It’s a MacGuffin, deliberately put there by Chuck Lorre to get people talking about the show on message boards.
It seems to have worked.
I’ve sent an email to the show’s set decorator. If a get a response, I’ll let you know.
My first impression was of a very complex home-made thumb piano.
http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&ndsp=20&hl=en&q=thumb+piano&start=80&sa=N
It isn’t this is it?
From the opening sequence:
Westward Expansion
American Civil War amputation
Coal-powered train (presumably referencing First Transcontinental Railroad)
“The Leader” building
Gold rush
**Unidentified invention (possibly mechanical calculator) **
Man with stock ticker
Moscow Kremlin
Supporters of Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Tractor
Electric lightbulb
Tower Bridge
Garygnu, please let us know, here or in Cafe Society, if you hear anything back from the set designer.
TruCelt, I had just deleted the last episode from my TiVo, so will have to watch that sequence more closely next time. I’m out of the country next week, so that will be a week from Monday most likely.
Wait a second. Isn’t that a bit oxymoronic? Do true geeks actually, y’know, decorate? Because whenever I’ve been over to a hardcore geek’s place, the decor basically amounts to “a poster of Futurama”* and “piles of shit we have accumulated and/or are working on.” Other than that, the only things attached to the walls are database schema, wiring diagrams, and maps and/or command-button guides to video games.
*Or perhaps Lt Cmdr Data, sometimes in cardboard standee form.
Probably true, but the Sheldon character is an OCD neat freak, so the place WILL be clean. Of course this is television, where struggling young New Yorkers live in spacious, low rent apartments, so there you go. If you haven’t seen the show, the cute girl across the hall has an apartment that is a nasty mess.
Results!
Nothing specific yet, but:
Then later, after I sent a thank-you response:
So it’s probably a Bussmann fuse panel, but what it goes to nobody knows yet. It could be something entirely mundane, or it could go in a rocket.
Awesome, thanks for the followup.
Man, is this board great or what?! 
Gary - is there a reason you deleted the portion of the set decorator’s message about a cameo for the sharp-eyed fan who initially asked about this? :dubious:
Not only a response, but you’re going to get a follow up.
How cool is that?
Very cool, huh? (I’m feeling very 
right now.)
In case anybody is wondering, I’m 99.9% sure the salvage yard is Norton Sales in North Hollywood. Here is a write up in the LA Times. I couldn’t think of a better source for Big Bang Theory set pieces.
The set decorator, along with the production designer, has been nominated for two Emmy Awards for Two and a Half Men. Let’s all cross our fingers for another nod for BBT.
garygnu, could you post a copy of your original email?
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Othertimes… it’s rocket science!
“That the beauty of it - it doesn’t DO anything!” 
Sure thing:
Cool website, although it’s a little sad that stuff from the Apollo era is now in a junkyard.
Hey garygnu - are you on a first name basis with [set designer], or did you just pull her name from the credits reel or something?
“Well, acording to that logic, I should answer all the anthropology questions because I’m a mammal.” 
I don’t know the person, no.