As background, I live in a 70 year old house. Not super old, but old enough to have things like this stuck up in the flooring/ceiling space in the basement:
What the heck is this?
The handle like bit at the far end is not a pump, but a handle that screws in or out. The sides of the canister are ribbed. The tube at the end has braided metal over it, and at the end of the tube is a metal piece that would appear to lock into something.
This thing looks like it has been stuck up there for many decades.
Feel free to share with any relations who may have a clue.
It looks like a grease gun to me. In order to have enough pressure to force grease into a fitting, you would need to rotate the handle to create sufficient pressure in the hand-packed grease chamber. The top of the cylindrical chamber needs to be removed to confirm this.
Yes, I was thinking grease gun, as well, but it looks like one of the jobs they used to use on steam locomotives. An analysis of the contents would help confirm this.
Have you ever read “Eine größere Anschaffung” (A Major Purchase) by Wolfgang Hildesheimer?
One evening as I was sitting in the pub over (or rather, behind) a glass of beer, a peculiar-looking fellow sat down next to me and in a hushed, confidential voice asked me if I’d be interested in buying a locomotive …
Well, it hurts a little when they’re first screwing it down tight, but then it starts to tingle a bit, and before you know it you’re sliding off the chair and down the hallway.
When we moved in, there was a calendar for Union Pacific in the basement…so if the comment about train grease gun was genuine, it seems like a possible match.
It was and it is. I was simply replying to my many scoffers. But I have seen lots of old film footage of steam locomotives being prepped, and yours looks very similar to the type of grease guns the hostlers would use.
Now it looks like I’m going to have to learn German so I can read a book to find out how to get a locomotive so we can try out the grease gun to see if it’s what we think it is.
Exactly. It’s one of those “Connections” things. You start out studying astrophysics, and 40 years later end up moderating a whistle board. Oops, too much information …
I love Hildesheimer’s stories and his dry humor. Not much translated to English, though. This one from “Lieblosen Legenden” (Loveless Legends) was used in several German learners anthologies a few years ago.
Anyway, now back to the sex toy … I mean the grease gun.
