Internet is like a new oracle; whatever you want to know, you will find it in that immaterial space we call the web. You just need to ask the right question to access thousands of pages where the possible answer is.
However, there are times when starting a search becomes quite complicated because we have no idea what it is that we are looking for and we can’t even think of a keyword. For example, when we find a strange artifact and we want to know what it is for but we don’t know how to look for it.
Fortunately, there are sites where many people are willing to help you. Or try to trick you into using sarcasm and have fun with it if you can’t get it. But in the best of cases, all your doubts will be resolved and you will finally know what that strange thing does and decide if it is worth keeping or better throwing it away.
We invite you to see these curious gadgets that you didn’t know what they were until an internet expert revealed them.
1. These plastic gears were found on a beach in Maine.
Turns out they’re water filters. They allow the bacteria that purify the water to settle on your walls and grow.
2. In a London park is this metal structure with a lot of pointed bars
This is a work of art entitled “Bank of Nails” by the artist William Warren. Its purpose is to show that people will sit anywhere, even if it is made so that no one sits.
3. This briefcase has an elastic band, side curtains and a mirror inside.
It is a projection screen. The projector must be pointed towards the mirror, where the image will bounce and be reflected outside.
4. This tool has a sharp wheel that goes up and down, and at the end there is a kind of nail that is also very sharp.
It is a special tool for cutting copper or stainless steel tubes.
5. They look like stainless steel corks with rubber tips and a rubber band in the middle.
But they are valves to take our liquid in the dairy industry.
6. It’s just a wooden cube with a wire wrapped screw inside and “patent pending” inscription.
As strange as it sounds, it’s a can opener
7. A spoon that appears to be rotated and also has a strainer
It is used for mint sauce.
8. This item looks like something out of a cartoon; it is a backpack with tubes and manometers
It is used to maintain air conditioners.
9. These red levers are found outside windows in Montreal, Canada.
It’s a topographic prism. It is used to take exact measurements in relation to other walls in construction projects.
10. Some cute miniature metallic umbrellas
They are cocktail sticks.
11. Metal box with several keys found in a radio communication building from Soviet times. Underneath it has a handle that when turned activates a timer and has been counting for 7 hours
It was the watchmen’s watch. Inside the box there is a tape that records the time. The keys had to be distributed throughout the facility so that the security guard would take a key, enter it into the box and mark the time on the tape.
12. A device with a compass, a digital clock and two compartments with springs
It is a compass for cars, widely used in the 1980s. The parts with springs were purses that facilitated the payment of tolls.
13. This metal object has a crystal in the center and a pretty sturdy handle.
It is a special pan lid that prevents oil splashes throughout the kitchen.
14. It looks like a spoon or some other kitchen utensil. It measures 9 centimeters long and 4 centimeters at its widest point and is made of silver.
It is a cutlery to push the food towards the fork.
15. Weird metallic thumb guard; even has a wrist strap
It is indeed a toe protector. It is used when handling knives, in this case it is to avoid cuts when opening oysters and it is actually for the index finger.
16. A ruler with enough measures
It is a slide rule. This tool was very useful until the 1980s, when calculators began to replace it.