Posted 7 years ago
Irishcolle…
(137 items)
This little item is 5 inches long with a wooden handle. The metal parts are brass except for the spring. The arm on top has a tiny v-shaped notch at the end and pivots at its centre. The disc at the end is just under an inch in diameter and is hollow with an opening on top. This disc is quite black underneath and may have been heated over some kind of burner. Can anyone tell me what this item was used for please?
There are several aspects to this tool that suggest that it is a one-off piece for a special purpose. The rough edges on the parts, the collar on the handle not fitted flush to the end of the wood but seemingly just pressed on until tight, and the subsequent trimming of the thumb-disc to clear the collar which didn't go down as far as anticipated. It looks skillfully made but not mass-produced. The solder blobs at random places on the "pan" suggest that it was made to hold two pieces together for soldering. It could have been for a limited manufacturing job, a hobbyist's project, or the prototype for a production tool. I've made similar things for just one job and there's no way anyone will ever be able to guess what they did. Good Luck!
Thanks for the comment UncleRon. You pointed out several things about this item which had never occurred to me before.