Measuring about 3 inches x 3 inches this little doo-hickey has "S.S.S." stamped on it along with indications it has patents from July 1, 84, & May 12, 85. My initial patent search turned up nothing, nor did any of my other searches for that matter!
By squeezing the wire pins that hold the arm in place, one can move the arm up and down a little bit, releasing the pins will hold it in that place. There is an oval shaped ring on the pin side.
A confounding little piece! Anyone leading me to the answers here might just find a little surprise package in their mailbox!
UpdateThanks to my uncle Bobby who lead us in the right direction, and thanks to the folks at Patent Place USA for knowing how to look for this and actually finding it!
It is a "Scarf Shield" from the late 1800's, designed to hold neck-ware in place. My You Tube Video explains it in detail.
Here is the first patent, regarding the mechanism that is made to hang on buttons.
Here is the second patent, that is actually of this piece.
More?
doo-hickey
metal
Patent art
Inventions
Scarves
I say it's for coring apples??? It will be fun to find out!
ReplyDeleteWho knows? Where do you find these things anyway.
ReplyDeleteThink I'm gonna send you a pic of something I have no idea about.
:) Guess i have a nack for stumbling across some odd stuff... I kinda figured though that I just didn't know much! I agree Allie, it will be entertaining to see if anyone has any leads on this little fellow...
ReplyDeleteUnicorn horn clipper?
ReplyDeletePerhaps its an industrial sewing part? Perhaps some sort of buckle? What about an old seat belt clip?
ReplyDeletethis is intriguing! makes me think right away as either a piece of a shoe last/shoe tree, or some kind of strange clock key. I love your little mysteries by the way! :D
ReplyDeleteA measuring device of some sort maybe. What makes me think this is the bottom rungs look to be some sort of adjustment levels. I'll keep my eye out and see if I can come up with anything. Very interesting!
ReplyDeleteIf it has anything to do with cooking, the magazine Cooks Illustrated will help you. Every issue, they show a mysterious tool someone found and figure out what it's used for. Very interesting!!
ReplyDeleteA better mousetrap???
ReplyDeleteA really old-fashioned Thighmaster?? You can use the wire pins to adjust the tension...
ReplyDeleteI have no idea, although I'd vote for the apple corer idea. This reminds me of my favorite part of "This Old House" when the guys come up with outlandish ideas for something they don't recognize.
This is a puzzler - I'd go with the commercial sewing, maybe a tension guide?
ReplyDeleteThanks all for sharing some ideas: we've got apples, unicorns, sewing machines, seatbelts, shoes, measuring, mousetraps, and even exercise equipment!
ReplyDeleteHowever I do have a new entry, from my Uncle Bobby, who suggested it was for bowties, where you tie the tie around the metal, slide the hook over your top button, then slide the tie up against the neck.
Seems the best possibility so far! Alas, much time spent searching for any definitive leads have thus far turned up empty...
So nice to have the mystery solved! Who would have guessed (by just looking at the picture).
ReplyDeletethank god! now I can sleep at night...:P that's really fascinating. I guess this was really popular because men used to wear fabric tied in nifty different ways as neckwear (ye olde version of our modern necktie).
ReplyDelete