My First Bromo Seltzer and Two Whats-it Gear Hardware Thingys I'd Like Help IDing

kyle369

Jr. Member
Apr 18, 2014
98
229
Eastern Shore of MD
Detector(s) used
Garrett Ace 250
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I went kayaking on my local river that feeds into the Chesapeake Bay (Still Pond Creek) again and went to the site where I've found some nice old 20th century bottles including a Hires Household Extract, Mount Carbon Brewery Champagne Beer and even a local Cooper Bros Bottle from Chestertown (I will be reading an article about the company soon at the Kent County Historical Society to find out more). Without further ado, here's what I found:

My first Bromo-Seltzer bottle (beautiful cobalt blue, surely won't be my last)
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This weird 6" long metal rod of some sort that ends in a very crude-looking donut-esque ring of metal 2 1/4" in diameter (the protruding things on the ring are not dirt). Crazy thing is, this whole contraption only weighs about 6 ounces. What the heck is this?
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And finally, this strange mess of metal and gears that's still somewhat intact. It's 1 3/4" in diameter, and has an inscription on one side: Pat. July 29 (93? 98? 03? 08?) I think it's most likely either 98 or 08. I'm very interested to find out what this hunk of metal and gears once belonged to, especially seeming that it's an antique from the turn of the century. Please let me know your thoughts on this and the metal rod and ring above.
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Have fun and let me know your opinions on my strange items!
 

Upvote 7
Rod is part of a battery.The rod is mostly carbon accounting for the light weight.
 

Rod is part of a battery.The rod is mostly carbon accounting for the light weight.

What kind of a battery would this thing be for? I've found several rods like it (without rings) and even a couple of rods with fluted sides! It's very interesting for sure.
 

Nice finds, good luck sniffing out more old bottles! The carbon rod is from a dry-cell "telephone" battery, very common in old dumpsites. Pic related:
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Nice finds, love that bottle! Congrats and HH
 

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