Estate Sale Wood Box with Round Things

[AlabamaClay]

I bought this at an estate sale. There are no markings on it. There is some residue on the top where a label once was. Inside are ten items about the size of a quarter as you can see in the photos. The items consist of two metal leads that go through a white ceramic disk. A thin wire loop goes between the two metal leads on the other side. I believe it could be a fuse or maybe a light filament. Does anyone know what this is exactly and what it goes to. Thanks.

 

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[Tony in SC]

With the filament on one side, they look like some kinda of ignitor?

 

[Icewing]

I'm thinking possibly old camera flash's but can you post a pic of the other side please.

 

[DCMatt]

can you post a pic of the other side please.

I believe the pics show both sides. Very similar to each other...

Can you tell if the filaments are various sizes? Maybe for some kind of testing device?

DCMatt

 

[kcm]

I'm thinking possibly old camera flash's but can you post a pic of the other side please.

Both sides are showing. One side has a lip - other side doesn't. ...Both sides still baffling!

It almost appears to be some sort of electrical connector, as though it's for connecting multiple lengths of wire. But that would still leave the question of why the fancy-schmancy wood storage box?!?!?

....It almost looks as though they might fit into something that is battery-powered....like maybe a Mag-Lite body? ...Like maybe it's for removing the bulb in order to use the batteries as a power source for something??

 

[cudamark]

I'm thinking a test kit of some sort. Maybe each one has a slightly different resistance? An ohmmeter should decide that.

 

[Anduril]

I have a couple "first thoughts", but I'm not sure I like any of them.

1) Some sort of calibration kit for ??. Maybe a scientific thermometer?
2) Some sort of calibration kit for a radio-frequency measurment instrument (i.e., microwave circuit tuning?, cavity loop?, ?)
3) The "igniter" mentioned by IceWing is interesting, but I don't think that's it. Again (?).

Are the wire loops on each device the exact same, as far as you can tell, or is each one different (or even the same length with different geometries?)
The fact that these are in a nice wooden box leads me to believe they are re-useable - whatever they are.

 

[Bruce R]

Certainly something " high end " if the walnut case is any indicator.

 

[CanSlawKing]

My guess would also be some sort of calibration kit. To this day, high end calibration kits still often come in nice wood boxes like that. I would follow cudamark's advice and test each one with a meter.

 

[Broken knee]

It's some type of fuse? HH BK

 

[AlabamaClay]

I measured the resistance. They were all the same. I did notice some dark marks on two of them. Here's a pic with a clean one for comparison. Btw, I'm not sure if you could tell from the picture but the box is made from a solid piece of wood.

 

[cw0909]

filament for some type of fluorescent light ?

http://s.hswstatic.com/gif/question337.jpg

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Curiouser and curiouser. The patterns looks like the element flashed and left the shadow of the posts. Also appears something clamped it down.

10 of them, in a nice box. I wonder if this was some kind of classroom demo, like demonstrating a catalytic reaction with a bit of platinum wire or some such? Or how it would burn brighter or duller in different gasses or vacuum?

Just a W.A.G. but maybe something older & simpler than this . . .

 

[H-D 1]

Definitely had to be sealed in some way or it would just burn up being a single wire like that