Strange brass object

[Lindas]

Hello everyone,

Another unidentified object at dad's workshop. Trying to determine whether scrap or of use.

I wonder if anyone has any idea what this lever might be? The measures are of pressure, maybe steam pressure? It is made of brass and heavy and shiny. It has a hole in the rounder middle part as if it fitted to something once.

 

[AndyT]

I've just looked at (I think) enough pictures of old pressure cookers to say that it's not off one of them.
Did you say on an earlier post that your dad was in the fire service? My guess is that it's off a safety valve on a sprinkler system or a fire engine pump. Possibly saved as a useful bit of brass in case one was needed.

 

[Lindas]

Grandfather was in fire service, so it is a possibility. Looking like scrap is trending!!

 

[Andy Kev.]

Could it be the dinger that strikes a bell to make it ring? That might fit with the Fire Service as before sirens they used to have bells (if the old films are to be believed).

 

[flying haggis]

i tend to agree with andy and i wonder if the "knobbly" bits at the top are removed as needed to make it balance

 

[whatknot]

I would say given his fire service employment it would be worth having a word with a fire service museum, it may make a welcome addition

 

[Steliz]

How do you know the numbers on the tags on the curved part are related to pressure? I would say the centre section with the hole is where this piece connects to something else and could also provide a pivot point.
The numbers look like they are the calibrated part of a guage and the indicator would have been on the missing part.
I can't make out the other text, can you tell me what it is?

 

[Dovetaildave]

"Could it be the dinger that strikes a bell to make it ring? That might fit with the Fire Service as before sirens they used to have bells (if the old films are to be believed)."

A friend passed recently, we buried her today, two fire engines, officers and flags in attendance at the service.

She used to tell me about the bells and the codes they used in London during WW2, so they knew where the fire was, and turn out the engines appropriately.... yes the films are to be believed.

Regards,
Dave

 

[Lindas]

Man6 thanks for helpful replies. More images coming ASAP

Linda

 

[Lindas]

More photos

 

[Lindas]

Sorry about the delay. It was in Wakefield and I was in Salford. Now united. I don't think it is brass, on further inspection it seems to be cast bronze. LBS PRES on the stem then increasing numbers.

 

[Argus]

LBS PRES = Pounds Pressure.

Increasing numerical values..........
..................Probably part of a long-dismantled pressure relief valve.

 

[Lindas]

Any thoughts on the kind of engine, or machine the pressure release valve could have been on. And is making things from cast bronze common?

 

[Argus]

No idea what it came from; probably water or steam. I was a refrigeration engineer for a while and it's not from a compressor unit.
Looking at the arrangement of pressure settings, it was probably from a positional pressure/flow regulator valve of some description. Find the rest of the valve and we'd have a clue.

Obviously pre-war..... but which war?
Second? First? Boer? Crimea?

 

[Lindas]

Better just keep it as a party game I think!!

 

[Trevanion]

Being that it's cast bronze or brass would that suggest that it was for highly flammable gas? I know a lot of fitments and tools used in highly flammable environments have to be non-sparking bronze otherwise an explosion could happen, that's why you can buy bronze adjustable spanners.

 

[Lindas]

Oh, that is interesting. Perhaps it may have been something to do with gas for welding as grandad was a metal worker welder. I guess we will never know. I go to an industrial archaeology group. So perhaps it will get them thinking if I take it along. Thank you