# What are these things (with pictures)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 24, 2008, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-with-pictures/454061 "2008-06-24T15:15:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-with-pictures/454061/1 "2008-06-24T15:15:59Z")
Two items I cannot identify. The first one I found somewhere ages ago. It is a roughly 15mm long cylinder of glass, with metal caps at each end, and a taut metal wire running through the center of the cylinder. [Best picture I could get](http://www.flickr.com/photos/14156485@N05/2607915750/). What is this thing? The other one stands in an area where I sometimes go for runs. This area has a driving range, tennis courts, a miniature golf course and so on in addition to the various running tracks, so I’m assuming this is some form of sports paraphernalia. It is a “cage” of chains, with a metal wire basket underneath, all situated on a pole. The top holds a small sign, but if it ever had a symbol of some sort it’s gone now. The top of the sign is slightly below my height, say 165cm. [Front view](http://www.flickr.com/photos/14156485@N05/2607915754/) [Side view](http://www.flickr.com/photos/14156485@N05/2607915760/) [Closeup](http://www.flickr.com/photos/14156485@N05/2607915764/) If I had found it out in the wilderness, I would have assumed it was a holder for food for deer or something similar, but there’s a tremendous shortage of deer in this sporting area. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-with-pictures/454061/2 "2008-06-24T15:18:35Z")
Number 1 appears to be an electrical fuse. Number 2 is a “hole” on a Frisbee golf course. ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-with-pictures/454061/3 "2008-06-24T15:18:43Z")
The first one’s an electrical fuse. ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-with-pictures/454061/4 "2008-06-24T15:18:49Z")
The first item is a cartridge fuse. Edit: damn, you people are fast. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-with-pictures/454061/5 "2008-06-24T15:19:41Z")
Booyea! ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-with-pictures/454061/6 "2008-06-24T15:19:51Z")
First thing is a fuse - looks to be still good, and the second thing is for playing Frisbee “golf” ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-with-pictures/454061/7 "2008-06-24T15:22:08Z")
Young wipper snappers. Back in my day, ALL car fuses looked like that. And if those didn’t work, we used .22L bullets! ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-with-pictures/454061/8 "2008-06-24T15:23:31Z")
I will elaborate on the fuse. It would have been common in electronics, and automobiles. Blade fuses are used in autos now. You still have a good chance of finding them in electronics. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-with-pictures/454061/9 "2008-06-24T15:26:39Z")
Jesus flipping H tapdancing frog on a pecan pie, you people are fast. About the frisbee golf hole… there are a few of these, scattered (seemingly) randomly throughout the area. Would you play one, go to the next one, and so on? If so, I’ll have to look for signs showing the way, 'cause I haven’t seen any and they aren’t within visual range of each other. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-with-pictures/454061/10 "2008-06-24T15:27:42Z")
Oh, and what are the chains for, assuming you aim for the basket? ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-with-pictures/454061/11 "2008-06-24T15:29:31Z")
This probably won’t help, but I identified both of these items correctly without looking at the pictures. What do I win? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-with-pictures/454061/12 "2008-06-24T15:32:06Z")
[QUOTE=Priceguy] Oh, and what are the chains for, assuming you aim for the basket? [/QUOTE] To give you half a chance of getting the Frisbee to actually land in the basket. Without the chains to slow it down and direct it into the basket, it would simply bounce off the pole. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-with-pictures/454061/13 "2008-06-24T15:34:11Z")
[QUOTE=Priceguy] Oh, and what are the chains for, assuming you aim for the basket? [/QUOTE] Just to give you a better chance of having the frisbee stay in the basket. Helps prevent bounce-outs. (Or what GaryT said) Sounds like the course isn’t very well maintained if there aren’t any obvious tees, numbered signs, and indications on what direction to go next. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-with-pictures/454061/14 "2008-06-24T15:35:59Z")
[QUOTE=Priceguy] Oh, and what are the chains for, assuming you aim for the basket? [/QUOTE] The chains are for catching the frisbee and allowing it to slide into the basket (otherwise you would have to make the disc land on a small horizontal surface, which is rather difficult.) ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-with-pictures/454061/15 "2008-06-24T15:36:40Z")
[QUOTE=Folly] Sounds like the course isn’t very well maintained if there aren’t any obvious tees, numbered signs, and indications on what direction to go next. [/QUOTE] You know, I think there are tees… I just haven’t connected the two before. I’ll check on my next run there. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-with-pictures/454061/16 "2008-06-24T15:37:52Z")
[QUOTE=UncleRojelio] This probably won’t help, but I identified both of these items correctly without looking at the pictures. What do I win? [/QUOTE] What do you want? ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-with-pictures/454061/17 "2008-06-24T15:51:29Z")
[QUOTE=Priceguy] What do you want? [/QUOTE] Lifetime Dope subscription. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-with-pictures/454061/18 "2008-06-24T16:17:41Z")
The chains are for catching the fuses that people toss into the fuse golf hole. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Jinks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dec6dc/32.png) [@Captain\_Jinks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Jinks)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-with-pictures/454061/19 "2008-06-24T16:19:40Z")
The fuse model number for these types include the lettes “AG”. Stands for “Automobile Glass”. These are fairly common in electronics test equipment, e.g., in my o-scope, variable voltage power supply, Fluke digital multimeter, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-with-pictures/454061/20 "2008-06-24T17:23:58Z")
It looks to me like the sign on the frisbee hole says (just barely) “2”. As in, it’d be hole 2 of the course. So it’s probably relatively close to some convenient location like a clubhouse or a parking lot, with others further away. In actual practice, most disk golf just uses trees, telephone poles, or similar objects, and the players all watch to see if you hit it, so you don’t need to “catch” it. This has the advantage of not needing a set “course”, and can be played in any old park or college campus. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-with-pictures/454061.md?page=2)