What is this

[Hal]

Got this thing in a box of old tools at an auction. About ten inches or a foot long. When you squeeze the handles, the two halves of the cone spread. The cone has little dimples for a better grip in whatever it was used on. Some wise guy suggested it was a proctologist's instrument.

 

[tarmy]

Proctologist tool…ouch!

 

[Toolmaker51]

IDK:WAG's O-rings, leather seals, spring clips, thin tube rounding or belling, Is cone round or tapered?

 

[jack stand]

Bulb planter, as in flowers. It makes the hole.

 

[Michael B.]

I believe that is a blacksmith tool used to expand an opening in a heated piece of metal.

 

[Hal]

Got a little more curious about this tool. Threw it in the Evaporust overnight, saw some lettering and wire wheeled the spot. Otto Bernz Co. Rochester NY. Googled that, found all kinds of plumbers torches, and ,voila!!, lead pipe expanding pliers. If you Google that, there are plenty of examples, in many different brands, all over Ebay, and other places.

 

[kaymccampbell]

Beat me to it. I've got a pair in the don't-donate-them-to-the-museum-cause-they-still-rarely-get-used bin in the shed. Used them to size up a perfectly good lead drain to a PVC sink tail a few years ago. On that day I was truly a plumber.

 

[Toolmaker51]

Proctologist tool…ouch!

A second opinion usually confirms a first; medically speaking.
The lead pipe aspect though, makes more sense.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Amish speculum.