19th Century Trailer/Wagon Hitch?

[AnnieF]

Found these at the site where I found an 1803 draped bust cent. The quarter, obviously, is for scale. There's a square nail and two other pieces of iron. One is obviously a nail/screw, the other is...?

Thanks in advance to the wicked smaht peeps here!

 

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[mical66]

wow ,, interesting bolt,, the way its looped reminds me of a eye for rope , you just droop the rope in the space between the ring pull it under the head of the bolt and back up and its threaded in the ring , then it can be used like a eyelet or can be tied off.
i am not sure what this bolt is but that is what it makes me think of.. neat find.

 

[GpSnoopy]

Another possibility, still using a rope, is as a rope guide. There were many types of old farm equipment that used a rope pull to trip an action. One end of the rope was tied off to the tractor and the other end to the trip lever on the implement. The rope guide was just there to keep the rope from tangling up in the equipment. Just a couple of examples...... Plowing - pulling the rope tripped the wheel driven action that raised or lowered the plow. Binder - you pulled the rope to dump the grain bundles onto the ground.

 

[mical66]

thanks for explaining it that way Gpsnoopy, rope guide sounds so much better then rope eyelet ,,,lol