Mystery item?????
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OFT II
US Veteran
It reminds me of a boot strap hook used to pull your boots on.
Mickey D
Member
I'll be back...with a smart *** remark soon.
This is hard to believe!!!!!! I can't hardly fathom that the most knowledgeable group of "mostly normal" to "semi-mostly normal" people on the internet in one place is stumped!!!!!
A wealth of information typically abounds here and a hillbilly like me pulled this off...for this long anyways......
Okay, here's a hint: it was used by the U.S. Navy during the early cold war years.....
another one: the top part of the "Tee" is made of aluminum and the bottom part is a very strong magnet.
A wealth of information typically abounds here and a hillbilly like me pulled this off...for this long anyways......
Okay, here's a hint: it was used by the U.S. Navy during the early cold war years.....
another one: the top part of the "Tee" is made of aluminum and the bottom part is a very strong magnet.
Mickey D
Member
Portable hanger?
Okay, since 100 people have looked at this and nobody has guessed it...it's an ingenious little ASW device commonly called a "submarine hammer"
Once located with MAD, they would drop these things by the hundreds out of the ASW aircraft.
The way it worked was that they would sink and stick to the hull. That little flat spring looking thing in the curve caused it to turn and stick sitting upright. Notice the slight angle of the top aluminum piece...any water moving at all caused it to lift up and bang on the hull. For the guys stuck in the sub this was like being locked inside a big metal drain pipe and someone knocking on it with a hammer. Soviet subs didn't have divers on board so the only thing they could do was surface and pick the device off. Of course one of our ASW aircraft was conveniently passing overhead to take pictures as soon as the sub breached the surface.
The man that invented this thing was Bill Edwards. He was a mechanical engineer who was an employee of the Dept. of the Navy. He invented hundreds of neat things like this and was the Navy's "problem solver" for many years. He had many patents but they were all owned by the U.S. Navy.
I don't know how true this part is, but it is said that he invented the sub hammer in response to a Russian sub that would sit off the east coast of the U.S. in the early 60's. It would surface at night and run up a big antenna array and then ping up and down the band to interfere with encrypted teletype messages going out to our ships. One ping in the wrong place and the entire rest of the message was rendered unreadable.
The sub was nicknamed "the Russian woodpecker." The sub was sent in response to when Cuba was jamming signals down south and the U.S. put up a big array and jammed them back only much more powerful. Because the woodpecker was in international waters, there really wasn't much we could do about it...until we began pecking back with this little hammer. He wasn't long picking up and going home.
One of Mr. Edwards better known inventions was the blinking strobe light to ID aircraft...still in use today on just about every aircraft in the air.
Once located with MAD, they would drop these things by the hundreds out of the ASW aircraft.
The way it worked was that they would sink and stick to the hull. That little flat spring looking thing in the curve caused it to turn and stick sitting upright. Notice the slight angle of the top aluminum piece...any water moving at all caused it to lift up and bang on the hull. For the guys stuck in the sub this was like being locked inside a big metal drain pipe and someone knocking on it with a hammer. Soviet subs didn't have divers on board so the only thing they could do was surface and pick the device off. Of course one of our ASW aircraft was conveniently passing overhead to take pictures as soon as the sub breached the surface.
The man that invented this thing was Bill Edwards. He was a mechanical engineer who was an employee of the Dept. of the Navy. He invented hundreds of neat things like this and was the Navy's "problem solver" for many years. He had many patents but they were all owned by the U.S. Navy.
I don't know how true this part is, but it is said that he invented the sub hammer in response to a Russian sub that would sit off the east coast of the U.S. in the early 60's. It would surface at night and run up a big antenna array and then ping up and down the band to interfere with encrypted teletype messages going out to our ships. One ping in the wrong place and the entire rest of the message was rendered unreadable.
The sub was nicknamed "the Russian woodpecker." The sub was sent in response to when Cuba was jamming signals down south and the U.S. put up a big array and jammed them back only much more powerful. Because the woodpecker was in international waters, there really wasn't much we could do about it...until we began pecking back with this little hammer. He wasn't long picking up and going home.
One of Mr. Edwards better known inventions was the blinking strobe light to ID aircraft...still in use today on just about every aircraft in the air.
alde
Member
A hammer to test if weapons are live?
Had me stumped, being old Army guy, and it being Navy gear,
I thought it was some device to secure squibs money when they
let them ashore so as not to destabilize the local economies.
I thought it was some device to secure squibs money when they
let them ashore so as not to destabilize the local economies.
A hammer to test if weapons are live?
In 1962 I can assure you no soviet sub needed testing...they were all "live"!!!!!
Very interesting! I learned something new today!
Thanks for posting!
You are quite welcome...the neatest thing about this little device was that even if the sub sat dead still on the bottom the tide or any slight movement of the water in almost any direction caused it to raise up and bang anyway.
Edit: I actually painted this one for display. In use they were bare metal. These things were looted off of Pax River NAS by the thousands after the Navy quit using them...the magnet is so strong you can pick up a box of nails spilled all over the ground in one pass. Always handy to have a good strong magnet. I know of one of these on a string that retrieved a Browning A-5 dropped overboard out of a duck blind.
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Mickey D
Member
The oceans must be littered with thousands of these. That might mess with a few navigational compasses. 
Why...that's just what I was going to say!
You are quite welcome...I will try to come up with another one soon.
I know right!!! Word for word even!!!
eyegots2no
Member
I believe that Edwards guy was known as "E" at the OSS.
Kind of like "Q" at MI6.
Kind of like "Q" at MI6.
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Bahamaroot
Member
I was going to say it was a dudamaflature.....or something like that.
