# What's this Old Timey thing in photograph **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 19, 2019, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-old-timey-thing-in-photograph/828059 "2019-01-19T17:32:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2019, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-old-timey-thing-in-photograph/828059/1 "2019-01-19T17:32:22Z")
[Link](http://www.allstarpuzzles.com/picture/05556_solution.html) That black contraption on the left. Seems to have temperature and/or pressure gauges. And at least one crank. ---
**Author:** ![BobBitchin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@BobBitchin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobBitchin)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2019, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-old-timey-thing-in-photograph/828059/2 "2019-01-19T17:34:55Z")
WAG, Coffee machine. ---
**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:** [January 19, 2019, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-old-timey-thing-in-photograph/828059/3 "2019-01-19T18:39:27Z")
I was thinking industrial coffee grinder but can’t find anything that looks like it on a google image search. I don’t see a spout, but does have a crank. Hmmm… ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2019, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-old-timey-thing-in-photograph/828059/4 "2019-01-19T18:40:03Z")
WAG #2 Coffee bean grinder. Maybe part on the left is a coffee maker but… ---
**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:** [January 19, 2019, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-old-timey-thing-in-photograph/828059/5 "2019-01-19T18:56:46Z")
Coffee bean grinder and roaster. ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2019, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-old-timey-thing-in-photograph/828059/6 "2019-01-19T19:03:17Z")
Beckdawrek I think that’s correct. My God it’s built like a tank though. ---
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2019, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-old-timey-thing-in-photograph/828059/7 "2019-01-19T19:13:40Z")
I think it’s a decorative storage/dispenser unit for some dry good like flour or sugar. The ‘gauge’ in between the two towers is a clock; the thing to the left is a spring scale that’s probably hanging from the adjacent metal bathtub. There are painted letters on the two stacks: “LE” on the left one, and what looks like “AN??Y” on the right. I’d guess that that’s what’s left of “PANTRY” ETA: Got it: PORTABLE PANTRY [http://www.lakeplacidnews.com/page/content.detail/id/524561/IT-S-OUR-HISTORY--The-Portable-Pantry.html?nav=5001](http://www.lakeplacidnews.com/page/content.detail/id/524561/IT-S-OUR-HISTORY--The-Portable-Pantry.html?nav=5001) ---
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2019, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-old-timey-thing-in-photograph/828059/8 "2019-01-19T19:38:35Z")
That’s a pretty clever design, actually. It looks like the two outside stacks would hold meal and flour, which would be dispensed through the bottom using those sifter levers at the sides; maybe a fixed volume per pull. The coffee would go into a nested tube in the right stack, and be dispensed by the drawer right below the grinder handle. Sugar goes in behind the clock and there are two other tubes for mystery dry goods, although it isn’t clear how you get those to dispense. See [here for better pictures of one](https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Hoosier-Cabinet-1800-039-s-Portable-Pantry-Chuck-Wagon-/254011030598?item=254011030598&ViewItem=&nma=true&si=hHKTbxoNc%252FfhhXwWBzGYxGj9Zus%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557) ---
**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:** [January 19, 2019, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-old-timey-thing-in-photograph/828059/9 "2019-01-19T19:54:27Z")
Damn you guys are good ---
**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:** [January 19, 2019, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-old-timey-thing-in-photograph/828059/10 "2019-01-19T20:50:45Z")
> [@brossa](#): > > See [here for better pictures of one](https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Hoosier-Cabinet-1800-039-s-Portable-Pantry-Chuck-Wagon-/254011030598?item=254011030598&ViewItem=&nma=true&si=hHKTbxoNc%252FfhhXwWBzGYxGj9Zus%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557) Good find! In the context of the period and the whole chuck-waggon story, what would I find in the ‘CAKE’ drawer? I’m not sure I’ve ever seen John Wayne or Slim Pickens or Clint Eastwood eating cake. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2019, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-old-timey-thing-in-photograph/828059/11 "2019-01-19T22:12:26Z")
