Posted 8 years ago
rogerp1970
(1 item)
Hi - at my Dad's place, he has this old cast iron tool that no-one is quite sure what it was for. About 10" in diameter, and all of the "spokes" are grooves that lead to central collecting area with a runoff for pouring. Date uncertain but early 20th (if not 19th) century likely. Current theory is it was used to melt lead shot, but then why the spoke design? Location, if relevant, is farm in Northern Ireland. Any help appreciated!
Laying lead shot in the grooves would be tedious and they would all roll down to the center anyway. On the other hand, I have no idea what it is. :-)
Agree with Ron.
I'm guessing a stove top boiler/grill that worked with a cast iron pan or ring...
TC - I thought of a grill idea but why the drainage to the center? It has to be to collect something. Most of the fat would drip through the vanes. And why the concave shape? A grill would be flat. It has to be to collect something that would only lie in the grooves and be "rendered" out. And not much of it either. A few tablespoons is all that would collect in the center depression.
I'm with you Ron. It is to collect a small amount of liquid while the rest burns off.
That's what we couldn't work out - what would it be that you would want to catch some of it, but you would be OK with letting what you didn't catch fall through? Maybe if you were roasting something over a fire, it would let you catch the drippings without completely shielding the meat from the fire?
many of these old design concepts are dropped simply because it turns out they don't work. This is similar but opposite the Griswold domed broiler which worked by sitting in a pan. This would require a deeper pan or ring to sit upon; similar to some of the Mongolian stove top grills.
Perhaps a whey cheese collector for scouping the whey of cheese making.
These items seem to be quite rare, this is only the 4th I have ever seen. Presumably they were placed over a skillet type pot to steam food while the juice was gradually collected for later use. I have 2 in different sizes but I do not know how many sizes were available. Each of mine has a number under the handle, a 7 and an 8. This seems to be the diameter of the pot in inches which it was designed for because each item is 3/4 of an inch wider than the number on it. Does yours have a number under the handle?
Yes it does - a 9 , and it is 9 3/4 inches wide so fits your description .