# What Is It? - #39



## dbeyat45 (Sep 2, 2013)

This is it.



Now, I don't know what it is either.  The people running the museum didn't know what it was.  Can anyone help?
It's mainly cast iron, it's heavy, it's about 18" across and about 15" high (from memory).  It was in the museum at an old copper mining town called Kapunda in South Australia.


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## SifuPhil (Sep 2, 2013)

That's a toughie!

Since it's near a copper mine I'm thinking it might be a copper smelter used for assaying the purity of copper? 

The problem is, that bowl inside looks to be copper itself, unless that isn't original equipment.


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## Diwundrin (Sep 2, 2013)

Looks vaguely oriental. A lot of Chinese worked in the early mines. sooooo...

A baine-marie in an early Chowie Takeaway?  

  Whoops that Chinese food fetish is showing.

Seriously though it looks more like something that would hold embers to keep soup hot than for mining use. 
 Even perhaps for cooking use on boats where open fires would be a hazard.   They arrived on boats back then too didn't they? 



Do you have any info on how it opens?  Presume it does as the copper bowl doesn't look accessible otherwise.

What exactly is the point of this brain buster if the 'truth isn't out there' anyway?   Just teasin' us!  ... leaves in a huff.


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## Jillaroo (Sep 2, 2013)

_It's used for melting down the gold maybe_


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## That Guy (Sep 2, 2013)

Obviously, it's something that should not be touched.


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## dbeyat45 (Sep 3, 2013)

There was a mechanism that allowed the centre copper (?) bowl to drop down.   Someone once said it might be from a railway carriage toilet.  ????


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## Diwundrin (Sep 3, 2013)

I'd have to question the placement of those nuts and bolts in that case DB .   ooooooooow.


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## Michael. (Sep 3, 2013)

I guess it could be converted into a nice little BBQ.?


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## Rainee (Sep 3, 2013)

Thats the picture I sent to the Cornwall school of mines  the professor there had no idea,.nor did the power house museum in Sydney .. so waiting for answers for you from Smithsonian museum also the Cornish societies in Wisconsin and California , tis a mystery for sure.. someone has to know.


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## TICA (Sep 3, 2013)

The bar across the front looks like it moves up and down.  Depending on what's under/around the copper bowl, it could pump air or a liquid solution around the  bowl.  We need a chemist to see what would react with copper with either heat or cold or ????

Grasping at straws!


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## Diwundrin (Sep 3, 2013)

I still reckon we should ask the Beijing Museum of Cooking Pots about it.  
Might not be anything to do with mining, they had to eat you know. 
Could be a portable Tandoori. 



.... yeah yeah, that food fetish again.


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## SifuPhil (Sep 3, 2013)

Copper has a slightly higher melting point than both silver and gold and reacts only with strong acids, so it's _possible_ that it could have been used for gold mining assays. 

What troubles me is that the copper bowl has obviously been restored, erasing any clues that could have been gained from its condition.

"_Zounds, Watson! When will these amateurs learn NOT to touch a crime scene? They have trampled over all the clues!_" 



			
				Diwundrin said:
			
		

> .... yeah yeah, that food fetish again.



Oh, go eat already! layful:

To be honest, it looks a bit over-engineered to be a simple cooking device ...


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## Silvery Diva (Sep 3, 2013)

I wonder if its a scale of some sort to weight metals


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## dbeyat45 (Sep 3, 2013)

I've asked the museum if they can provide me some more info .... measurements & extra photos.


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