What is this and what is it used for

[JÞB]

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@Ben wrote:

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@JÞB wrote:

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@altenbach wrote:

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@crossrulz wrote:

That looks a lot like a soldering iron tip, but I'm pretty sure that is not what it is.

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I think that's what it is, but I think it is from a butane powered soldering iron.

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I'm fairly sure I remember the instructions including the statement, "The bigger the Glob, the better the Job!)

I've use one to "Sweat" copper pipes.  a very useful tool if you want dry areas under running water.

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Please file under the heading "Don't be as stupid as Ben."

Sea Story time!

Do NOT be a stupid as Ben!

Ben

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File this under "Oh CRAP!" and another story (Do not be as stupid as Jeff!)

Before the "LMB" became "MB" (She has always been "Lovely") I spent some time working on her house.  The front of the house expected brick AND, had a "Brick Moulding" offset to the foundation.  The actual building had "Scope creep" and no bricks were installed.  After 4 decades or so the stucoo flashing above the cinder block foundation developed "Gaps."

NO problem! smash out the flashing, put down vapor barriers and cement them in right?

There were hornets in the cinder-blick foundation.... "Raid" was used but, the next day I got the call from the then  future LMB that " The basement is full of sick hornets" 

Over a decade later, we still laugh at that mistake!

Spoiler

For those of you that do not know, the LMB is the "Lovely Mrs Bohrer"

[altenbach]

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@Ben wrote:

I have been too easy on Y'all so here is a real challenge.

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First I thought some high voltage switch/breaker arc containment, but the baffled disks could mean it was some kind of a flow mixer?

[Ben]

The high voltage idea is indeed valid.

The "why" behind the baffled disks is something we will have to agree on since the person or persons involved in this gizmo may no longer be around to answer the "WHY baffled" question.

So no not a flow mixer.

Ben

[jcarmody]

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Ben wrote:

Do NOT be a stupid as Ben!

Ben

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I wish I could be as "stupid" as Ben! 😄

[Henrik_Volkers]

Ben, is it something like a electrostatic lense ?

Next guess: something in an again electrostatic accelerator? 

[Ben]

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@Henrik_Volkers wrote:

Ben, is it something like a electrostatic lense ?

Next guess: something in an again electrostatic accelerator? 

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You are good at this game Henrik!

Boy that is so close that I have to wonder if the difference between what I would call it and that term may be a difference in our native languages.

Hmmm...

Ben

[Henrik_Volkers]

Last year I visited the ion beam accelerator lab of my colleages 🙂   Modern RF field accelerators have a different look and I needed the high voltage hint. My primary interest there was the RF power tube section 😄

So that thing is build to accelerate charged particels? ... so the electric field is about static during the time of fligth....  The shape of the sheets looks like there is some beam forming involved.

Very very nice part.

[Ben]

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@Henrik_Volkers wrote:

Last year I visited the ion beam accelerator lab of my colleages 🙂   Modern RF field accelerators have a different look and I needed the high voltage hint. My primary interest there was the RF power tube section 😄

So that thing is build to accelerate charged particels? ... so the electric field is about static during the time of fligth....  The shape of the sheets looks like there is some beam forming involved.

Very very nice part.

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I have to declare you a winner Henrik!

I am very impressed.

That section of the particle accelerator that was used by the high energy physics department at the Univ. of Pittsburgh was installed horizontally under the football field and was powered by a 300' Van DeGraf generator. At the time they were studying the effects on material properties and the idea of atomic power was not known.

The hint I included in the original post about Allen Hall undersores how that section of the particle accelerator fits in with history.

Westinghouse built their own not far away and you can read about it here. The Westignhouse installation was decomishoned in 1958. At the time it was built it was the most powerful in the world. CERN is about a million times more powerful.

While that artifact may give others pause, I like the connection with history and besides it is the root of one of my wife's favorite stories she tells people.

Sea Story:

The wife climbed into the cab of my pick-up after work and looked in the bed and asked "What is that!?" I replied, 'A case of beer and a particle accelearator."

Ben

[Henrik_Volkers]

Keep them well, Ben!

I just learned that the westinghouse accelerator has been demolished this year too 😞

Too bad.  

[JÞB]

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@Ben wrote:

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@Henrik_Volkers wrote:

Ben, is it something like a electrostatic lense ?

Next guess: something in an again electrostatic accelerator? 

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You are good at this game Henrik!

Boy that is so close that I have to wonder if the difference between what I would call it and that term may be a difference in our native languages.

Hmmm...

Ben

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Note: I did not play that round.  

Spoiler

I used to provide test solutions for things like those before I was introduced to LabVIEW.

Ben, you are going to need to dig deeper