Trivia:Household Object

KentWhitten

I moved back to Maine and "inherited" our family farmhouse. Built circa roughly 1850. I find some interesting items around here and just am amazed at how far we've come in such a short amount of time. Anyone guess what it is? Some may, but if you get the whole answer, then hats off to ya!

jmic

Looks like a sprinkler head of some type.

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pruane

Looks like a gas lamp and striker.

Teetorbilt

I'm going with prulane on this one. The loop, to the lower left, would be the gas valve. The screw head, visible above the valve, would be the mix regulator (air to gas). The lower right lever would operate the striker for ignition.

Turn on the gas, hit the lever and you have light!.......or maybe an explosion.

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mdshunk

Zillions of them in my area. Gas sconce fixture. Most of the one in the photo is missing.

KentWhitten

It is a lamp. Do you know what fuel they used?

mdshunk

"town gas", which wasn't necessarily always natural gas. In PA, it was often coal gas.

KentWhitten

Ah you are wise beyond your years! I was just about to say what fuel it was that was used here and it slipped my mind. I had to call my great uncle and ask.

Apparently the hicks here went to the local drugstore and bought a bag of something, he doesn't remember exactly what it was called. They dumped this powder into a bathtub and added water. Out came acetylene! LOL.

This is what was told to me. How true it is, I have no idea, but that almost sounds too funny. KABOOM!

reveivl

The powder would have been calcium carbide: CaC2+H2O=C2H2+CaO, C2H2 is acetylene.

(I worked in an Acetylene factory in Edmonton when I was a young'un)

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Teetorbilt

When I was a kid, we used carbide lamps for flashlights. I still have a few somewhere.

Lots of other fun things that you can do with carbide too!

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You can't solve you're problems with the same level of thinking that created the problems.

Albert Einstein

Zero Punch

When I was a kid I had a bangcite? sp cannon.

hrscammisa

Yep thats what I would have said right on the money what the ----I think I was with the sprinkler guy LoL

KentWhitten

I think it's an east coast - west coast thing. When I lived in WA state, the towns there were celebrating their centennials. Your ancestors may not have been there early enough for this type of "luxury"

I got other things here that are rather curious. I'm sure someone from europe would be like "yeah, so what's the big deal?" kinda like what mdshunk said. I didn't realize they were that popular. I was told that it was a luxury. Maybe the richer people lived further south LOL.

my kids can't even imagine life without CD's "what's a cassette?"

KentWhitten

just curious, do you have access to a fully assembled one to take a pic mdshunk?

MRHH

My step-daughter gave me that confused look when I pulled out some of my tapes one day. "What's that? There's music on there? WOW, YOU'RE OLD!"

I thought I was cool with my REAL metal Tonka truck and matchbox cars. Couldn't have lived without my bike as a kid. Ohh, yeah...and TV remote - I WAS THE TV REMOTE. lol

woodmagman

I am surprised with all the talent in this room, no one noticed the danger of running a gas line on top of a stair tread, and we all know that it was not put there by the photograher..... I think your all wrong, if held by and qualified operator, it was and still is a very good t.v. remote

fireguy

Here, it was wood gas. My house, built in 1890, was plumbed with 3/8 black pipe for the gas lights. I do not know if the gas heated water or was used for space heating. Oddly, the house was also wired, with knob and tube for electricity. When I moved here in 1980?, the knob and tube was still in use, on a 30 amp fuse box. The house had indoor plumbing, but there is a low spot in the back yard where the outhouse was.

deckman22

Not just an east & west coast thing. All of Austin had street lights back in the day that had coal gas lamps. The by product of making coal gas was buried in landfills around town & have caused pollution in Barton Springs, the local swimming hole.

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jkfox624

Mmmm knob and tube wiring, see it all the time around here still. House we're remodeling atm is full of it still in use. Of course most of it is missing half the insulation and its crammed into a cutler hammer panel with 2-3 circuits under one breaker. I loved how they had those shallow 2x2 like inch deep plaster boxes for the cieling fixtures, you go and pull the wire out and its unbelievable how they could cram that much wire and friction tape into such a small spot. They must of used a roll of tape on each connection.