What Is It?

[Jerriffic]

What Is it? Found it in my late father's garage. Its brass with 3 ball bearings inside one end. I inserted a pencil in the end with the bearings, the bearings grip the pencil and can't pull it back out. The pencil has to pass through the thing to remove it.
Thanks,
J.B.

.

 

[Half-fast eddie]

Picture would help.

 

[Shiftless]

Pics?

while we are waiting, I’ll say the obvious.

Its a one way pencil holder!!!!

 

[luvtheheat]

Hard with no pic but I take "cable puller" for $200.

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

Clothes line tensioner

(4)-Household Essentials Aluminum Clothesline Tightener Model: HH280 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for (4)-Household Essentials Aluminum Clothesline Tightener Model: HH280 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.ca

 

[isb cornbinder]

It is a tensioner for a outdoor clothesline cable..

 

[Jerriffic]

Thanks, I thought of cable puller but the whole cable would have to pass through it to remove it. Clothesline tensioner makes sense.
J.B.

 

[isb cornbinder]

Clothes line tensioner

(4)-Household Essentials Aluminum Clothesline Tightener Model: HH280 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for (4)-Household Essentials Aluminum Clothesline Tightener Model: HH280 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.ca

I have been a member of this forum for 6 years and 4 days longer than you. You have 10300 replies and I have 3429. My wife thinks I spend too much time on here. I am retired. You must be unemployed or retired.

 

[RTM]

Usable for more than clotheslines. We used them for volleyball nets, seen them in non essential use on a sailboat. The brass makes me think something in more severe duty than your basic clothesline

 

[isb cornbinder]

Thanks, I thought of cable puller but the whole cable would have to pass through it to remove it. Clothesline tensioner makes sense.
J.B.

If a person turns the tensioner up and lets the balls fall away, the cable can be carefully removed. These tensioners were more often used on a cloths-line that went over several pulleys. This tensioner was often used as the stop when it hit the far pulley.
I may have the one that came with our home when we bought in here 44 years ago.

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

I have been a member of this forum for 6 years and 4 days longer than you. You have 10300 replies and I have 3429. My wife thinks I spend too much time on here. I am retired. You must be unemployed or retired.

I’ve been semi retired for 14 years. Since Covid pretty well retired but do take on the odd contract.
I do a lot of my GJing while my wife and I watch tv. A couple threads like single word and the one word music thread probably add up. So I make sure I only do one entry per page maximum sometimes not even that much. Also the joke thread a couple of times a week. Any thread I start I try to thank someone who is good enough to share their info.
I’m watching BOB S Abishowla (sp] one of my wife’s favourites. But as soon as I finish my dessert I’m back outside to work on the yard.

 

[driftpin]

Yeah, I recognized it immediately. We had one on a clothesline. In my 70's, and sometimes on GJ > 1X/day.

 

[Model A Fan]

I have been a member of this forum for 6 years and 4 days longer than you. You have 10300 replies and I have 3429. My wife thinks I spend too much time on here. I am retired. You must be unemployed or retired.

I imagine Saskatchewan is not a pleasant place to be 4-6 months per year, so lots of time inside might be the reason?

 

[Half-fast eddie]

The brass makes me think something in more severe duty than your basic clothesline

Or … it’s old enough to have been made to last.

 

[isb cornbinder]

I imagine Saskatchewan is not a pleasant place to be 4-6 months per year, so lots of time inside might be the reason?

I was born and raised on the Canadian Prairies. I miss the seasons and sometimes the cold. I had a snowmobile and an all terrain vehicle. On the prairies, I had unlimited choices of which direction I could ride my motorcycle. Here on the West Coast the choices are as limited as our two seasons. We have the rainy season and the drier season. I can risk life and limb by riding east. Riding west requires a couple hundred dollar return ride on a BC Ferry. Riding north to Squamish is a big risk. So many racer boys like to chase each other on that winding road. Riding south required crossing the border.
So many Prairie Boys come to the west coast for a visit in the summer. Some of them decide to stay for the mild climate. Many of them return to their Prairie roots because of the weather.
I moved here 51 years ago, from Calgary. I determined that I would never move back to the Prairies until all of my family were dead. I forgot that I would continue to age like them. So, now it is seeing who can live longer. I might not win this.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I have one just like the OP's, painted OD green, that was used by the US Army Signal Corps during WWII to stretch antenna tower guy wires. I'll see if I can find where I put it.

 

[isb cornbinder]

I have one just like the OP's, painted OD green, that was used by the US Army Signal Corps during WWII to stretch antenna tower guy wires. I'll see if I can find where I put it.

Finally, after all these years. I got to see that "guy wires" is correct. I have been leaving a trail of destruction in my wake when I said and wrote "guide wire." I suppose, no one got hurt, so all is okay.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Here's an Army guy wire puller, called a "Guy Fastener" in technical manuals and on the tool itself.