A lady dressed in black delivered this unusual object to our offices in 1994. The device is a copper vessel with ceramic funnel receptacle and stethoscope. We welcome any suggestions no matter how odd in the hope that it may lead us to understanding this objects history.
Copper vessel with stethoscope and funnel
Carole Priestley –
For cleaning ears, used by private nurse or someone.
Anon –
Hearing aid/Asthma, wax problems. Steam from funnel.
Ann Salmon –
For vets to use to make sure they’re (critters) asleep before an operation, or putting them to sleep.
School pupil –
You put the ear things in your ears if you have earache and a doctor blows in the white tube and the earache goes away. This is around 90 years old.
Ladislav aged 8 –
I think it makes music because musicians can use it because you can talk or bang it.
Cilla Aged 9 –
I think it is an animal stethoscope because you might put an animal in it and the person using it puts the stethoscope on and rosters to the animals heartbeat and tries to find out if the animal is alive or dead.
Anon –
An egg fertilisation tester
Cathleen –
I don’t really know but it could be used for listening to liquids I think. Or maybe it’s for putting something like bicarbonate of soda in that could clean out your ears.
Edie –
That’s definitely an old bomb
Car booter –
“You might put your plants on there to heat up their roots and you could check the temperature.” Walton Street Market, Office of Oddities outreach tent, 28/09/16
Colette, ibis, hull –
“It’s for checking glaucoma pressure in your eye, probably used by a backstreet eye doctor, who’s call as he travelled around was ‘Eye eye!’ and that’s where the phrase came from. If you went to the dentist and this came out you would be pretty worried. Because if the pressure was high it would explode and go in there.
That’s for listening to the boiling of liquid. There’s a water dispenser with a little filter, so the water’s going down into a boiler. They’ve put it on a plinth for safety. You’d be watching pressures and listening for pressures. When you hear a kettle boiling you’d hear it bubbling. And maybe they’d be listening for that.” At Older Persons Celebration , Hull
Primary school pupil Hull –
It’s for tapping out music to deaf people.
David –
“I think it’s something medical because of the stethoscope. It could be for blood pressure. A balloon comes out of the china funnel and checks blood pressure. When it bursts, you’re dead.” Older Person’s Celebration, Hull