Posted 3 years ago
AnythingOb…
(1778 items)
Here's today's fun flea market find -- I actually went there to drop off a truckful of old organ pipes (my friend that helps run the place will have fun 'dispersing' them... ;-)) but once I noticed this thing hanging from the ceiling (over the cash register, go figure...) I had to ask about it, then I had to bring it home with me...?? <LOLOL>
I've never seen anything quite like it. It *appears* to be a handheld electric megaphone type of speaker. It is about 28" long and almost 13" across the open end, uniformly painted black which is now mostly 'crinkle finished' if it wasn't originally. Most of its horn seems to be made of aluminum, but there's definitely some iron on the driver end of it, plus what looks like (it was) a matching transformer with some old wiring that connected to the driver. The handle is turned wood mounted to a cast iron adjustable bracket with a wingnut. There is no apparent 'microphone', so something else would have had to connect to it in order for it to make sound, if in fact it is a megaphone or speaker.
There might be a chance it is simply a hand held siren of some variety, instead. I do not know, yet. It does not have any markings anywhere on it that I can now find, if they were there they've been removed or covered over with the black paint, if that wasn't original. There could also be a chance it was originally a military item I suppose, but I do not see any evidence of that either.
I'll mark this as 'unsolved mystery' because, for the moment at least, it is one to me. PLEASE SPEAK UP if you've ever seen anything like it -- I've looked thru hundreds of online pics of similar things, without any results yet whatsoever...???
BIG THANKS to vintagelamp, vcal, vetraio50, Newfld, Vynil33rpm, dav2no1, fortapache, Watchsearcher, skyguy, blunderbuss2, Cisum, Alfie21, & officialfuel for tapping your <love it> buttons!!
I'd STILL love to hear any/all of y'all's ideas about this thing -- I remain reasonably certain what it *is*, but am also at a complete loss for where/how it would have been *used*...sporting events, factory/industrial, heavy construction (roads, railways), military/civil defense, nautical, ??? PLEASE share your guesses if you have any?!! :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)
great old piece. Thanks for posting.