Anyone know what this item is?

[artful bodger]

I doubt it is a woodworkers tool. In fact I'd be very suprised if it was.
However in another online forum I partake in a member has asked the question, Does anyone know what this is?.
No one does.
Since this forum has many more people who visit it from all sorts of walks of life I thought I would ask here.
If moderators feel this is the wrong place to post and move to a more relevant section that is fine.
Sure would be interested if someone knows what it is though.
The guy who owns it says it looks like mercury in the glass sphere and that the mercury flows down into the shaft when the sphere is held vertical.
Any ideas?
Thanks
499069499070

[KahoyKutter]

My guess is this is a part of a contraption used to demonstrate what happens to the period of a pendulum when its centre of mass changes. The whole thing is hung on a string and it is the bob on the end of the pendulum. The period of a pendulum in a vacuum is determined by its length and not by its mass. I think some sort of heat source is placed in the little receptacle at the bottom which in time would vaporize the mercury. I'm not exactly sure what the effect on the period of the pendulum because in reality the period is affected by air resistance and the mass of the bob would come into play especially as the mercury vaporizes and the centre of the mass changes. But that's my guess and I may be way off with the science part as well.

[orraloon]

We need someone with a science background for this one. Cant even use the old cop out of its for leather working this time. If the cooper's bottle is a clue then my guess is a hydrometer.
Regards
John

[artful bodger]

I think the coopers bottle is just to give an idea of the size of the thing.

[Robson Valley]

I'll say that it's a high pressure mercury lightbulb. The kind in the roof of a basketball court.
The glassy part is fused quartz and the cage is to catch the big chunks if/when the bulb explodes.
Even so much as a single fingerprint can set it off.

[Mobyturns]

I'll go with RV - its an early version of a "Mercury Vapor Vacuum Rectifier Tube" somewhat similar to lamps used for lighting. I suspect that the "electronics" are housed in the glass tube out of sight in the chrome body & that hidden from view will be an entry for an electrical cable, or plug / terminals.

Search the term above and also "Gordos Tungar" who were early makers.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Early Scale-Buoy Devices, as used for boiler de-scaling and several of... | Download Scientific Diagram (https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Early-Scale-Buoy-Devices-as-used-for-boiler-de-scaling-and-several-of-the-Piccardi_fig16_233987204)

A more understandable version of how it works (maybe?) can be found in a paper here. (https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/AJA0038223X_5187)

Dontcha just love the rabbit warrens of the 'net? :rolleyes:

[Wrongwayfirst]

Early Scale-Buoy Devices, as used for boiler de-scaling and several of... | Download Scientific Diagram (https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Early-Scale-Buoy-Devices-as-used-for-boiler-de-scaling-and-several-of-the-Piccardi_fig16_233987204)

A more understandable version of how it works (maybe?) can be found in a paper here. (https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/AJA0038223X_5187)

Dontcha just love the rabbit warrens of the 'net? :rolleyes:


we have a winner, do you get the beer? Was that the prize:U

the blurb on a scale buoy

Piccardi’s experiments also made full use of special water-structuring device known as a scale-buoy. This device consists of a blob of mercury enclosed within a glass bulb, with a partial evacuation of the atmosphere – sev- eral examples are shown in Figure 19. When shaken, this bulb will show a subtle blue- green flash of light. According to a literature review assembled by Faigl (1990) the scale- buoy will emit radiofrequencies in the 6-9 Mhz range, with an attendant crumbling erosion of scales. They were used commer- cially in the first half of the 20th Century to inhibit the formation of boiler scale, or to keep minerals in suspension within water, whose solvent properties were changed by the influences of the scale-buoy. When wa- ter is activated by being exposed to the fre- quency emission discharges of the agitated scale-buoy, it becomes especially “reactive” to external factors as with sunspots and the like

[Lappa]

Thanks Skew. Great read:2tsup:

[artful bodger]

Thanks Skew. Great read:2tsup:

Yes, thanks indeed.

[NCArcher]

If the article is TLDR I will sum it up here. These were miracle items that were supposed to prevent the build up of scale in boilers. They did absolutely nothing but through excellent marketing and no small amount of snake oil salesmanship many thousands of them were sold. The description of how they work was a gobbledygook of pseudo-science that mentioned radiation and special gasses. The scientist who debunked them in 1912 lumped them in with divining rods.
A totally fake device but a very cool curio.

[Mobyturns]

we have a winner, do you get the beer? Was that the prize:U

the blurb on a scale buoy

Piccardi’s experiments also made full use of special water-structuring device known as a scale-buoy. This device consists of a blob of mercury enclosed within a glass bulb, with a partial evacuation of the atmosphere – sev- eral examples are shown in Figure 19. When shaken, this bulb will show a subtle blue- green flash of light. According to a literature review assembled by Faigl (1990) the scale- buoy will emit radiofrequencies in the 6-9 Mhz range, with an attendant crumbling erosion of scales. They were used commer- cially in the first half of the 20th Century to inhibit the formation of boiler scale, or to keep minerals in suspension within water, whose solvent properties were changed by the influences of the scale-buoy. When wa- ter is activated by being exposed to the fre- quency emission discharges of the agitated scale-buoy, it becomes especially “reactive” to external factors as with sunspots and the like

Ah, so voodoo psuedoscience methinks. :D it's interesting to observe how our body of knowledge develops, promoted as the "new solution" to your problem, but I did not see the "but wait there is more, for the first 50 callers ....". :D