# Can anyone identify this old gadget? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 29, 2019, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-old-gadget/834688 "2019-05-29T02:14:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-old-gadget/834688/1 "2019-05-29T02:14:25Z")
This gadget/tool is from a box of old trinkets, and is apparently a giveaway from an old political campaign. I prefer a definitive identification but will settle for guesses. The object is five inches long. None of us can figure out what it is, but I bragged about the powers of the SDMB. Come on people- don’t let me down. What in the hell is this thing? \* [Dropbox - Gadgets - Simplify your life](https://www.dropbox.com/sh/sayxhnpthat1kzu/AADDCQqcY9YUMeD3Q4kLFaVra?dl=0)\* ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-old-gadget/834688/2 "2019-05-29T02:54:54Z")
Is the curve about right for a bottle opener? ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-old-gadget/834688/3 "2019-05-29T03:01:53Z")
What’s the text say below the ad? ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-old-gadget/834688/4 "2019-05-29T03:02:54Z")
It looks like a cross between a knife and a fork, perhaps being a less successful relative of the spork. A knork, perhaps, since a fife is a type of flute. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-old-gadget/834688/5 "2019-05-29T03:27:30Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > What’s the text say below the ad? Looks to me like “GRUVER MFG. CO., CHICAGO”. Or possible CRUVER. It looks more like GRUVER to me but I can’t find any references to that company, but I do see that there was a Cruver Mfg. that made campaign buttons and other novelty items, so that’s probably it. Still can’t tell what the item is though. At first I thought shoehorn, but it wouldn’t be asymmetrical like that. [Other Cruver items.](https://www.google.com/search?q=cruver+mfg+chicago&client=safari&rls=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjrp_zq5L_iAhWyKH0KHX3AAzsQ_AUIDigB&biw=884&bih=558) ---
**Author:** ![BeeGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-old-gadget/834688/6 "2019-05-29T03:41:59Z")
Ice shaver? ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-old-gadget/834688/7 "2019-05-29T04:42:37Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > Looks to me like “GRUVER MFG. CO., CHICAGO”. Or possible CRUVER. It looks more like GRUVER to me but I can’t find any references to that company, but I do see that there was a Cruver Mfg. that made campaign buttons and other novelty items, so that’s probably it. Still can’t tell what the item is though. At first I thought shoehorn, but it wouldn’t be asymmetrical like that. > > [Other Cruver items.](https://www.google.com/search?q=cruver+mfg+chicago&client=safari&rls=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjrp_zq5L_iAhWyKH0KHX3AAzsQ_AUIDigB&biw=884&bih=558) Much too small for a shoehorn. But thank you for the Cruver discovery. My photo isn’t fine enough to show that the name of the gadget is “Oruver”; the lettering is tiny and not sharply defined, but the letters are unambigous, and that first letter is positively an “O”. I think it’s a manufacturing glitch of some sort, since a spelling error seems unlikely. It didn’t occur to me to substitute that “O” with the most similar letter “C” and do a search. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-old-gadget/834688/8 "2019-05-29T04:58:17Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Is the curve about right for a bottle opener? Hm. It might be large enough, but I don’t know if the metal is thick/strong enough. Unfortunately for me, the gizmo is now 400 miles away with its owner so scientific testing (trying to open a bottle) will be a long distance operation. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-old-gadget/834688/9 "2019-05-29T05:04:45Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Wallet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e99b99/32.png) [@Wallet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallet)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-old-gadget/834688/10 "2019-05-29T05:05:38Z")
Could it be a strainer of some sort? Perhaps to fit in the spout of a pitcher to stop ice or pieces of fruit from going into a glass? Maybe liquor related, to go over the neck of a bottle to strain _?_ from being poured into a mug? ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-old-gadget/834688/11 "2019-05-29T05:14:35Z")
Ice scraper ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-old-gadget/834688/12 "2019-05-29T05:16:53Z")
I don’t get how that thing would work as a bottle opener? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-old-gadget/834688/13 "2019-05-29T05:29:36Z")
I also guessed ice scraper or shaver but couldn’t find any images that were that similar. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-old-gadget/834688/14 "2019-05-29T05:46:20Z")
I think it really might be an ice scraper, one specifically made for the tiny metal freezer compartments in refrigerators made in the 1940s or so. It could have scraped off the ice from the freezer, itself plus have pried a metal ice cube tray stuck onto the freezer. Small freezer compartments would have made a longer scraper awkward, and a narrow scraper would fit between the “ribs” some of those little freezers had… Also, it would be a funny play on the “coroner” bit, a common promotional gimmick back then. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-old-gadget/834688/15 "2019-05-29T06:10:14Z")
Almost looks like some kind of wire stripper. I searched on both images and came up with nothing. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-old-gadget/834688/16 "2019-05-29T07:49:26Z")
It’s a scraper specifically for de-icing frozen corpses… ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-old-gadget/834688/17 "2019-05-29T07:54:40Z")
I think it’s a handle for a personal flyswatter. The holes held silk threads.WAG ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-old-gadget/834688/18 "2019-05-29T09:52:49Z")
What kinds of tools are used in an autopsy? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-old-gadget/834688/19 "2019-05-29T10:18:00Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I think it’s a handle for a personal flyswatter. The holes held silk threads.WAG I’d think it could be a handle for something, but it’s not symmetrical. Not all handles are symmetrical but I’m catching on to anything using that particular shape. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2019, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-old-gadget/834688/20 "2019-05-29T11:05:45Z")
Here is an advertisement in The Palmyra Spectator, Palmyra, Missouri from 1928 urging the voters in Marion County to elect “Schwartz for Coroner”. > **[Schwartz-Newspaper=Roy P (1928 notice to Marion Co voters) - Newspapers.com](https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8747383/schwartz-newspaperroy-p-1928-notice/)** > > Clipping found in The Palmyra Spectator in Palmyra, Missouri on Aug 1, 1928. Schwartz-Newspaper=Roy P (1928 notice to Marion Co voters) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-this-old-gadget/834688.md?page=2)