WTF is it ?

[sardine]

Its Nickel plated copper, and the top flange is brass. Its baffled everyone I know, it came out of an skip full of tat from a engineering works. The bit sticking out is a pipe.

 

[Hitch]

The bit coming out of the front looks lik Cyril Sneer's nose....?

 

[the snooper]

when I saw it I thought it could be part of a calcium carbide test kit, I looks to have a lid and seal missing

edit
missed that it is a pipe sticking out so scrub the above

 

[CRB]

Another tenner in the Christmas bucket

 

[rtbcomp]

Autoclave?

 

[Maker]

Could it be some kind of vacuum chamber? I saw a video where a guy finished a knife handle by putting it into a container with linseed oil, put a lid on and pulled a vacuum inside it. His was glass and you could see bubbles coming out of the wood, yours could have been used for something like this with the pipe in the side being attached to a vacuum pump and a lid mating with the brass flange.

 

[roofman]

remove the plating and could be a nice copper water feature in the garden that

 

[rtbcomp]

......... nice copper water feature in the garden that

Not round here it wouldn't - it would soon feature in the back of a pikey's transit.

 

[sardine]

Its working its way toward my copper scrap bin, unless I can think of anything to make out of it.

 

[octo0072000]

hydraulic cylinder testing pressure vessel or could be a big pressure paint pot

 

[bash'it]

ogden steam pump casing ?

 

[Kent]

Moonshine still?

 

[Jan]

Bong for heavy tokers?

 

[julianthegypsy]

It's definitely designed for pressure, but I suspect we'd need to see the lid to know exactly what it was.

 

[mr migwire]

that looks a lot like an old railway toe jack on the ground behind it too...

 

[Fintray]

Agree with Maker as we use a similar looking unit for degassing epoxy resin

 

[captain-destructo]

Moonshine still?

cheers dueling banjos bouncing around my head now
ting ting ting ting ting ting ting

 

[captain-destructo]

the problem is there is no builders mug for scale

 

[Shedendman]

Stick a trumpet mouthpiece in the small pipe see if you can get a tune

 

[Maker]

It could be something to do with vacuum casting so metal could drip into the bucket rather than into the vacuum pump.

I'm sure it's something to do with vacuums.