Recently I picked up this powder trickler along with a few other items and it really has my curiosity piqued as to what brand it is or if perhaps it's homemade. If it's homemade someone did an extremely professional job, and if it's a commercially made item I figured there are enough experienced folks here that someone would know more about it. I will outline my observations below:
1. The reservoir appears to be made of acrylic/plexiglass.
2. The top cover is machined to amazingly close tolerances; It requires a bit of an effort to insert it into the reservoir yet it doesn't scratch it. Impressive! I have no idea why the underside has a threaded hole in the center, though.
3. The base and top cover are both solid aluminum. The only steel parts are the (breather?) plug in the top cover, the knob on the end of the metering tube and a spiral-wound steel wire inside the tube which acts as an auger.
4. The square base has at some point been painted with wrinkle paint which has obviously experienced a lot of wear over the years. It is a separate piece from the rest of the unit.
5. The brass tube has a shallow groove machined to accept a retaining snap ring, barely visible in the first picture, butted up against the reservoir next to the ruler. This, of course, is to keep the tube from sliding back and forth and/or falling out of the reservoir.
6. The reservoir is not attached to the base via threads or an adhesive. Instead, the cylindrical portion of the base is machined with a lip that fits perfectly inside the reservoir and has a threaded hole in the center. There is a rubber disc or O-ring (I haven't disassembled it yet to know exactly which) that lies inside the reservoir on top of the base and then a (stainless steel?) disk is placed on top of the rubber piece. The brass screw which can be seen underneath the brass tube is then inserted through the center of that disk and the rubber disk, then tightened, which "squishes" the rubber against the side of the reservoir at the bottom. This holds the reservoir in place by pressure/friction similar to a compression plug.
Hopefully these pictures and the above description will be helpful.
Update: someone has mentioned that they think Numrich sold one like this back in the 1960's, approximately. Nobody has corroborated this, but maybe it will trigger someone's memory.
1. The reservoir appears to be made of acrylic/plexiglass.
2. The top cover is machined to amazingly close tolerances; It requires a bit of an effort to insert it into the reservoir yet it doesn't scratch it. Impressive! I have no idea why the underside has a threaded hole in the center, though.
3. The base and top cover are both solid aluminum. The only steel parts are the (breather?) plug in the top cover, the knob on the end of the metering tube and a spiral-wound steel wire inside the tube which acts as an auger.
4. The square base has at some point been painted with wrinkle paint which has obviously experienced a lot of wear over the years. It is a separate piece from the rest of the unit.
5. The brass tube has a shallow groove machined to accept a retaining snap ring, barely visible in the first picture, butted up against the reservoir next to the ruler. This, of course, is to keep the tube from sliding back and forth and/or falling out of the reservoir.
6. The reservoir is not attached to the base via threads or an adhesive. Instead, the cylindrical portion of the base is machined with a lip that fits perfectly inside the reservoir and has a threaded hole in the center. There is a rubber disc or O-ring (I haven't disassembled it yet to know exactly which) that lies inside the reservoir on top of the base and then a (stainless steel?) disk is placed on top of the rubber piece. The brass screw which can be seen underneath the brass tube is then inserted through the center of that disk and the rubber disk, then tightened, which "squishes" the rubber against the side of the reservoir at the bottom. This holds the reservoir in place by pressure/friction similar to a compression plug.
Hopefully these pictures and the above description will be helpful.
Update: someone has mentioned that they think Numrich sold one like this back in the 1960's, approximately. Nobody has corroborated this, but maybe it will trigger someone's memory.
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