10-21-2017 08:24 PM
11-05-2017 09:47 AM
Nice find and a great question... what is it?
Short answer, I don't know.
Longer answer... I found other examples of the same item, with many 'guesses' on what they could be. However, no one seems to know for certain, but there are some very interesting guesses.
The most extensive discussion that I have found so far is on Reddit.
There is another, post on Reddit from another user who is trying to identify the same type of object. This one looks exactly like yours.
And another discussion on the 'Antigue Radios' website.
Doing an 'Image Search' on Google will turn up a few more discussions on this item.
People have suggested all kinds of possible uses, from boot scrapers, livestock feeders, firewood holders to champaign bottle decanters... and honestly each of these guesses has arguments against them.
What can be agreed on are the following:
My best guess is that it was used to hold and disburse a chemical fertilizer (or something that needed to be siphon mixed with water before being disbursed.) If this is close to being correct, then the bottles would also be specific to a particular manufacturer (who probably made both a commercial and a residential sized product - this one would be the residential version). The bottles would probably have a valve to turn on/off/control the mix of the bottles contents.
I suppose it could also be used for filling bottles, although i seams to be overkill for that use.
Hopefully someone with a WorthPoint account could do a search there to see if any similar item has appeared on ebay before. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.
Can you tell use anything more about it? Where you got it? What its history might have been? etc...