kind (including cutlery and kitchen knives) to anyone under 18. carry a knife in public without good reason – unless it's a knife with a folding blade 3 inches long (7.62 cm) or less, eg a Swiss Army knife.19 Mar 2013"
So you'd be OK Cathy......

[Cathy]

Oh gosh I only know this tool when I'm using it in a store room at work. I hang it back up as soon as I'm finished. Mind you one of the other volunteers actually carries her own full size Stanley knife in her pocket for the same usage.
(I think I will have a word with her )

[Stanley]

Those are the UK regulations Cathy, if you look up 'Knife legislation' on Wiki they have each country's version on there.

[Stanley]

Try this. Clue.... It's steam engine related and made of heavy sheet copper.

[Tizer]

A remnant from a steam engine explosion?

[Tizer]

Mrs Tiz thinks it's from an engine that plays fairground music. There would be lots of these strips and the tines hanging down on each vary to give different sounds.

[Stanley]

Sorry no. Here's a pictorial clue.....

[Stanley]

I think this one has you stumped. If you look at the bottom of the pic you'll see where the crosshead runs in a cast iron slide with oil in it. Bancroft engine had a simple chamfer on the casting which spread the oil but some engines like Ellenroad had copper wipers with serrated edges to distribute the oil evenly on each stroke. The object is one of these wipers that over the years has suffered and lost some of its teeth. We replaced all four of them at Ellenroad with replicas.
Next one?

[Tizer]

Any suggestions for this pic?

[Stanley]

Spigot mortar munitions? Hedgehog?

[Tizer]

Well done Stanley. You're almost exactly correct with your suggestion of the Hedgehog weapon. The only difference is that this is the Hedgerow. The Hedgehog was an anti-submarine weapon which fired spigot mortar rounds from a ship, as you noted. The Hedgerow was developed from it, used similar rounds but was fitted to landing craft and used to clear the beach ready for the troops to land. I think the rounds might have been set to explode above ground level.

Development of the hedgehog in WW2 was done by the Department of Miscellaneous Weapons Development, known generally as the `Dodgers and Wheezers' who invented various weapons, often at risk to themselves and to those about them. The early Hedgerow experiments were carried out from the end of Birnbeck Pier at Weston-Super-Mare, which was taken over by the Admiralty. The locals got used to explosions and fires and in one case had to evacuate a beach side cafe when a projectile exploded next to it. Farmers were also used to having shells and other missiles land in their fields and frighten the livestock. The staff worked night and day on the pier and one of the scientists nearly died when he went outside for a smoke at night in his usual spot and leant on the rail - but it had been cut out at that spot during the day ready for a test of some piece of kit the next morning. He landed on the rocks and suffered serious injuries.

Another weapon developed nearby was the marine equivalent of the bouncing bomb, fired from a ship, which the Admiralty judged would be an improvement on firing torpedoes from a ship. Again, several went astray to terrorise the locals.

[Stanley]

Sorry I spoiled everybody else's fun.....
Next one?

[Stanley]

Can anyone tell me exactly what is going on here?

[Tizer]

Delivery of spare parts? Very big ones!

[plaques]

747 specially designed to carry economy class passengers.

[chinatyke]

Training in runway taxi-ing and gate approaches?

[Stanley]

China is close enough. During the design of the 747 this rig was used to assess the view the pilots would have of the ground when manoeuvring. When the actual tests were done with the prototype the only way to steer the plane was by using the engines but when a couple of cars were blown away by the blast steerable landing gear was used instead.
Next one?

[Stanley]

Have a crack at this one.....

[Tizer]

Choke cables from old cars?