Another mystery tool

[rob1713]

I bought a job lot of tools in a local auction earlier this week. In amongst the rusting spanners and sockets I found this strange looking hammer/ multi tool thingy.
It definitely has some age to it as it looks to be hand forged and upon cleaning I could see that it is stamped with a crown and the word 'IMPROVED'
My initial thoughts were that it has a military heritage but I can find no sign of a WD arrow.
I would be grateful for any suggestions.
Regards
Rob

 

[AndyT]

I believe that's a bed wrench.
There must have been some near-standardisation on the bolts which held the frame and legs together to make it practical to offer these for sale.
You can see that the square sockets on the ends could fit old style square headed bolts. The tapered slot could fit a small range of sizes.

I'll see if I can find a catalogue picture or two.

 

[rob1713]

Thanks Andy, after your reply I had a Google search, there are a multitude of different styles, but some of them have common features with mine.
I also see that early Fire Brigades carried them, as salvaging someone's bed from a burning property was a high priority as the bed would have been one of the most expensive items in the house.

 

[toolsntat]

As Andy says, this is MOST DEFINITELY in the Timmins 1845 reprint.
Very nice find =D>
Cheers
Andy
EDITED

 

[sunnybob]

Nope, youre all wrong.
Its a catering sized corn beef tin opener.

The slot is for the tab, and the hammer is for getting the tin open after the tab breaks off and cuts your fingers.

 

[AndyT]

As this was a domestic item rather than a trade tool, my usual sources don't cover it, but thinking on the same lines as Andy, I looked in the 1845 pattern book from Timmins (as republished by Philip Walker). It is in there - or something very close - the catalogue is such a glorious muddle that things can be hard to find. It's not in the three pages of bed keys, but in with some other odd combination tools at the opposite end of the book.
Here it is, captioned as a "hammer bed key" (though admittedly not "improved") and I've shown the whole page, in case anyone happens across a "Key for screwing on Cow Knobs" and can't immediately identify it!

I also looked in the reprint of the c1820 Wynn's pattern book that the Reeses prepared and couldn't find the hammer pattern there - but I couldn't resist sharing these two pages showing some of the other options that were available back then -

- you clearly didn't want your friends looking down their noses at your inferior choice of bed wrench!

 

[toolsntat]

Thanks Andy, bought the book for a fiver at the Stanley sale
Looking for one of everything pictured in it please.
Was turning over the pages and uttering the phrase "that's beautiful" alot :roll: =P~
I only have one item on each of those pages above, need to do a lot more looking.......
Cheers
Andy

 

[dickm]

The item pictured to the right of the bed key in the first pic had me completely flummoxed. What on earth are "cow knobs" (I'm guessing that's one held in the sort of dieholder bit) and where were they screwed on?
My guess would be on the ends of horns in pre-dehorning/polled breed days, but would be interested in other (polite!!) suggestions. Certainly never seen or heard of anything like that in 70+ years

 

[bugbear]

The item pictured to the right of the bed key in the first pic had me completely flummoxed. What on earth are "cow knobs" (I'm guessing that's one held in the sort of dieholder bit) and where were they screwed on?
My guess would be on the ends of horns in pre-dehorning/polled breed days, but would be interested in other (polite!!) suggestions. Certainly never seen or heard of anything like that in 70+ years

Judging by the company the cow knobs are keeping in this list of products, they appear to be domestic.

But I don't know what they are.

BugBear

 

[bugbear]

Browsing in the BNA, they appear to come from ironmongers, mainly in brass, but sometimes in iron.

BugBear

 

[bugbear]

I've found one reference to them being (indeed) round things for blunting the horns of cows.

I'm starting to think the term has two meanings, one agricultural, the other domestic/furniture related.

BugBear (now looking in Australian Victorian newspapers)

 

[bugbear]

Again, strange company for a cow-blunting item (1822)

BugBear

 

[bugbear]

More and more mysterious; in a catalogue of of veterinary instruments manufactured by Arnold and Sons
they list Cow Knob Wrench, Wood Handle - 0/2/0 and Cow Horn Tips (Brass) 0/0/8

The catalogue appears to be alphabetic; it's "obvious" what Cow Horn Tips are,
so it's curious that "Cow Knob Wrench" uses slightly different words; one might have expected "Cow Horn Tip Wrench"

The catalogue does not illustrate these items. :-(

https://archive.org/stream/b28131794#pa ... h/cow+knob

BugBear

 

[bugbear]

1883; cows did indeed have brass knobs put on their horns

BugBear

 

[NazNomad]

 

[AndyT]

I'm now back from a day out (very pleasant, thanks) and can add a little more. The book in question has a brief intro in which Philip Walker provides a little help on some of the more obscure items. In this case, his note says:

"A lead or brass Cow Knob is illustrated inside the combination Key used for screwing the knob onto a horn."

So I think that means DickM is on the right lines and these knobs must have neatened off the end after horns or their tips had been removed. Like BB, I've had a quick look for any references in books on animal husbandry but have not found anything other than that veterinary catalogue, though I have had to be quite careful in using these search terms!

 

[AndyT]

Ah that's a good find, Naz - but how dastardly clever of the Americans, to put flats on the knobs so they don't need a special tool to grip them!

 

[rob1713]

Just got in and seen the replies to my post, Thanks for posting the scan of the catalogue Andy, that is definitely my tool.
Oddly enough I knew exactly what cow knobs are as they are relatively common finds if you go metal detecting on farmland. I have a few in my scrap bucket somewhere I'll try and dig them out tomorrow. According to my dad ( who identified the first one I found) they were screwed on to the horns as soon as they were of sufficient size for the thread to bite, the horns would grow through the the hole in the top of them so they had to be trimmed on an infrequent basis, in fact most of the ones I've found have saw marks on the top where the trimming process has taken place.

 

[rob1713]

Hopefully this link works

http://www.ukdfd.co.uk/ukdfddata/showre ... or&cat=314

 

[AndyT]

Well that's a happy coincidence!
Thanks for the link. Identifying that lot makes spotting a few old tools really easy.