Possible Identifications
4/2/2007
“I have a very old kitchen item that is in 3
parts. The frame resembles your item. It is the old
equivalent of <an> item shown in the Williams
Sonoma cooking catalog. They call it a Chinois. My
item has the cone go all the way to the bottom and
I see in your item a possible holder for the base
of the cone. The cone is made of tin with small closely
spaced punched holes. It resembles your item in that
it has a round base which support the legs. The pestle
is a hard wood and is conical and would fit nicely
in the larger of the 2 loops on the side.”
Jennifer R.
9/8/2006
“One possible area of research may be with old
fire fighting apparatus. The item is about the right
size and shape for an early form of self-activating
fire extinguisher - the bands supported an upside
down tear-drop shaped glass globe filled with liquid.
A trip-band of low-melting point babbit or wax restrained
a spring fed plunger that extended through the hole
in the bottom that, when released, fractured the glass
globe, releasing the liquid. The cone that formed
the bottom of the item was supposed to disperse the
liquid over a broader area. There was also a small
mallet or glass breaking bar that hung from a ring
on the side that could be used to manually break the
globe.”
Rick W.
11/24/2004
“… a water barometer … would fit
perfectly in the frame.”
Rowena H. |