Does anyone know what this is and what it was for?

[beenthere]

The parts such as the pulley wheels could be worth some money, so hope you can salvage without breaking it apart. Cutting the brush (heavy stuff) before dragging out would be a good idea.
I couldn't leave it there...but that'd be me.
And now we are all curious so ya gotta just go get it with a long chain or something.

It's all your fault too

 

[RoyJackson]

Might be a machine for curving the hoops of lobster pots.
That's just a WAG though.

 

[zing]

If you mean the top curved part of the lobster trap, then no it wasn't for that, I have curved them myself for my uncle and my grandfather. Those are just made by steaming the bows for a while, we used an old hot water heater tank in a metal cradle over a fire, and then curved by hand into a wooden jig. You put the flat wooden bottom piece on right away, so the steam is mostly just to keep them from breaking.

Anyway, I got it out. It was frigging heavy and I scared myself a bit when I took the weight on the loader at how far the front tires were sinking in. I put it down some so I was only lifting half of the weight and then backed out until I hit firm enough ground to pick it up again.

Now that it is out and I have had a good look at it I still am not sure what it was for. I am thinking that MikeD74T might have been right about milling the planks into lobster trap laths. It was stationary, because there are still the remnants of wooden planks bolted to the feet. I think been there is right that the wheels were used for belts to drive it and do whatever it was supposed to do. I have a couple more pictures but they aren't too much better then the first ones because I had other stuff going on today so it was getting dark by the time I got around to pulling it out. I will try to post them later tonight or tomorrow.

 

[beenthere]

Look forward to seeing the pics.

 

[mick m]

just how big are the lobsters you blokes get over there

 

[nspec]

I can tell you as a former fisherman, it has nothing to do with fishing or with making the lobster pots.

 

[zing]

Here are the pics I got last night. They are a bit of a mish-mash of pictures because when I first dragged it out it was still weedy, when it was hanging it was not aligned level, and once I put it down again it was getting dark. In other words none of the pictures are great, but anyway I tried.

First dragged out...

Hanging out...

Close ups...

On the ground again...

 

[atgreene]

It looks to be an edger to rip boards as they come off a mill into the appropriate widths, trimming the sticking edge off as they are fed through. The blades would slide on the shaft allowing you to have boards of a consistant width. They typically would run off a line shaft over head or from underneath, often powered by water or a stationary engine. Trying to find a pic, but can only find a modern version.

Here's a modern one: YouTube - Cook's Board Edger

Does the castings have any name? Chase? Lane? or other identifying marks?

Next question, is it something you are going to sell? We collect stuff like this to exhibit at Fryeburg Fair. If it's runnable, we get it working and demonstrate it. It's not worth a lot other than for scrap, just hate to see it get junked.

 

[bcp]

Looks like a smaller version of this, to trim the edges of boards after they are sawed from the log.

Timber Frame Tools Sawmilling

 

[nspec]

Okay, here's what I've got. It's obviously run off a belt, given the pulley. It looks like saw blades of some sorts in the middle. The larger auger looking thing doesn't really have enough pitch to the flighting to be a auger in the sense that it would feed material to the side. It looks like it perhaps guides material straight back towards the blades. Maybe even crimps the material some? Hard to see, but the first post where it is still in the brush, you can see on the side opposite the "auger", there is definitely some sort of crimper roller or another sort of feed roller.

The one thing that has me totally stumped, is the steel 'davit' that hangs over the whole thing with the hook on it. I really have no idea how that comes into play.

Sooo, my guess would be some sort of a grain or hay conditioner? Maybe after the crop was scythed and bundled, the bundles could be fed through here and be crimped and cut? That's a longshot, but it's all I got. Never seen one like that.