✅ SOLVED Head scratcher

[Joe-Dirt]

Found this today after my rose garden clean up. It’s brass, capped at the large end and has a hole in the narrow end and very light. No writing that I can see so far, but it does have a decorative set of lines just before the flange. I’m gonna let it soak over night and see if that reveals anything.
Thanks!!!
J. Dirt

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Minelab PRO-FIND 35 Waterproof Pinpointer Metal Detector for Experts with Tone ID & Adjustable Sensitivity - Grab it through Amazon!

[Tony in SC]

Looks like a very, very early drip oiler. Inside would have cotton/felt to release the oil one drop at a time?? Get it open to check the inside.

 

[Joe-Dirt]

Thanks Tony, what type of machinery were they used on? The house was built in 1851 but moved to its current location in 1940, so the land it sits on is a former farm field. Thank you

 

[Tony in SC]

I'm thinking mid 1800 or so. Any machinery that could be powered by water or steam. A friend is restoring an old farm size gin that has the early drip oilers. The ends were not threaded, they were just stuck in the hole. I have a 1908 IHC engine that has the newer type with a flip up lid.

 

[Reanm8er]

Great find Joe! Perhaps it would come apart if you boiled it in water for a while?

 

[Joe-Dirt]

I was talking to the property owner today and he told me the house (the original part) was a chain factory and made chains for Eli Whitney’s cotton gins and then moved across town and converted into a dwelling. That could explain it.
Thanks guys

 

[Joe-Dirt]

I’m going with the primitive machine Oiler !!! If anyone would like it for a restoration project, just drop me a pm and I will send it out to you free of charge

 

[Reanm8er]

Great background Joe and I agree! A lot of folks remember Whitney for the cotton gin but early in his career he advocated interchangeable parts for firearms. That's why the Harpers Ferry flintlock, the Harpers Ferry percussion lock and the Trapdoor Springfield all used the same basic lock mechanism with different hammers.

Best wishes!