please help me identify this mystery artifact

[ddeanjohnson]

I bought some old handmade handgun display boxes, and inside one of them I found this artifact. I suppose it might once have been used to dispense some gun lubricant, but there is nothing in it now. The top screws off. I don't quite understand the function of the pin-like extension on the top stem -- note that it is solid, not hollow. The patent dates on the bottom are April 23, 95, and April 6, 97.

The artifact is 3 and 3/8 inches high, including the stem. It is one inch wide across the body.

Can anybody out there tell me what this is, who made it, and how it worked?

Douglas Johnson

 

[alaskavett]

Douglas,
that is an oil bottle and the "pin" is used to dispense small amounts of oil on parts so that they are not over oiled leading to gummed up internals. Nice find. Kyle

 

[mnrivrat]

In fact an oil bottle and it's primary purpose was for sewing machines, however many were pressed into service on grandpa's gun cause they they worked good for that. (and grandma kept them full !)

 

[handejector]

One of those was also part of the kit that was to be included with each 9mm Light Rifle. I had some, but don't remember if they still had the patent dates.
I think they were still being produced into the 50's, maybe even the 60's.
Plastic probably signed their death warrant.

 

[DWalt]

Watch and clock repairmen use similar oil applicators. Over-lubrication is not good for many mechanisms. In its day, the bottle may well have contained sperm oil, which you can't get these days.

 

[walter o]

the piece you are holding has a screw on top also and the pin is attached to the top of it

 

[walter o]

Some times we collect the STRANGEST JUNK and information.They come in all sizes and shapes

 

[ddeanjohnson]

Thank you, gentlemen!

 

[suckersrus]

Called a Pin Oiler? Used to apply something less than a drop.

 

[rjb1]

A small oiler-can similar to that pictured is also shown in a WWII Army Technical Manual as part of the maintenance kit for cameras and related photo gear.
The instruction for oiling the camera parts is given as applying: "1 sparing drop", which I suppose is the Army term for the small amount of oil that would adhere to a pin of the type shown.

 

[hoc9sw]

I knew I had one of those, but thought it had vanished in a move. I was just digging for a wrench in an old tool box that hadn't been touched in 28 years. There it was!. Same dates as the OP. It came from the drawer of a treadle sewing machine my grandmother had from 1912.