# For those who like identifying old scientific instruments **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 29, 2021, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-like-identifying-old-scientific-instruments/956849 "2021-12-29T11:37:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-like-identifying-old-scientific-instruments/956849/1 "2021-12-29T11:37:52Z")
The RHS needs your help. > **[Appeal to identify scientific curiosities of the past](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-59562636?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA)** > > The long-forgotten objects were among hundreds uncovered in a clear-out of historic laboratories. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-like-identifying-old-scientific-instruments/956849/2 "2021-12-29T13:29:15Z")
The first one looks to me like a [thyme machine](https://www.reddit.com/r/DoctorWhumour/comments/6l2u2x/thyme_lord_planter/)… 😉 But seriously, knowing that this is the Royal Horticultural Society, [I would think that was an early or old experimental type of grinder](https://www.jeffreysevans.com/auction/enterprise-no-3-two-wheel-cast-iron-coffee-mill-grinder/) that is missing a few pieces. Or a device that measured, cut, stripped or did other things to fruit and other vegetables. More pictures are needed, and from different points of view. Maybe an early version of this? 🙂: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/bpVXpCNFOSg/hqdefault.jpg "Buckaroo Banzai Watermelon Scene") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpVXpCNFOSg) . . . . . . Warning: do not search for “old spice stripper” in google if you are at work… ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-like-identifying-old-scientific-instruments/956849/3 "2021-12-29T20:14:34Z")
I don’t know what it is – I’d have to have a close look at it, I think – but the second picture doesn’t show a “clamp”. There is a two-position switch at the bottom that, I am pretty certain, engages or disengages a magnet (you can see it below where it says “clamp”) that holds the apparatus down onto a steel table-top, like an optical table. That is, moving the switch causes the thing to “clamp down” toightly and almost immovably on an appropriate table. There are three legs with levelling screws on them so tat you can be sure the thing is level. Exactly what it does, I don’t know. It looks as if it might be a mount for some kind of equipment. The two knurled knobs look suspiciously like the points where you attach electrical wires. The black cylindrical body might be a battery or a motor or something. This ought not to be hard to identify. It’s got a legible label on it – Cambridge Scientific Instrument Co. Ltd. , and it appears to be item # 10463. A quick look onthe internet confirms that there are lots of copies of their catalog out there for sale and in libraries. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-like-identifying-old-scientific-instruments/956849/4 "2021-12-30T00:44:59Z")
Mirror galvanometer? Cf. [http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/themes/mhs-2017-responsive/imu-media.php?irn=39789](http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/themes/mhs-2017-responsive/imu-media.php?irn=39789) > **[Please visit Collections Online](https://mhs.web.ox.ac.uk/article/content-has-moved?thumbnails=on&irn=15870&TitInventoryNo=74683)** ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-like-identifying-old-scientific-instruments/956849/5 "2021-12-30T05:54:31Z")
Sure looks like it to me. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-like-identifying-old-scientific-instruments/956849/6 "2021-12-30T17:04:38Z")
Hmmmm. yes. I’m thinking the RHS aren’t trying very hard. ---
**Author:** ![Kedikat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@Kedikat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kedikat)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2021, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-like-identifying-old-scientific-instruments/956849/7 "2021-12-31T03:54:03Z")
The first one looks like you add things to the two cylinders by taking the tops off the two tubes to the far right and left. I suppose you would set the crank beforehand so that the toothed racks would be even in height. Turning the crank left or right would seem to force the contents up into the bowl. The large tubes likely have pistons in them. Turning the crank may also spin the round table? It would be nice to see the underside. It seems there is a valve between the two cylinders. A mixing/pressure control? Maybe it demonstrated some aspect of how different things flowed/mixed? Displayed upon the rotating table?