A new set has just been posted:

http://puzzlephotos.blogspot.com/

Google's Blogger switched my site from beta to "New Blogger", hopefully the
change will be transparent, but if there are any problems or improvements
that might be the cause. So let me know if you encounter any negative
issues with the upgrade.


Rob

963. Guessing. Sword hanger (frog).
Karl


On Apr 18, 10:35 pm, "R.H." wrote
A new set has just been posted:

http://puzzlephotos.blogspot.com/

Google's Blogger switched my site from beta to "New Blogger", hopefully the
change will be transparent, but if there are any problems or improvements
that might be the cause. So let me know if you encounter any negative
issues with the upgrade.

Rob

962 is for grasping indicator lamps in telephone etc. switchboards,
to remove and replace same. Oooooh, I got one (and I have one)!
/mark

R.H. wrote:
A new set has just been posted:

http://puzzlephotos.blogspot.com/

Google's Blogger switched my site from beta to "New Blogger", hopefully the
change will be transparent, but if there are any problems or improvements
that might be the cause. So let me know if you encounter any negative
issues with the upgrade.


Rob

On Apr 19, 4:35 am, "R.H." wrote:
A new set has just been posted:

http://puzzlephotos.blogspot.com/

Google's Blogger switched my site from beta to "New Blogger", hopefully the
change will be transparent, but if there are any problems or improvements
that might be the cause. So let me know if you encounter any negative
issues with the upgrade.

Rob


961- curd cutter?

Dave

960.Code wheel of some kind?
Wheels for something like an old daisy-wheel printer (line the letter to be
printed with the paper and ribbon and press onto the paper to make an
impression)

On Apr 19, 4:35 pm, "R.H." wrote:
A new set has just been posted:

http://puzzlephotos.blogspot.com/

Google's Blogger switched my site from beta to "New Blogger", hopefully the
change will be transparent, but if there are any problems or improvements
that might be the cause. So let me know if you encounter any negative
issues with the upgrade.

Rob

The rocks are stone hammer heads. My guess is that they were found in
Pennsylvania.

--riverman

As an old telephone man, I agree.

"Mark F" wrote in message
news:LNIVh.97260$aG1.2558@pd7urf3no...
962 is for grasping indicator lamps in telephone etc. switchboards,
to remove and replace same. Oooooh, I got one (and I have one)!
/mark

R.H. wrote:
A new set has just been posted:

http://puzzlephotos.blogspot.com/

Google's Blogger switched my site from beta to "New Blogger", hopefully
the
change will be transparent, but if there are any problems or improvements
that might be the cause. So let me know if you encounter any negative
issues with the upgrade.


Rob

962 is for grasping indicator lamps in telephone etc. switchboards,
to remove and replace same. Oooooh, I got one (and I have one)!
/mark


You guys had tools? We just used a piece of flexible tubing to slide over the
lamp. Kept various sizes laying around the control room.

--
Dennis

humunculus wrote:

On Apr 19, 4:35 pm, "R.H." wrote:

A new set has just been posted:

http://puzzlephotos.blogspot.com/

Google's Blogger switched my site from beta to "New Blogger", hopefully the
change will be transparent, but if there are any problems or improvements
that might be the cause. So let me know if you encounter any negative
issues with the upgrade.

Rob


The rocks are stone hammer heads. My guess is that they were found in
Pennsylvania.

--riverman



960 Part of a safe's combination lock?

963 Spur (for encouraging horses to "make tracks out of here".

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.8*10^12 furlongs per fortnight.

DT wrote:
962 is for grasping indicator lamps in telephone etc. switchboards,
to remove and replace same. Oooooh, I got one (and I have one)!
/mark


You guys had tools? We just used a piece of flexible tubing to slide over the
lamp. Kept various sizes laying around the control room.

Why use something simple like tubing when you can buy a tool that must
have cost 100.00 or more? grin /mark

On Thu, 19 Apr 2007 10:36:59 -0400, "James Freeman"
wrote:

As an old telephone man, I agree.

"Mark F" wrote in message
news:LNIVh.97260$aG1.2558@pd7urf3no...
962 is for grasping indicator lamps in telephone etc. switchboards,
to remove and replace same. Oooooh, I got one (and I have one)!
/mark


As another former Bell System person, I agree.
The turned down end was for seating the lamps when they were below the
surface of the panel.

John

The rocks are stone hammer heads. My guess is that they were found in
Pennsylvania.

--riverman


Darn---you sure? My guess is that the stones are weights for fishing nets.

Bill

On Thu, 19 Apr 2007 18:43:58 +0000, Bill Marrs wrote:
The rocks are stone hammer heads. My guess is that they were found in
Pennsylvania.

