A friend of my mine pulled this out of the woods in Acme WA. Appears to be some kind of heat exchanger.
fire wood stove ?
What do the gauges read? is that some sort of spring valve/pressure release on the top/left?
Looks to be cast iron, and too small to be any sort of boiler. I'll guess it was a steam boiler accessory, like a feed water preheater that went over the exhaust to recapture some of the heat to preheat the cold feed water, also prevent cracking from cold feed water.
The gauge is a pressure gauge and I think the thing on the left is a broken relief.
That's interesting. I have never seen that directly in the flu but it makes sense. Do you think this would be from some mobile boiler or donkey?
Yes it is , I was more curious what kind of pressure it read, 200psi, 50kpsa, 2000psi...
Is there a builder stamp on any of the castings? Like Willamette, or Baldwin or Lima? I will be studying my Darius Kinsey books for hours to find one in an image of his.
Here are some other shots. We need to take the gauge apart to read the scale.
Doesn't look very old.... 40's maybe...??? the 30 pounds working pressure is strange, maybe some sort of pump apparatus.
That what I thought was a pressure relief looks like half of a fly ball governor.
I'm thinking it is some kind of water pressure or flow regulator, but the holes in the back have me stumped. Maybe a mixing valve?
No, that is a pressure relief valve with a weighted lever. I'm thinking this is some sort of feedwater heater, but more than likely for a stationary boiler.
I was thinking vertical water pump.I can’t make out the word under where the ball was laying. Interesting piece
My wag would be a early steam driven Turbo Encabulator. Bob
We're gonna need more pics good close ups of any casting marks/printing also maybe some inside shots as this would give a big clue as to it's actual use. Is that gauge just really dented down or did it look like it had an original oblong shape?
It’s a smoker......with some simple mods. LOL
Yeh, I heard about those new hydro-smokers... sposed to keep the meat more moist...
Coming from the Acme area it's a 'shine making tool.
That's where I was going! Found in woods. Deals with heating. Pressure monitoring..... Moonshine!
And it's original use location may be nearby where it was found... maybe they had a slight accident with pressure and it jumped by itself
I've slept on it for a couple nights now and can only offer the following: 1/ A lost nuke that the military says never occurred. Santa will be requesting your presence as a tail light/marker for his sleigh as handlers man-hoods will be totally radiated and glowing red. 2/ Sewer pump, loggers of long ago had big ones. Hope this input helps...
On the serious side, have you asked anyone in other forums on this site? Lots of talent here and a lot of guys don't go into forestry, just saying.
Scroll down to steam heating-a possibility. https://www.achrnews.com/articles/87035-an-early-history-of-comfort-heating