Cake is traditionally anything with a flour dough pressed into a compacted form. For example, a ‘pancake’ is a cake, but not a dessert. ‘cake’ could have been a flatbread, or tortilla, or in this context maybe ingredient(s) for making some kind of cake. ---
**Author:** ![xnylder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbce88/32.png) [@xnylder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xnylder)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2019, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-old-timey-thing-in-photograph/828059/12 "2019-01-21T19:19:30Z")
Given that it’s under the cornmeal drawer, maybe [johnnycakes](https://www.thespruceeats.com/johnnycakes-3054155)? ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2019, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-old-timey-thing-in-photograph/828059/13 "2019-01-21T19:51:37Z")
They could have been drawers for different types of flour: bread flour, cake flour, standard flour. The sifter at the left probably had various textures of sieve. The flour would have come from the mill in a huge sack with a lot of different sized particles in it. You had to sift it yourself. The finest ones would sift to the bottom - cake flour. The medium sized bits were standard, and the largest were used for making bread. Meal would probably be used for ground corn, but it could also be graham flour. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2019, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-old-timey-thing-in-photograph/828059/14 "2019-01-21T22:34:51Z")
The middle column of containers is for spices, extracts and such. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2019, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-old-timey-thing-in-photograph/828059/15 "2019-01-21T23:01:01Z")
Fascinating! Boy, would I love to visit that store! ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2019, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-old-timey-thing-in-photograph/828059/16 "2019-01-21T23:46:39Z")
These types of things would seem to be the direct antecedents to the [‘Hoosier’ cabinet](https://www.google.com/search?num=100&newwindow=1&ei=ZFhGXOfSE-Hh8AO6gKiABQ&q=hoosier+cabinet&oq=hoosier+cab&gs_l=psy-ab.1.0.0j0i67j0j0i67l2j0l5.129591.130754..132740...0.0..0.1055.1971.3-1j0j1j0j1......0....1..gws-wiz.......0i71.PN0AG7lJ4xQ)? CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2019, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-old-timey-thing-in-photograph/828059/17 "2019-01-22T14:31:32Z")
If I had one of those, I would definitely relabel the “bread” side so that the options were CAKE or DEATH. ---
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2019, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-old-timey-thing-in-photograph/828059/18 "2019-01-22T18:30:15Z")
I found a patent for a [Kitchen Cabinet](https://patents.google.com/patent/US591037) (the PORTABLE PANTRY), #591,037, awarded to William J. Gooch of Franklin, Kentucky on October 5,1897. The Ebay example that I posted differs a bit from the patent drawings, but all in all this is a surprisingly complex item, with a lot of hidden partitions. In addition to the internal sifters and coffee grinder, and the big bins for meal and flour, there are smaller storage bins for “Graham flour, hominy, or some other material…rice, oatmeal, or the like.” Sugar goes in behind the clock and dumps into the space behind the ‘sugar’ door in the bottom, where it can be scooped out. In the patent drawing, the spice tins in the center are cylinders threaded on both ends: the knob end unscrews to reveal a small sifter screen, while the whole other end cap unscrews for a wide-mouth opening for filling or scooping. The Ebay version doesn’t have it, but the patent calls for another little drawer that contained a spring-loaded grater for nutmeg or other hard spices. Oh, and the flour bin has a hidden internal rod that slides out to the side to hold a spring scale - so the scale in the OP’s picture was probably hooked to the pantry after all! All this was available to the salesman for $10, or $8 if a prepaid coupon was used; I don’t know what kind of markup they would have charged. The salesmen paid the Portable Pantry company for rights to specific territory, and then ordered the pantries separately from the Cincinnati Stamping Company. ---
**Author:** ![NJ\_Kef\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b487fb/32.png) [@NJ\_Kef\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NJ_Kef_1)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-old-timey-thing-in-photograph/828059/19 "2019-01-23T00:30:03Z")
I thought it was a baby Dalek, but if it makes coffee, I want one!! ---
**Author:** ![steatopygia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steatopygia/32/3132_2.png) [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-old-timey-thing-in-photograph/828059/20 "2019-01-23T05:53:10Z")
I was just writing about the decline of GQ. I was wrong. Amazing job everyone, especially **brossa**.