Darn---you sure? My guess is that the stones are weights for fishing nets.

I was going to guess some kind of money, like "wampum", or petrified stale
bread. ;-)

Cheers!
Rich

R.H. wrote:
A new set has just been posted:

http://puzzlephotos.blogspot.com/

Google's Blogger switched my site from beta to "New Blogger", hopefully the
change will be transparent, but if there are any problems or improvements
that might be the cause. So let me know if you encounter any negative
issues with the upgrade.


Rob



I am fascinated with these devices, but where do I find out what
they are. I know you have posted the link to the answers but can't
seem to find it.
Thanks

I am fascinated with these devices, but where do I find out what
they are. I know you have posted the link to the answers but can't
seem to find it.
Thanks


I don't post the answer page until Friday, usually in the afternoon around
5:00 eastern, I'll post a link here in the newsgroups and also on my site.


Rob

960 Part of a safe's combination lock?

This answer is about 95% correct.


Rob

My guess is that the stones are weights for fishing nets.

Bill



Yes, according to the owner they are net weights.


Rob

"R.H." wrote in message
...
A new set has just been posted:

http://puzzlephotos.blogspot.com/

Google's Blogger switched my site from beta to "New Blogger", hopefully
the
change will be transparent, but if there are any problems or improvements
that might be the cause. So let me know if you encounter any negative
issues with the upgrade.


Rob

Guess for 959: Light box used to view gemstones. The gems are placed on
the horizontal glass plate. Light reflects off of the 45 degree mirror and
passes up through the gems. The gems are viewed with the magnifier that is
held over the glass plate.

Carl G.

R.H. wrote:
960 Part of a safe's combination lock?

This answer is about 95% correct.


Rob


In a post office box?

According to R.H. :
A new set has just been posted:

http://puzzlephotos.blogspot.com/

Google's Blogger switched my site from beta to "New Blogger", hopefully the
change will be transparent, but if there are any problems or improvements
that might be the cause.

No problems accessing it. I even went in though my bookmark to
see it, and that had no problems.

So let me know if you encounter any negative
issues with the upgrade.

None so far.

As usual, I am posting from rec.crafts.metalworking.

959) Hmm ... the shape and the clear window suggest a card deck
shuffling machine. However, it is not clear whether there is a
disc with four radial partitions inside there, or whether it is
an artifact of reflections of something overhead.

960) Hmm ... looks like a heavy-duty dial for a form of combination
lock. If so, it is sixteen possible positions per dial (A-P),
or 16^3 possible combinations -- 4096.

961) Hmm ... perhaps something for placing around the neck of
livestock for leading them around?

962) At least *this* one I am sure about.

It is a tool for extracting the slide-base lamps from various
things -- originally the indicator lamps for old manual
switchboards, but later things (mostly in the phone company)
used the same lamps, and thus the same tool for extracting the
lamps.

For the switchboard lamps, there was a companion tool which
looked like a pair of needle-nose pliers, except that they had a
pair of ground off sections near the tips, which would look
something like this (assuming the handles are down and the tips
up):

/( )\
/ | | \

The angles would be sharper than shown, because I have only one
angle available in the ASCII characterset. :-) I've left off the
hinge and the handles, as well as some of the length of the
noses.

The function of this was to grip the metal bezel around the jewel
which covered the lamp and gave it color. This had to be pulled
before you could access the lamp, and while it was possible to
pull these bare-handed, the tool made it a lot easier. :-

I have examples of both of these, FWIW.

963) This looks like a part of an officer's ceremonial sword scabbard.

964) Totally just a guess -- but the groove bisecting most of them
suggests a human brain, which might suggest that these were used
as part of a burial ceremony.

Now off to see what others have said.

Enjoy,
DoN.
--
Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

My guess for 959 is a sun dial
Lou

"R.H." wrote in message
...

My guess is that the stones are weights for fishing nets.

Bill



Yes, according to the owner they are net weights.


Rob



huh, i woulda guessed "sculptures", but i went to art school.
i did a google search for "stone balls" and "stone spheres" the other day
and came across this (and others)....

http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/polyhedra/goc.htm
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=2146412410
http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/arch...cial/balls.asp
http://www.goldenageproject.org.uk/329stoneballs.html

i don't recall ever having seen them before. fascinating.
(somewhere i also saw a japanese webpage with what seemed like 3D
illustrations for the "platonic solids" thing from the first link above)

b.w.

"BillB" wrote in message
. ..
R.H. wrote:
960 Part of a safe's combination lock?

This answer is about 95% correct.


Rob


In a post office box?


Nope, that's not it.


Rob

961) Hmm ... perhaps something for placing around the neck of
livestock for leading them around?


