"William Noble" wrote in message
...
I just sent off a jpeg of a couple of "mystery funnels" to the drop box
(http://www.metalworking.com/dropbox/mystery-funnels.JPG) - below is the
contents of the accompanying text file - I'd sure appreciate it if someone
recognized what these things are - they could be for oxygen masks, or maybe
a "pilot relief tube", or ??? I'm trying to figure out if they are
something worth keeping after all these years, or if I make them into a
sculpture or a lamp or something like that.



here are two "mystery funnels" - the slots near hte rim look like they
would take elastic, the end of the tube part has a small lump like you
would use with medical style rubber hose, the OD of the tubing part is
.370 inches. They are 2.5 inches wide, made out of brass, I believe, and
chrome plated on the outside - I got them in a big pile of stuff many
years ago from a guy who had sold his house to move out of state (to a
nursing home perhaps) and had a lot of aircraft surplus from the old
Douglas plant where they built DC-3s (clover field in Santa Monica), but I
have no particular reason to believe these are aircraft related, though
they may be.

What the heck are they?

--
Bill
www.wbnoble.com

** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

They look a little like speaking tubes, but not from a ship. the ones on
ships had a whistle that plugged into each end. I have seen these in use
between the bridge and engine room of an old ship. The caller would remove
the whistle, and blow into the mouth piece. That would blow the whistle on
the other end. The person on the receiving end would then remove the
whistle, and reply, the place the cone to his ear for the message. similar
devices were used in carriages, taxis, and large houses with servants. The
tube on these is too small for communication, and the provision for a strap
eliminates these from the speaking tube category.


Steve R.



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