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Antiques! => Antique Questions Forum => Topic started by: Beast87 on October 18, 2012, 02:15:59 PM
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This was recovered from a old general store here in NE Mississippi. It looks like an old heater or an incubator. It has wooden handles. Anybody know what it may be?
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it looks like a smoker..for curing meat, fish,.etc,...the hole on the right would be where the flue comes out and the sliding flap on the left.for adding wood...
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id agree with bigwull, looks like a smoker
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I would clean it up and smoke something.
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Okay.....why all the holes then? They don't appear that they can be shut off either. Also, the framing out in front of it....doesn't make sense.
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Why the "holes"....well KC....how would the smoke get out,...this device would be in a larger "shed" or container.which would have racks with either meat hanging,or fish......".i,m making this up as i go along,cos i don,t know for sure that it is a smoker,but it looks like it would be used for burning..and the smoke would come out of the holes."...."simples"
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that knob that,s below the opening at the front..is that attached to the floor of the inside...if so what does it do
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If it didn’t have that “slider” base contraption then I would also guess it to be a “smoker” but not for building the fire in …… but for holding whatever was being “smoked”.
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I would clean it up and smoke something.
In that order? ;D
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You are correct about the sliders.. Why would you need a peep glass in a smoker? The door is spring loaded and has two ceramic insulators
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Now you're sounding all electrical!!!
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If it had trays/racks I would guess beef jerky !! Should have a damper somewhere !! Spring loaded door would be great since it would be tighter that one with a latch !!
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I figured that was what the white "buttons" in the 1st pictures might be.
Now that you confirmed it, ...... me thinks it just might be an "egg incubator".
Baby chicks is an item that a general store of that era could sell quite a lot of.
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Lets just say it is an incubator....where is the heat source located... these 2 ceramic knobs,might be terminals for the juice...but then there would have to be an element...and a thermostat...and most likely a temp gauge....?
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What exactly does the slider do ?? Just go to the door or does it go inside ?? Its a dryer of some sort,, But those insulators make it a bit confusing !! Perhaps a blower was attached !! Trying to think of what they would use a similar contraption for back then !!
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Egg incubators do not require a thermostat or temperature gauge because they mimic mother bird and thus “one temperature fits all”.
If it is an egg incubator then a small heating element is probably located in the enclosed base of the unit.
Both the 1st & 2nd picture in the 1st post clearly shows that the unit is mounted on the 2 round “slider” bars. And that appears to be a similar knob at the center of the base as is on the door, which is obviously used for “pulling” the unit on said “slider” bars.
In the early days of electrical wiring it was a roll of single strand insulated wire and white porcelain insulators, no wrapped multi-wire cables. When home were wired for that new fangled “electric” thingy it was done via what they called 'nob and tube' wiring. In really old homes, barns, etc., one can still find remenants of them being originally wired via that method. I found them when I renovated my 1862 farm house.
See picture of said “tube” below. From source: http://www.etsy.com/listing/66121111/old-porcelain-insulator-tubes (http://www.etsy.com/listing/66121111/old-porcelain-insulator-tubes)
(http://img2.etsystatic.com/000/0/5764819/il_fullxfull.209040802.jpg)