What is this thing?

[Chris Pierce]

So I was over at my brothers house having a bbq (several months ago) and I saw this thing in the yard. He's got a sprinkler wired onto it. But it looks old and when I asked him about it he said he found it in the barn when he bought his house. His property had an old hog barn, a really old barn and an old farm house on it when it bought it. Anyway his guess was that it had to do with the rigging that folks used to use to bring hay into the barn. I have no idea what it might be. But it looks like it was forged out of round bar, the ends look to be forged welded together. But I'm no black smith.

Anyway, here's some pictures.

 

[UffDa]

Anyway his guess was that it had to do with the rigging that folks used to use to bring hay into the barn.

That would be my guess. A rope or chain could be connected to one loop and a sling of some sort connected to the others. It makes a good base for the sprinkler.

 

[Chris Pierce]

Yeah, it works great for a sprinkler base. So, your thinking that a line might be attached to one 'eye?' and run up to a pulley in the barn? And then two more lines might be tied onto the other eyes with hooks on the other end to grab hay bales?
I've seen some stuff around here in the last year that makes me think that farmers can do just about anything that want to do with just about anything you give them. Maybe you (and my brother) are right.


On a side note, my brothers barn is pretty weird. The only thing that we can guess is that it is made from recycled materials. So it's actually older than the building itself. I'll try and get some pictures of the barn next time I'm out there.

 

[Gollnick]

That's an old-fashioned sprinkler weight.

 

[Chris Pierce]

That's an old-fashioned sprinkler weight.

I knew it! Thanks! Now I won my bet!

 

[Mongo]

Marital aid.

 

[1 and 1/2 Knives]

Around the time that would have been made, few, and I mean very few people anywhere baled their hay. So when hay was brought into lofts on pulleys, the grabbed big, lightwieght piles of it. I don't think anything that large and heavy would be repiured in that operation.

I would agree however, that it is a link. I would say it was a link for chain or heavy rope, on either some piece of machinery, and/or something pulled by a team of horses.

A very precise answer, I know.

 

[Chris Pierce]

That's a good point. But then again, I don't really know how old it is. It's at least 20 years old, but could be over 100.

 

[Trent Rock]

It's a gothic era toilet seat