Whatsit?

[Keith Bowman]

It does go down a pipe and up it too... :shock:

Sounds like the old riddle of 'what goes up a chimney down but not down a chimney up'

 

[DJH]

Yes I see the spider is with us again and it comes up as a registered user rather than a guest. I've seen Bing bot on here as well only not as often as the google bot feller... 8)

 

[DJH]

Rather like if you get up on a horse how do you get down from a donkey?

 

[Penners]

what goes up a chimney down but not down a chimney up

A humberella

 

[DJH]

Would it help if I said the wooden thing in the middle is a bucket . In front of it is a clacker and to the right is a suction box?

Doug

 

[Keith Bowman]

Would it help if I said the wooden thing in the middle is a bucket . In front of it is a clacker and to the right is a suction box?

Doug

No!

 

[Keith Bowman]

Bilge pump for a wooden ship? But why would there be such a selection of sizes? Something to do with clearing land drains? But surely no need for something so sophisticated? Perhaps the range of sizes is because it was used by someone who would be called in to deal with different sized pipes in different places - a sort of universal drain-rodders-unblocking-kit, or a universal ship's bosun's pumping out kit.....or something! Maybe a croquet kit from one of Alice's adventures in Wonderland

 

[Keith Bowman]

PS google bot is back - Is it me? Am I right to be getting paranoid?

 

[noj]

Hydraulic ram pump?

 

[Penners]

a clacker

That sounds disturbingly anatomical (particularly if you have a passing knowledge of Aussie slang)!

 

[Keith Bowman]

Hydraulic ram pump?

Nah, they're big lumps of cast iron. (Now Doug will say you were right!)

 

[DJH]

Google and Bing were on here at the same time yesterday... :shock:

The whatsits are valves used inside ad (or wood) jack pumps which pump water from wells using atmospheric pressure. The bucket is the top valve and the box is the bottom valve and both are fitted with leather clack valves which have lead weights on them to keep them closed when they are not in use or working against each other. The leather cup washers are different sizes to suit the bore size of the pump. I was very lucky to come across all these parts as they would more than lickly been dumped. I can only speculate that they were part of a plumbers stock...

Some pictures from a book published in 1896...





Doug

 

[Penners]

The whatsits are valves used inside ad (or wood) jack pumps which pump water from wells using atmospheric pressure.

Good grief! How on earth could we all have missed that?! It's sooooo obvious!

:|

 

[DJH]

What's this for? There's a thermostat near the point...



Doug

 

[Flyfisher]

We have one of those things shown in Figure 807 on that page, though without the innards :

 

[Flyfisher]

.

 

[Penners]

What's this for? There's a thermostat near the point...

Did you really mean thermostat, or perhaps thermometer?

If the latter, then it's for measuring the temperature at the core of the earth (or perhaps in a compost heap/silage clamp/whatever).

 

[DJH]

oops... Of course I meant thermometer...gulp... :lol:

Spot on Penners. It's for measuring the temperature of a hay stack.

I've got the innards now FF.

Another easy one for you...

 

[Penners]

A nit comb for an ogre - obviously.

 

[Flyfisher]

On a similar theme . . .