On Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:58:59 -0700, "Bill Noble"
wrote:

snip
I am 100% positive this is not intended for use inside a house - and it is
certainly not a nutcracker:
1. the receptacle in the base is acurately machined with three diameters,
such as would be needed in a bearing press or maybe some kind of gun thing
(shotgun?) - a nutcracker would be more rounded

2. there is no ornamentation of any kind

3. it is made of steel, not brass, not pot metal.

4. the top (movable) part of the press is flat, not curved so it would tend
to eject a nut rather than retaining it.

Iggy already answered this earlier:
===
Is the foot on the screw machined to fit the bottom, or is it just a
flat surface?

It is machined to be the OPPOSITE of the bottom.
===
The way I read that and by looking at the first image it is
cup shaped like the bottom is (shrug).

the fact that Iggy has one and on the left coast my friend has the exact
same and identical item says that it was probably not a shop made tool but
was a production item for a specific purpose that made sense in both cold
and warmer climates. It could be related to coining something, it could be
a button press (maybe, but I don't think so), the one I can inspect is not
greasy, which suggests it is not automotive related -- could it be related
to a farm - for example a pill press for horses or something?

I really not trying to argue with you, just pointing out
that there were old nutcrackers that looked like this. The
thread looks kinda fine though for nut cracking.

For pushing out bearings and such, I don't like the cup
things, especially on the top and bottom...

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
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