Best guess so far, you're right about it being placed on the neck of an
animal, but it's not for leading them around.


Rob

Guess for 959: Light box used to view gemstones. The gems are placed on
the horizontal glass plate. Light reflects off of the 45 degree mirror
and
passes up through the gems. The gems are viewed with the magnifier that
is
held over the glass plate.

Carl G.


You are correct in that it's a simple microscope with a glass plate and 45
degree mirror but it wasn't marked as being for looking at gemstones, though
I'm sure it could be used for that. It's probably more of a general purpose
device, and was tagged "microscope slide viewer".


Rob

huh, i woulda guessed "sculptures", but i went to art school.
i did a google search for "stone balls" and "stone spheres" the other day
and came across this (and others)....

http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/polyhedra/goc.htm
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=2146412410
http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/arch...cial/balls.asp
http://www.goldenageproject.org.uk/329stoneballs.html

i don't recall ever having seen them before. fascinating.
(somewhere i also saw a japanese webpage with what seemed like 3D
illustrations for the "platonic solids" thing from the first link above)

b.w.



Thanks for the links, I hadn't seen these before either, very
interesting/unusual looking artifacts.


Rob

I'd say it's a cat carrier but it's missing the screw.
http://www.abandonhope.shetland.co.u...Catcarrier.jpg

Karl

On Apr 19, 10:00 pm, "R.H." wrote:
961) Hmm ... perhaps something for placing around the neck of
livestock for leading them around?

Best guess so far, you're right about it being placed on the neck of an
animal, but it's not for leading them around.

Rob

"R.H." writes:

961) Hmm ... perhaps something for placing around the neck of
livestock for leading them around?


Best guess so far, you're right about it being placed on the neck of an
animal, but it's not for leading them around.

Is it put around the neck of a cow to make it difficult to get through a
barbed wire fence of four strands or so?

With the help of all the hints, perhaps 961 is/are used to hold the animals
still in a convenient pose for slaughter.


"R.H." wrote in message
...

961) Hmm ... perhaps something for placing around the neck of
livestock for leading them around?


Best guess so far, you're right about it being placed on the neck of an
animal, but it's not for leading them around.


Rob

"R.H." wrote in message
...

My guess is that the stones are weights for fishing nets.

Bill



Yes, according to the owner they are net weights.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Are you sure, Rob? To me some of them look like gross weights and tare
weights.

"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
news

"R.H." wrote in message
...

My guess is that the stones are weights for fishing nets.

Bill



Yes, according to the owner they are net weights.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Are you sure, Rob? To me some of them look like gross weights and tare
weights.

Weight a moment... If we are fishing for gross and tare-able puns, what's
the net difference?

Carl G.

"Carl G." wrote: Weight a moment... If we are fishing for gross and
tare-able puns, what's the net difference?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Easy, Carl. I think I've been pun-ished enough.

Is it put around the neck of a cow to make it difficult to get through a
barbed wire fence of four strands or so?

Correct, it's an animal poke used to keep them in a fenced area.


At the bottom of the answer page I added a few more updates from previous
weeks, thanks to Karl for putting me in contact with the RSA who provided
information about the Silver Medal awarded to the plough plane.

http://pzphotosan165-t.blogspot.com/


Rob

On Fri, 20 Apr 2007 04:00:53 -0400, "R.H."
wrote:


961) Hmm ... perhaps something for placing around the neck of
livestock for leading them around?


Best guess so far, you're right about it being placed on the neck of an
animal, but it's not for leading them around.

Hi Rob,

Maybe what was called an "Animal-Poke"? Put around an
animals neck to prevent it from grazing. See the following
for some similar devices:

http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT133334

http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT1773792

http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT230860

http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT329220

http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT361839

http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT150743

There was a bazillion of these patented. I gave up on
looking for an exact match...

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
Remove no.spam for email

Maybe what was called an "Animal-Poke"? Put around an
animals neck to prevent it from grazing. See the following
for some similar devices:

http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT133334

http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT1773792

http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT230860

http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT329220

http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT361839

http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT150743

There was a bazillion of these patented. I gave up on
looking for an exact match...


I was surprised how many patents there were for the animal pokes, I couldn't
find an exact match either but it was slightly entertaining to see the
pictures of animals wearing the various contraptions. I find very few of
these things when I go to auctions.


Rob

On Apr 20, 4:16 pm, "R.H." wrote:
I was surprised how many patents there were for the animal pokes, I couldn't
find an exact match either but it was slightly entertaining to see the
pictures of animals wearing the various contraptions. I find very few of
these things when I go to auctions.

I've been to quite a few auctions and antique stores around Wisconsin
and have never seen one.

