Replies

1. 
   brownbagg | Sep 10, 2005 05:39am | #1

   tomato juice squasher, you turn the nut on top and it squeege the juice through the holes. made of brass for easy clean up.

2. 
   G80104 | Sep 10, 2005 05:42am | #2

     All that brass.... something to do with plumbing?

    WAG, Press for making water meter lids? 

3. 
   DanH | Sep 10, 2005 05:58am | #3

   Some sort of press -- cheese, tobacco, whatever. The lack of drainage holes suggests it's for something relatively dry, so I'm going to guess tobacco.

4. 
   G80104 | Sep 10, 2005 06:01am | #4

      Don't feed Luka to much of that Tuna, Gunner says it gives him Gas!

   
   

   ---

   Edited 9/9/2005 11:01 pm ET by G80104

1. 
   G80104 | Sep 11, 2005 01:48am | #5

   Grind.

5. 
   ProBozo | Sep 11, 2005 03:50am | #6

   Google tells me they made medical and dental tools

1. 
   DavidxDoud | Sep 11, 2005 04:52am | #7

   ya - thought I recognized it,  but couldn't place it - probozo jogged my memory - best friend is a dentist,  that rinktem is used in denture preparation -

   I can almost see it - using the plaster casts made from the 'rubber' molds - pour in the acrylic and cramp it down while the glorified body filler sets up - he had a rawhide mallet to knock the nut loose after the material set up - been a long time,  he subs such work now -

   if you want details,  I'll ask him the next time I see him - I can't remember the specifics -

    

    

    

    

    "there's enough for everyone"

1. 
   junkhound | Sep 11, 2005 05:53am | #8

   You and ProBozo get the gold ring. After this thing sat in barn for 15 years, finally remembered to google it to see what it was as inferred in original post, even found an exact match pix on an ebay search (only bid was $10) - bought at a thrift store 15 (or more) years ago for $1 when I thought I'd try doing some brass casting, was going to melt it down, may still do that. 

   I would be interested in finding a description of HOW it was used exactly, who knows, may need dentures in a decade or so and too cheap to go to the dentist for them.

1. 
   HeavyDuty | Sep 11, 2005 07:40am | #9

   Junkhound, the two brass halves that fit together is called a denture flask. The press is well, called a press. It comes with a key used to tighten the press.

   After the impression is taken and the denture teeth set up in wax on the plaster cast and tried in, the cast with the wax denture is invested in the lower half of the flask. Then plaster is poured through the holes on the top half of the flask to embed the wax denture. After the plaster sets the two halves are separated and the wax is melted away by steam.

   Now you have the denture teeth embeded in the plaster of the upper half and the cast of the patient's gum on the lower half. Then you pack the void with uncured methymethacrylic resin. It takes three to four packings before you fill the void completely. For each packing you use the press to squeeze the two halves together to express the excess resin.

   After you are satisfied with the packing you trim away the flash which should be minimal this point and close the flask again with the press.

   The whole thing is then submerged in water and the water is brought to a boil. The temperature is then maintained at boiling. Depending on the kind of acrylic, it takes somewhere between 6 to 12 hours to make denture soup.

   The end result is a replica of the wax denture in acrylic. Then you go through the process of trimming and polishing.

   Now you know how to make you own denture.

1. 
   junkhound | Sep 11, 2005 03:57pm | #10

   Thanks Tom.  If I ever do need dentures, I will try DIY first (no kidding) since the tool is available.  I'm saving your description.  After all, G. Washington apparently had hand carved wooden dentures.

2. 
   DanH | Sep 11, 2005 04:25pm | #11

   Actually, he didn't. Ivory or some such. They looked like wood because they stained so easily.