To tell you the truth, it doesn’t really look like a tool of any kind … just seems this piece is too cheaply made … like it was stamped out rather than milled … I don’t know, tools have a particular look to them that speak to quality … this part looks like it’s some piece of some kind of machinery … like a catch on a hay-baler …
Maybe it’s just the sharp relief at the edges … tools tend to have these round down some … so it fits the hand better …
It has clearly been hand forged/welded from a number of pieces. One thing that counts against a tool is the feature on the hard left. It is a round element with a slot in it that is added 90 degrees to the rest of the device. It looks very much like something a rod with a nut or similar at the top would be hung in to add a counterweight.
The unit on the right is a bit of a mystery. But it could be that the centre component is intended to hold a pointer, and the two outer elements are intended as range stops. But it has been made a bit too well, and looks drop forged. It has been forge welded on to the rest of the device.
However the general arrangement of holes and hook do match what would be needed by a beam balance, especially one that might be designed to be hung from a temporary fixture.
This makes a lot of sense.
For removing lids, it has two different hooks… The top side hook is for very flat lids with a small lip.
flip it over to use the other hook which is for lids with a large lip.
And that is why there are two handles at the right hand side.
The flat solid knob in between the handles… hammer there to drive the hook part in under the lip firmly.
the left hand end is for bung removal… where a cork or rubber stopper has been driven in… this can be used to grip it and remove it.
The problem with hand made tools is that it might have been the makers (or instructors ) invention… not something that was sold with a brand name and mass produced design.
It can be hard to match the tool to the items it worked on, as it may have only worked for the drums and bungs the designer had at the time of designing…
I see that there were generic bung removal tools, which didn’t try to double as lid removes, but did suit many bung sizes and types… and these days cap wrenches to fit multiple types of cap.
My first thought was that it’s part of a barbed wire repair tool. I can’t find an exact match - there seem to be lots of variations. But some somewhat similar items are here.
I suspect you were thinking of a fence strainer. I can see why it reminds you of one. But I don’t think it is a match.
It looks like a piece out of my front door’s 1930s lock mechanism, but much, much larger.
Hmm, the end of the middle prong on the right hand side - it isn’t broken off by any chance? The end looks uneven, and for what looks like a cast or drop forged component, a broken edge would be very telling.
That prong does look broken or perhaps worn from use in prying. But more importantly it looks cast or drop forged because of the fringing around those prongs which don’t look very worn at all, there is the irregularly placed number stamping, and the irregular bends that offset the prong end of the piece. That makes me suspect once again we have some sort of practice piece or custom made tool.
Since the original owner worked in a factory I could see it as some factory-specific tool made in their own shop to fit their own tooling. Devices like that, particularly in the early 20th century had a look that was more complete than DIY welded angle iron but not neatly rounded and styled as are commercially sold tools. The sorts of style that watchwolf49 says in post #41 this thing is lacking.
Once it’s a specialized tool, it could do darn near anything. Perhaps it did two or three different things with the various ends and middles but were all attached together because it’s easier for the worker to carry one tool than 3.
e.g. One end adjusts flame holders on one type of kiln and the other end unlatches access doors.
Gus’s idea of a balance beam makes some sense, especially after I saw the hole in the main body roughly above the large lower hook.
Most older machinery parts move. And moving parts have wear areas. Even if rusted during disuse, I’d expect to see signs of wear someplace. I don’t. So if it was a machine part, it didn’t do much moving. Which also supports the idea of a scale or lever.
This is an excellent mystery. I doubt we’re going to get a definitive answer.
It almost certainly wasn’t amateur-made, because an amateur wouldn’t stamp a number into it. An amateur would either leave it unlabeled because they already knew what it did and that’s all that matters, or would label it with a name or a decoration.
Its a Langstrom 17" gangly wrench. Used for Findlay sprinkler heads. Cite: Kinsley Manual - Vol. 14.
You can’t work on a Findlay sprinkler head with a Langstrom 17″ wrench. :dubious:
Good thing you said “Kinsley”. I’d hate to see what the Kinsey manual said to use that thing for. Ouch! 
Thanks for the help so far! I took some more pics http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx77/Hoppy_09/Mobile%20Uploads/20161129_121629.jpg showing some some details.
And thanks Tripolar, I love that shadow. The most reliable bike I’ve ever owned.
I agree with shop made specialized tool probably made out of something found in the scrap dumpster. To me it looks like they took a machine part and forged one end into something else.
If you have to do an oddball PITA job often enough, you are going to want to make something that makes your life easier. I have my share of oddball tools and fixtures in my box but in my case they are machined or welded. (And you never get rid of them because some day you may need them.) My grandfather worked his entire career as a maintenance machinist in an AC Delco battery factory most of it dedicated to one machine/line. His toolbox was full of mystery tools and if you asked he would give you the ENTIRE story behind them.
I am starting to think it might be a rod that helps to operate brake shoes in a piece of heavy equipment.
Not checked to see if anyone has suggested this, but I’m going to say it was originally part of a railway track switching assembly.
You should try posting it to https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/.
is that socketed end a rounded socket or a pointy socket or just a square socket at the bottom of it? I dunno, I’m more convinced now that it is a piece of linkage for advancing a conveyor or valve or wheel or something using a ratcheting motion. the thing that comes most strongly to mind is the driver arms from an old steam locomotive but not quite really that
Bumping this back - having looked at the new pictures there is a significant new element to the design.
There are two locations where something was bolted to the device. The two thickened parts - one near the fork and the other to the right of the hook up to where the bar has a notch in the top are not what I though they were. They seem to be deliberately widened and each has two holes drilled through - top to bottom, with clear marks from washers on one side. There was something bolted onto the bar at these two locations. What is odd is that the two pads are not co-linear. So it is doubtful that the bar was bolted to one item, but rather two individual items.
I’m still sticking to the idea that it is part of a beam balance - so much of the device matches - but there is some serious puzzlement as to the precise design.