I know it's not really on topic but I'm curious. Why was it so
important to prevent an animal from grazing that there were so many
types of pokes?

wrote in message
oups.com...
On Apr 20, 4:16 pm, "R.H." wrote:
I was surprised how many patents there were for the animal pokes, I
couldn't
find an exact match either but it was slightly entertaining to see the
pictures of animals wearing the various contraptions. I find very few
of
these things when I go to auctions.

I've been to quite a few auctions and antique stores around Wisconsin
and have never seen one.

I know it's not really on topic but I'm curious. Why was it so
important to prevent an animal from grazing that there were so many
types of pokes?



As illustrated in the first patent link on the answer page, they are only
trying to prevent grazing of crops through a fence, normal grazing can still
be done while wearing the poke. I guess a hungry cow or pig could eat a lot
of corn if it was fenced in next to a field of it.

I have a book of very old tools that show a drawing a poke that was used on
a goose, I searched the web to see if there was a photo of one but didn't
have any luck, though I did find this ordinance from the town of Mexico,
N.Y.:

"April 7,1801, it was voted that no hog shall run at large without a
goose-poke eight inches above the neck and four inches below, small hogs in
proportion, after the 10th of May next, until the 26th of October next."


Probably to keep the free running hogs out of everyone else's crops.


Rob

According to R.H. :


Guess for 959: Light box used to view gemstones. The gems are placed on
the horizontal glass plate. Light reflects off of the 45 degree mirror
and
passes up through the gems. The gems are viewed with the magnifier that
is
held over the glass plate.

Carl G.


You are correct in that it's a simple microscope with a glass plate and 45
degree mirror but it wasn't marked as being for looking at gemstones, though
I'm sure it could be used for that. It's probably more of a general purpose
device, and was tagged "microscope slide viewer".

To be a slide viewer, it should have a frosted glass plate
somewhere in there. Just plain mirrors would let through artifacts of
the light source, unless it was diffused. I think that the jewel
examining tool might be the better description.

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

"R.H." wrote

As illustrated in the first patent link on the answer page, they are only
trying to prevent grazing of crops through a fence, normal grazing can
still
be done while wearing the poke. I guess a hungry cow or pig could eat a
lot
of corn if it was fenced in next to a field of it.

As an old farmboy, I can tell you that all domesticated animals resent being
fenced in. They test and challenge fences constantly. Fence repair is a
common chore on the farm.

I would think that one reason for such a device would be to cut down on the
wear and tear on the fences.

I have never seen one of these animal pokes though.

"R.H." wrote in message
...

wrote in message
oups.com...
On Apr 20, 4:16 pm, "R.H." wrote:
I was surprised how many patents there were for the animal pokes, I
couldn't
find an exact match either but it was slightly entertaining to see the
pictures of animals wearing the various contraptions. I find very few
of
these things when I go to auctions.

I've been to quite a few auctions and antique stores around Wisconsin
and have never seen one.

I know it's not really on topic but I'm curious. Why was it so
important to prevent an animal from grazing that there were so many
types of pokes?



As illustrated in the first patent link on the answer page, they are only
trying to prevent grazing of crops through a fence, normal grazing can
still
be done while wearing the poke. I guess a hungry cow or pig could eat a
lot
of corn if it was fenced in next to a field of it.

I have a book of very old tools that show a drawing a poke that was used
on
a goose, I searched the web to see if there was a photo of one but didn't
have any luck, though I did find this ordinance from the town of Mexico,
N.Y.:

"April 7,1801, it was voted that no hog shall run at large without a
goose-poke eight inches above the neck and four inches below, small hogs
in
proportion, after the 10th of May next, until the 26th of October next."


Probably to keep the free running hogs out of everyone else's crops.


Rob



Having grown up on a general dairy and hog farm in Minnesota, I am tolerably
familiar with the problem. While I have never seen a wooden contrivance
similar to these, we had and used steel ones made in the '50s. They were
made in two halves and bolted around the cow's neck and had hook-like
extensions facing forward and spike-like protrousions pointing toward the
rear near the cow's neck. The device had no effect on the cow's ordinary
activities, but, if she reached through a fence, the device would get hooked
on a wire and the spike would jab her.

To hold livestock, barbed wire fences must be tight. When cows start
reaching through (you know, the grass is always greener...), they'll stretch
and loosen the fence and soon they'll be walking through or over it.

I've never seen such a thing for a pig, but they're a whole different
matter. Barbed wire won't hold a pig. That requires woven wire. And the
pigs will try to go under it. The cure is to put rings in their noses to
keep them from digging. (I always used to think the rings were a bit cruel,
but now with all these kids running around with pierced practally
everything....)

Jerry