It's Mystery tools time again

[rob1713]

Picked up a few bits and pieces at the weekend, amongst them were 3 items that I would like some help with identifying. They may or may not be woodwork related.
Here's the first item and I'll post the other 2 over the next few days.
It seems to be a 2 piece mould made from hard wood with brass fittings, no makers name but it does have a number stamped on it.
I've showed it to few people but have had no success with a sensible identification.

 

[adidat]

thats an interesting piece! could it be for making a sand core to go in a tap or some kind of brass plumbing fitting?

Adidat

 

[MusicMan]

Wow that's a tough one. I have no solution but some observations.

1. It cannot be a mould for any practical metal as it would char. Too old for plastics. Rubber or wax possibly. But I suspect it is not a mould but made to be used as is.

2. It's made with a lot of care and accuracy (and with serial numbers on both halves), especially the curved bits around the brass inset pieces. To my mind this indicates some kind of flow device.

3. It looks as if a tube is missing that would be mounted in the 45 degree section, from the edge to the brass support.

4. My wild guess is a flow mixer or splitter, possibly from the food or drink industry?

 

[MusicMan]

Just seen Adidat's comments. Yes a sand core mould is a possibility, and we agree on the end application being for some kind of flow tap or valve.

 

[toolsntat]

Not sure how it gets to be one but it is most likely a mould for a blow down valve.
http://www.frankfordparts.com/ub-y-valve.html

Cheers
Andy

 

[Eric The Viking]

Why don't you try it, to see what the shape looks like?

Given the detail inside, my guess is that its actually for a lost wax form, but I have never actually cast metal myself (although I have had pieces made). To my mind, the odd bits are the two woodscrews inside, as they make the space for the orifice thinner where they are. It may be that there was a lot of finishing involved before the actual casting.

I wonder if it was for a medical or scientific application: my grandfather was a scientist in the 1910s, and having a resident glassblower was a common thing in university chemistry and physics departments, apparently. He was a physicist, and a trained machinist, making a lot of his own equipment in his own workshop, a practice that continued in the hospital department he set up.

Edit: The brass inserts mean it couldn't be the shell of a tap or valve, as you would just get a "land" or "sprue" n the middle joining two parts weakly. Good puzzle!
'

 

[adidat]

Andy that just what i picture! But couldn't name it.

Could it be for making a wax version to then coat in ceramic powder give a lost wax casting mold?

Adidat

 

[Phil Pascoe]

It would seem from its condition that it was used to make a former (wax?) which was then used to make another heat resistant mould.

 

[thick_mike]

Rope making?

Actually, looking closer, there would be evidence of wear and rubbing around the narrow entrances to the "mould".

Good puzzle!

 

[kevinlightfoot]

It looks to me to be a mould for glass blowing,can you identify the wood these old mounds were usually made of fruitwood.One of the reasons they didn't char was that they were dipped in water before the blowing process took place,I stand to be corrected though but these are my thoughts,Hmm very interesting thanks for posting .

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Adidat's nailed it. It's a core-box.

It would be filled with an oil-bound sand which, after release from the wooden core-box, would be baked to harden it, then the cores placed into the sand mould for the item being cast (looks like a small needle valve or non-return valve) to provide the hollows inside the finished casting. The round parts at the periphery are the bits that would sit in the main sand mould to support the core during pouring of molten metal.

Thus, the pattern set for the valve body would consist of the main pattern to define the outside shape, and the core-box to provide the sand core to define the inside (hollow) of the finished casting. At some point, the core-box has lost it's mating main pattern.

 

[MusicMan]

Nice one!

 

[rob1713]

Well I must say, I'm very impressed, making a core to sit within another mould answers all of the reasons I couldn't make sense of it.
Thanks for all of your input, I'll post the 2nd item under a new thread.
Regards
Rob