What is it Wednesday - Week 55

Lightmancer

Legend
Location
Sunny Frimley
Name
Bill Palmer
Hello and welcome to this week's What is it Wednesday. A reminder of the rules:

Each member gets one guess. The answer will be revealed on the following Tuesday. The first correct guess has the honour of submitting the image for the next challenge. Sometimes there will be more than one thing in the photo or more than one way to accurately describe what the photo represents. The original poster will be the final judge of who is "most correct".

This is obviously a thing. It is old, and it is out of doors. It still functions. It is not a macro shot. I have not processed it in any way other than SOOC. The key here is not just what it is but what it did or was used for.

Mystery thing.jpg
 
We have a place here in Finland where all the icebreakers build in Helsinki shipyard are hooked for test pull. It must be the strongest place in Finland :)

I suppose this is some kind of test pole for horses, so my answer is 'horse-pull test pole'
 
Okay, I think I am going to call this one. Both Martin (theoldsmithy) and Tony (tonyturley) are on the right track and have used key words, but since Martin got there first I'm going to give it to him. Well done!

So what is it?

It is on a sharp bend on a canal called the Wey Navigation. Back in the days when narrowboats were pulled by a horse, turning a sharp corner was a bit of a challenge. The horse would go around, but the boat would follow the taut rope and plough into the bank rather than turning the corner. This post and the large metal roller on it's "front" face enabled the horse to pull the boat around the corner at a better angle, meaning that the boat didn't hit the bank.

I have no idea what it's called, but that's what it does! Just for clarity here's a diagram:

Mystery thing 3.jpg


...see what I mean? It's all about geometry.

Damn ingenious those Victorians!
 
Okay, I think I am going to call this one. Both Martin (theoldsmithy) and Tony (tonyturley) are on the right track and have used key words, but since Martin got there first I'm going to give it to him. Well done!

So what is it?

It is on a sharp bend on a canal called the Wey Navigation. Back in the days when narrowboats were pulled by a horse, turning a sharp corner was a bit of a challenge. The horse would go around, but the boat would follow the taut rope and plough into the bank rather than turning the corner. This post and the large metal roller on it's "front" face enabled the horse to pull the boat around the corner at a better angle, meaning that the boat didn't hit the bank.

Hahaa, I was also "on track" with my horse pull pole :dance3:
 
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