What is this thing?
June 14, 2015 10:20 PM   Subscribe

What is this mystery object? A friend found it at her parents' house. Nobody knows what it is.

I swear I've seen something like this before, maybe in the context of furniture or woodworking but I just can't place it.
posted by zsazsa to Grab Bag (8 answers total)
 
locking mechanism for an aluminum framed window or door.
posted by ptm at 11:34 PM on June 14, 2015 [4 favorites]


Looks a bit like those locks you see on the merchant glass display cases on the sliding panes.
posted by kschang at 2:10 AM on June 15, 2015 [1 favorite]


It doesn't seem like it would be a very effective locking mechanism to me. Sliding door glass locks look - in my experience - like this. It does look as it if were designed to be attached to a panel of metal, wood or glass: take off the knurled screw - insert the bolt through a whole in the material and then have another small hole meet with the metal - tighten it up. Now maybe the part at the left (and/or the right) can be used to drag the panel in a sliding motion. It looks a little like a drawer runner - but the knurling on the nut makes it look like it was built to be adjusted frequently. Not sure why.
posted by rongorongo at 3:29 AM on June 15, 2015


Try /r/whatisthisthing/
posted by gorcha at 3:38 AM on June 15, 2015


I think it is half of a hinge for a glass door.
This bit would be on the back, with a slightly different piece on the front and it would hold the door in place with friction, adjustable with the knob there. There would probably be a felt pad or some such on the other side of that screw.
Something n that realm anyway.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 3:51 AM on June 15, 2015


My three-hole paper puncher has a part like this. It can be adjusted for paper size with a similar knob.
posted by Carol Anne at 5:46 AM on June 15, 2015 [2 favorites]


Bottom of a stapler?
posted by Hermione Granger at 6:02 AM on June 15, 2015 [1 favorite]


Yes, it looks like the page-size selector bit of a large multipage hole puncher.
posted by poffin boffin at 9:02 AM on June 15, 2015


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