What Is It? - #7

S

SifuPhil

R.I.P. With Us In Spirit Only
Location
Pennsylvania, USA
Back by popular demand (Okay - one person wanted it :rolleyes: ) - What Is It?

*Alfred Hitchcock Show theme plays*


Number Seven's entry was a commonly-seen article back in the late 18th-early 19th centuries. Made of brass, you rarely if ever see it in the United States today, although it is still found in use in many European and Asian countries ...

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... WHAT IS IT?
 

Ozarkgal said:
Is it larger than a recipe box, but small than a bread box? Darn I thought I had it nailed.
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No.

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It is as large as it needs to be to do what it does.
 
You know, computers have actually been around for centuries. We just made 'em digital and micro and . . . more damned frustrating...

With that in mind: Is it some kinda ancient computer??? (uhm . . .)
 
That Guy said:
You know, computers have actually been around for centuries. We just made 'em digital and micro and . . . more damned frustrating...

With that in mind: Is it some kinda ancient computer??? (uhm . . .)
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No, not a computer, but it is Hint: operated by spring tension - you wind it up.

ETA: I've heard Macs are like that ...
Whistle.gif


SeaBreeze said:
Voting box?
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No, not a voting box.

HINT: Although, in a strange way, it might be related to the U.S. government - the IRS, in particular ...
 
oh my goodness; that looks sooo familiar, but I just can't remember where I've seen it, or what it is......:confused:


ETA: Is it a tuner of some kind??
 
TICA said:
A bullet maker or something that fills the bullet with the gun powder?
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Nope.

That Guy said:
A lock for a prison cage door???
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Sorry.

TICA said:
Oh I like That Guy's guess!!!
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It WAS inventive, wasn't it?

SeaBreeze said:
A torture device...like a finger or tongue smasher/remover?
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You're actually the closest so far ...

It is ...

... a ...

SCARIFIER.

(AKA "Scarificator")

A medical device such as this was used in the 19th century to "bleed" a patient in order to release "ill humours". Bleeding began in ancient times and was in fact a fairly common treatment for a whole range of ailments from headache to high blood pressure.

The model shown has a spring-loaded mechanism with gears that snaps the blades out through slits in the front cover and back in, in a circular motion. The case is cast brass, and the mechanism and blades steel. One knife-bar gear has slipped teeth, turning the blades in a different direction than those on the other bars. The depth of the cuts could also be adjusted.

Today, with the exception of a few rare diseases such as Hemochromatosis which require periodic blood-letting, the practice of drawing blood has become confined to phlebotomy and its negligible blood-draws.

Thanks for playing, everyone! :D
 
R. Zimm said:
"The depth of the cuts could also be adjusted"

That's when the "Doctor" loaned it to the "Inquisitor" I suppose.
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Well, as people have said in reference to ME, some people are more thick-skinned than others. ;)

Actually, traditional Chinese medicine still employs limited blood-letting techniques - I remember being horrified when we got to that section of the course. :eek:
 
:eek: OUCH!! I thought that this was sounding like some kind of torture device.... Still wondering why it looked so familiar to me, tho. Obviously, it must resemble something else I've seen somewhere. :p
 


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