Farm Item-Bird Bath?

[sapphire]

Just throwing this out there as I search around.......

http://heathsoldwarescollectables.blogspot.com/2011/09/john-farnham-portrait.html

"known as a dolly -
the hand operated agitator from a very early washing machine"

[sapphire]

Anything in this pic look familiar?? (Sorry the pic is so small)

http://www.antiqbuyer.com/All_Archives/PM-SS-ARCHIVE/sswashwer-archive.htm

Primitive Washing Machine Patent Model / Salesman Sample

There is no patent tag with this one, but there is little doubt in my mind what it is or was intended as.  And as with many patent models from this era and their inventors, this fellow had a lot of time, energy, and imagination but came up a bit short in the common sense design division.  The action is great---turn the main wheel on the outside and once you get it going what you have is one of the noisiest up and down and back and forth rocking contraptions ever imagined.  All at once you would have a large corrugated laundry pounder scrubbing and pounding  the cloth clean on the end of the large articulated arm, while just behind that, going up and down at the same time, was the suds-making agitator / plunger.  And to top it off, the tub is rocked back and forth and up and down by another mechanical arm which operated from underneath at the same time.  This fellow's friends and advisors for this project must have been real dreamers or worse, as it is such a wildly stupid idea that it never had a hope of getting into production, much less into the wife's laundry room.  Give me a Maytag she said!

[help]

Matt, Sorry, I didn't see your other 2 questions. No, there is nothing written on the funnel or any other part of it. I'm located in upstate, NY.

[help]

Hello all,

A continued thank you to all that have added input to this mystery. I'm really hoping we can get to the bottom of it.

thank you

[KevinB]

I keep thinking its some sort of measuring device for some sort of crude production line like on a farm. If you stood it up on that wood pole what position would the funnel be in? Would it stand up ready to receive a material out of a hopper? Then the operator could dump the properly measured amount into whatever they were packing the material in? Could you take pictures of the top and inside the funnel. Also try figuring out how much material the funnel holds. If it is a measuring device figuring out how much of something it holds might help. See how many cups of dry material it holds like flour and how much water it holds.

[help]

Kevin,

Good ideas. I'll do that and get back to you asap.

thank you

[fancypants]

As long as i might be allowed to muddy the waters further , my speculation about this little item is that it was once part of a manually-operated assembly , designed as a spreader/stopper (used with the large end of the 'cone' pointing downwards) in a bin hopper (with a sim size hole in its' bottom) feeder , used for raising a buncha fish in sizeable 'ponds' (trout/catfish/carp/etc. 'farms') .


I've seen the modern versions of such items (-fish-feeders , that is ... yeah , they're electric now) , in the countrys' oldest fish hatchery , S.W. Missouri .

Another guess would be for feeding chickens in a 'free run' chicken hse (same basic use , manual bin stopper/spreader) .

[KC]

Does it have a spring action?  For instance, if it was used to be filled and once a weight/amount was achieved...it would tip/empty and then upright itself again to start over again?