Last week, we inaugurated a new challenge for you here on PopSci.com that lets you show off your deep tool knowledge and walk away with not only our abiding respect, but a less obscure tool of your own.
Here's how it works: We post a picture of a strange object from my shop, maybe a clue or two, and you guess what it is in the comments section below. The first and most precise among you to guess correctly will win the prize. This week, it’s a 30-foot Stanley FatMax tape measure. Pretty sweet.
This week, the obscure object is something I was given by a company that had gone out of business. What kind of work did that company do, and for what was this machine used?
Good luck!
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Wire Extruder, taking larger steel cable and thinning it down?
It's a stitcher for stapling paper booklets together.
old school sewing machine
It's a high-capicity wire-feet stapler. You use it when you want to staple 1/2" thick books. There's a more modern version in the printshop next door to my office.
Barbed wire making machine
Is it a Latham Monitor Wire Stitcher?
Sewing machine to making clothing
its a lantham Monitor wire stitcher
And to add to my earlier comment, as requested in the article, Latham was a manufacturer of machinery for printers, book binders, and box makers. The Wire Stitcher was used to seal up packages for shipping.
I used one of these for years, but even 30 years ago you had to make any parts you broke!. it took skill to set the staples just right. It will staple 2 sheets or 2 inches all day long. I still have all my fingers, because there was no safety devices...
It's a highly entertaining torture device used on fingers hands and forearms.
Ohh Ohh that's a pallet jack, its used for moving heavy things around it works well when the things are on pallets. You can think of it as a cost effective alternative to a forklift it can move stuff around the x and y axis and is limited to only a few inches in the z axis. It is human powered so it doesn't need to be fueled or have batteries recharged. In some scenarios it can fit into areas that forklifts have a hard time moving around in. Pallets jacks are also safer than forklifts causing less deaths and injuries. They can be slower and there are some jobs they cant do, like stacking one pallet on another or placing and removing things from shelves. Getting if for free is quite the find as they normally cost several hundred dollars.
A wire solderer?
Its a wire stiching (staple) machine used by book binders in the early 1900's.
It was made by the Latham Machinery Company who made machinery for the book binding field.
Damn, I'm to late!
@animemaster
you win the internet
this is a saddel stapler from a binding company usualy used to make small phamplets or books. awsome machine but alot of our current copiers today can do the same thing. and not staple fingers in the process
It looks like it might be a future planishing hammer?
from New York, New York
Thanks for everyone's guesses-- The Adama is our winner, with the first, and most precise, correct answer. Well done! I'll email you today for your real name and snail mail, and we'll get your prize to you right quick.
We've got more of these coming your way, so keep on playing!
Taylor
PopSci.com
Medieval torture device???
LOL
It's a Pallet Weight... keeps your wooden pallets from blowing away :)
It's a fancy stapler for saddle stitch binding. This company is a printer or bindery. I wonder if my coworkers would mind me putting one in my cubicle?
For the next one, you ought to tell everyone the date and time you're going to open this up - then everyone can race to the comments :-)
Nice job Adama! And for anyone who wants to see more on this, check out this article in Google Books:
www.books.google.com/books?id=g_ooAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA357&lpg=PA357&dq=latham+monitor+wire+stitcher&source=bl&ots=AE...
@Igot1forya - hilarious, true. And my pallets are keeping the building from blowing away.