Need help identifying antique bronze hardware (chock? Cleat?)

[jnwaite]

Hello!

I came across half a dozen of what appear to be some sort of bronze cleat or chock. They're made in two parts (you can clearly see where they were brazed together) and have a concave base. They almost look like they were something that someone made in their garage with a hand-carved mold.

They're about 4 1/2 inches long, 2 1/2 inches tall, and look to be made for 1/2" or smaller line. I've (tried to) insert a photos below, but more can be seen at this location:

http://s1172.photobucket.com/user/jnwaite/library/

I've never seen anything like them. Does anyone here have any idea what they might be from?

Thanks!

 

[VicS]

Hello!

I came across ............................................. I've (tried to) insert a photos below, but more can be seen at this location:

............................Does anyone here have any idea what they might be from?

Thanks!

No probs with posting pictures. Just copy the IMG code ( it auto copies if you click on it) and then paste into your post.





Or copy and paste the IMG Thumb code if you want clickable thumbnails




Dont know what they are for though

 

[Sandyman]

Could they be off a piano or something ? Never seen anything like that in the marine world.

 

[sarabande]

judging from the radius of the lower part, they may come off a boom or other spar.. It looks as if they are designed to be able to insert and remove a small line - perhaps a burgee or signal flag, or possibly a line to hold a reefed sail down to the boom, as there is some abrasion by the small slot.

 

[jnwaite]

Thanks, everyone, for the replies. Someone on a different forum suggested that these might be button-locks off an old Star sailboat, or similar boat, used at the top of the wooden mast for a wire halyard. The way it was explained seemed to make sense, but I haven't been able to find any other examples that look even close to these. They came from long-term storage in the basement of a NOAA facility in Alaska, which makes them even more mysterious (to me, at least).

 

[dombuckley]

Given its location, I'd have thought it more likely to be a fitting for a attaching a stay to an old telescopic meterological mast, rather than anything yachty.

 

[duncan99210]

I was in the National Maritime Museum Falmouth recently and saw something remarkably like the device in question. IIRC it was in a Firefly they have as part of their Olympic dinghy display. There were two fitted, one on each side of the centre line and the wires disappeared into the front of the boat, so I oculdnt figure out what they did. The way they worked is that you set the tension and lifted the wire so the small swages fitted to them lodged in the upper cut out, holding whatever at the right tension. Looks as if the bronze thingy could be designed to do the same thing but with less wear.

 

[jnwaite]

Thanks for the photo. That lends a lot of support for the button-lock theory posited on a different forum. The rounded bases suggest that they might be mounted on a mast or spar for the same or similar purpose.