Hazard A Guess: Week of Sept. 3, 2009

Hello from Hazard!

We heard from three more readers about our long-unidentified Item No. 869 that we finally had reader response to last week (it’s an adjustable welding clamp).

Additional thanks go out to: Alan Doyle of Georgetown, Pa.; Mike Nowicki of Tahlequah, Okla.; and Glenn Horr of West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle.

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Now, on to Item No. 870, which no one had responded to, despite being featured for several weeks. But this week, we hit the jackpot.

Item No. 870

Item No. 870 is a metal or wire banding tool, used to put a metal band or strap around cartons, boxes, crates, or other items for shipping.

The round container held a coil of steel wire, which was wrapped around the package and fed through the tool. When the handle was ratcheted forward and back, it formed what reader Hank Shores calls a “Western Union” splice, and sheared the wire all in one operation.

Shores, of Wheeling, W.Va., has used one “thousands of times,” he writes.

We also heard correctly from Neal Kuhn of Lowell, Ohio; Joseph Fox of Hartville, Ohio; Orville Ritchie, Columbiana, Ohio; Tom Keener; and Carl Rossmann, Euclid, Ohio. Tod Mills agreed in a comment on our Web site, and adds that the De-Sta Co. company started in 1915 and is still around (www.destaco.com).

Thanks to everyone who finally solved our hazard-ous mystery.

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So with No. 870 out of the way, here comes Item No. 871, shared by Jason Michaels of Mercer, Pa.

Item No. 871

Take a look and if you know how it was used, write to: Hazard a Guess, P.O. Box 38, Salem, OH 44460; or via e-mail to: editorial@farmanddairy.com.