Can you help identify this device?

Stoopy · 02-28-2010, 04:40 PM

Greetings all! New user here, and to be honest I am a lurker who has now joined because this forum has a wide range of very sharp folks with incredibly diverse backgrounds, who I think enjoy a challenge from time to time - so without further ado, I feel compelled to throw myself at your mercy and beg for your help.....do you have a guess as to what is this doohickey pictured below?

It was found some time ago in our kitchen but no one knows where it came from. I only have these clues to work with:

It's solid metal, not hollow, heavy for it's size, and not magnetic, leading me to believe it's made of stainless steel instead of chromed steel or something.
The angled bend is a 45-degree angle and has a plastic arrowhead-type clip mounted on it with a black philips-head screw.
Its very new-looking (no chips, dings or corrosion) and obviously is a companion thingamajig to some other chingasso.
We have a very sweet senior citizen (Mother-In-Law) living in the house who does two things religiously every day: bakes something in the kitchen, and orders some new gadget from the shopping channel or mail order. But she's getting on in years and doesn't remember this thing at all (not really surprising), although it was found in our kitchen in plain sight a couple of weeks ago.
Wifey claims that she asked me a couple weeks ago what this is and if I ever found out, but in actuality tonight is the first time I've ever seen it, so maybe her thinking that she asked me about it before is in itself some type of clue...who knows....

It almost feels like a fancy shoehorn for Robbie the Robot, but we have a strict no-robots policy in the house ever since the Roomba incident with our Pug dog a year ago, so I'm stumped. Any idears from you puzzle-solvers?

**Gary in WA** · 02-28-2010, 04:57 PM

Some type of leverage lid opener? Maybe pill bottles?

Be safe, Gary

joed · 02-28-2010, 06:29 PM

My best guess. It's a handle for something. That plastic thing fits into a matching hole and twists to lock it on.

Scuba_Dave · 02-28-2010, 06:38 PM

Ice skate/shoe lace tightener ?

SPS-1 · 02-28-2010, 07:01 PM

I would guess it is some kind of wrench.
Reminds me of a wrench for manually turning a garbage dispsal , but i don't think thats quite it.

nap · 02-28-2010, 07:08 PM

I like joeds guess as well as any other.

so now, assign the wife or MIL to wander around the house looking for a hole that plastic thing fits in.

if you can get them to do that, it should keep them quiet for a long time to come.

vsheetz · 02-28-2010, 07:18 PM

It's a manual visible sockfensil - been a long time since i have seen one - they are all automatic and invisible now.

joed · 02-28-2010, 07:19 PM

Might even be some type of coat hook. Do you have a coat rack with adjustable hooks?

Stoopy · 02-28-2010, 08:47 PM

Thanks for the responses!

The "beak" is not sharp or thin enough to serve as a lid opener or pop-can opener - I did actually try it out for that but there's no way.

We do not have any adjustable coat racks although I can see it being a possible use for it. Clearly the arrowhead-shaped clip is designed to snap into a receiver of some type, but it's still a mystery what that might be.

We've been looking and haven't found a matching component for it. The most curious thing is that no one we have shown it really knows what it is, although there are all kinds of guesses (I suppose that just makes it a multi-purpose sockfensil?).

Blondesense · 03-01-2010, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joed

Might even be some type of coat hook. Do you have a coat rack with adjustable hooks?

I picture it the same way. As a bathroom hook for robes, towels etc.

Itsdanf · 03-01-2010, 04:54 PM

Looks to me like a handle to some kind of kitchen appliance, like a toaster oven or something. Obviously a fancy one, from back when they made those out of things other than plastic...

jeweler · 03-01-2010, 05:24 PM

This takes a little imagination, but your unknown device looks like a chrome consumer version of my device. Mine is used to remove the large brass colored staples that are in shipping boxes. You slide the pointed end under the center of the staple and then pull up. Or, you can twist and pull. These are the staples that might be in the box your last flat screen TV was shipped in.

Big Bob · 03-02-2010, 06:16 PM

Itsdanf I believe is on the right track.

I would guess locking device or key for High end big mixer maybe
even from commercial equipment...

Did you find this in your kitchen junk drawer? Anybody in the family ever work in the food or drink preparation industry?

Maybe somebody brought it home from work...(by accident) when they should not have... plant had a slow down until a replacement key was located... and of course it could not be returned to work after all that.

So there it sat in the drawer... too good a thing to throw away.

PS it almost looks like a part from an old electric can opener I had way back when.

rusty baker · 03-02-2010, 06:39 PM

Jeweler, your staple puller was also marketed to carpet layers to pull pad staples. Only problems is, the piece that pulls the staple breaks off very easily.

Stoopy · 03-02-2010, 09:51 PM

Heya folks, thanks so much for the input!

Sorry to say, I found the answer and it's "none of the above" although I hope y'all had fun guessing.....some good tries there, and better than what I came up with myself.

I opened a drawer today in another room and found an electronic picture frame that had been in the kitchen until recently... I hadn't noticed that it was no longer there. It turns out that the "device" in question is simply the brace that attaches to the back of it so the thing can stand up!

Apparently it's solid metal so that it's sufficiently weighted to keep the frame from tipping forward. The black plastic arrowhead serves to lock it into position by twisting the piece to lock it in place.

Go figure! D'OH!!!!