Mystery Machine

[terry_g]

My job sent me to Queen Charlotte City on Haida Gwaii a few years ago. I was out exploring and
found this old building. The door was open so I went in to have a look. It was mostly full of garbage
but this contraption was in there. Does anyone have an idea what it is?
Its about four feet long. It was dark so it was hard to get a good picture of it.

 

[Doggggboy]

Something from an old sawmill maybe? Looks kind of short though.

 

[terry_g]

There was the skeletal remains of a big maybe 30" bandsaw in the building.

 

[Susquatch]

Fine silk thread weaving machine. Very delicate process......

 

[Dan Dubeau]

I'm going to guess it's a metal rolling machine. To make roofing material perhaps?

Looks like a metal roof on that build, perhaps it came from a coil, and was made on site

 

[YotaBota]

It would be interesting to spin the motor to see what moves where. Lots of u joints and wheels being spun around by the shafts and gear boxes.
Was there any signs of other industry around? The concrete blocks suggest the building isn't that old (historically speaking).

 

[David]

It's an homegrown Enigma machine.

 

[terry_g]

There is no industry on Haida Gwaii. Logging and commercial fishing and fish guiding.
Their electricity is generated using diesel fuel.

 

[YotaBota]

Or a pre-production version of the Turbo Encabulator.

 

[KeeponDragon]

I'm curious as to it's function as well...I noticed there's what looks like a tension bar on the top there, it's attached to a tarp arm spring, then there is that lever on the RH side, there's a couple horizontal notches on the lower end of the hole, but then the hole tapers up to a single vertical notch. Speed controls with a reverse maybe?
I wonder what it was connected to in it's service life

 

[Susquatch]

I wonder what it was connected to in it's service life

There is what looks like an electric motor at the left rear.

 

[trevj]

Looking at it, I'd lean my bets in the direction of a continuous gutter forming machine. Flat stock off a roll in one side, formed gutter out the other.

Looks to me like the motor drives power to a series of right angle gearboxes, which each have a U-joint on their output linking to the rollers inside the frame. The rollers needing to be adjusted to make the various shaped gutter or metal trim, would make the need for each to be on a flexible linkage fairly obvious, no?