What is this mysterious rubber object?
February 17, 2014 7:12 PM Subscribe
I found this (2, 3) in a box of office supplies manufactured in Brooklyn in the mid-late 1940s. It appears to be a component of something, but I have no idea what - does anyone recognize it?
Agreed, some more information or accompanying objects would be helpful.
The only thing I've ever seen that was shaped like that was a rubber/plastic spacer thingy on the bottom of a clamp-on desk lamp. But I'm not sure if the size and exact shape are even right; I can't find any photos online of the thing I'm thinking about so I could be totally wrong.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:41 PM on February 17, 2014
The only thing I've ever seen that was shaped like that was a rubber/plastic spacer thingy on the bottom of a clamp-on desk lamp. But I'm not sure if the size and exact shape are even right; I can't find any photos online of the thing I'm thinking about so I could be totally wrong.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:41 PM on February 17, 2014
I dunno, but I had the inspiration that it may be for dressing or cleaning a typewriter roller.
posted by Sintram at 10:00 PM on February 17, 2014
posted by Sintram at 10:00 PM on February 17, 2014
It looks like one of those things you could put on a telephone receiver to make it easier to hold it to your ear with your shoulder while you look something up.
posted by Too-Ticky at 12:43 AM on February 18, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by Too-Ticky at 12:43 AM on February 18, 2014 [4 favorites]
The telephone shoulder rests from the 1940s that have been pictured online seem to look a little different.
To me it looks like a device for holding something steady or for bundling things like cables together. There are gadgets such a fishing pole holders from the era which look a little similar.
posted by rongorongo at 4:08 AM on February 18, 2014 [1 favorite]
To me it looks like a device for holding something steady or for bundling things like cables together. There are gadgets such a fishing pole holders from the era which look a little similar.
posted by rongorongo at 4:08 AM on February 18, 2014 [1 favorite]
Is it firm enough that it could be an old, square-type fuse puller?
posted by InkaLomax at 5:12 AM on February 18, 2014
posted by InkaLomax at 5:12 AM on February 18, 2014
Looks like a thing you jam onto the edge of a door (the vertical edge, the side with the door handle) to stop it slamming noisily and/or closing completely.
Alternatively, something you put under a sash window to keep it propped open.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 6:36 AM on February 18, 2014
Alternatively, something you put under a sash window to keep it propped open.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 6:36 AM on February 18, 2014
Can you give us some rough dimensions? What is it made of – rubber, metal, Bakelite, wood? What other things were in the box, specifically?
posted by Scientist at 7:09 AM on February 18, 2014
posted by Scientist at 7:09 AM on February 18, 2014
Response by poster: Additional items in the box: binder clips, several styles of paper clips, a ruler, gummed folder labels, and some pencils embossed with men's names.
posted by ryanshepard at 10:51 AM on February 18, 2014
posted by ryanshepard at 10:51 AM on February 18, 2014
Door stop or window stop. Oh, well, yeah what EOI said.
Might also be a rubber holder for shipping; some bit of furniture was shipped with that as part of holding it in the shipping box and someone kept it to be a door stop or window stop. There are a couple of high end shippers around here who ship in cardboard but still have metal, wooden, and rubber bits that secure it all in the cardboard.
I woulda kept it for a doorstop/window stop.
posted by tilde at 12:52 PM on February 18, 2014
Might also be a rubber holder for shipping; some bit of furniture was shipped with that as part of holding it in the shipping box and someone kept it to be a door stop or window stop. There are a couple of high end shippers around here who ship in cardboard but still have metal, wooden, and rubber bits that secure it all in the cardboard.
I woulda kept it for a doorstop/window stop.
posted by tilde at 12:52 PM on February 18, 2014
I may need to elaborate a bit:
I think it's a phone receiver shoulder thing because the shape of the hole looks like it is a good fit for the triangular shape of the middle part of most bakelite phone receivers. Would be pretty easy to try out in this house, but maybe not so much in others.
posted by Too-Ticky at 1:21 PM on February 18, 2014
I think it's a phone receiver shoulder thing because the shape of the hole looks like it is a good fit for the triangular shape of the middle part of most bakelite phone receivers. Would be pretty easy to try out in this house, but maybe not so much in others.
posted by Too-Ticky at 1:21 PM on February 18, 2014
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Rob Rockets at 8:19 PM on February 17, 2014