Whatzit bronze Pygmy dumbbell thing

15.6 oz, 2 3/4" long, about 1.6" dia. Came with some others identical in a load of misc stuff from a US Dept of Defense Ordnance activity. It was either cast and then machined or was machined from a solid round bar. The small flat areas are at each 90 degrees around the two large diameters. IHNI.

 

I've seen the same or similar objects but at a loss as to use.

 

My memory SAYS it is for attaching 2 items/pieces together, sort of like a cuff link, but for a more industrial purpose (tarp, boat cover, etc.)

What my memory KNOWS is another story all together..............

 

Good Mansons, starting with your thought somehow I got here.

The carrier aircraft hold-backs still look like the fig 7 drawing but are over 5" long. The little one I have could be same kind of thing but for a guided missile or whatever. ??

 

I wish that it was possible to follow other persons thought processes.....

In any case, I'm glad you got to where you are!

 

I'd say a paper weight...

 

I've been around these and have one but seriously doubt the use of the others. They may only bend or at least resist an aircraft launch too much though they could be melted by a rocket.

 

Very tiny person's barbell????? (NO disrespect meant!)

Sorry, I hadn't even read the heading of the post......I just merrily click along in my email

 

I did some lookups and figgerin' to see if it would work for say a Navy trainable guided missile launcher aboard a warship. The long shank will break in tension over a range of tensions depending on the exact bronze alloy used, but I picked one with a mid-range tensile strength of 40,000 psi. Since the x-sec area of the shank is 0.194 square inches, breaking load in tension would be Somewhere around 7760 lbs.

The two older Navy guided missiles for which booster thrust figures are available are Talos and Terrier, with 111k and 59k lbs. respectively. All that tells me is that if the missile booster functions correctly there is a 100% probability that the much weaker bronze shank will snap apart and release the missile, which is what the ship's captain wants of course.

But all this mumbo-jumbo doesn't prove that's what the dumbbell is, it just means it could be used that way on those two systems. The corrosion resistance of bronze is a good thing for any Navy deck-mounted items such as the now-obsolete trainable launchers.