Can anyone identify this object ???

[scorp123]

Can anyone please take a look at the photos posted on a friend's blog and tell us what that thing is and what it is called and what on God's beautiful Earth it is used for??

http://misding.blogspot.com/2007/08/mysteriser-dingelhopper.html

The center metal grids you see are solid, e.g. they cannot be further collapsed or expanded. The photos show pretty much everything that can be done with this thing. So we're sure it's not used for producing Italian gnocchis or any other pasta, you can't cut eggs with it .... heck, we're not even sure that this thing is something you'd find in a kitchen.

We have no clue what that thing is. Anyone got any plausible theory?

[Ede]

Pay 100 gold to Cain and he'll identify it. :3

[grimdestripador]

"Greetings, stay a while and listen" - decard cain

It it a magic tool to put the ridges in peanut butter cookies.

btw:
http://deckard.ytmnd.com/
has a cool decard cain rap...

[red-e-made]

When I saw this thing the first thing that came to mind were the fruit hullers I used to work with when I used to be the dessert chef in a restaurant. You can see a more modern version here:

http://www.kitchenkrafts.com/product.asp?pn=KK7230

It's basically a tool that slices fruit into multiple slices at once.

That's the closest I can come to figuring out what this thing is.

[scorp123]

It's basically a tool that slices fruit into multiple slices at once.

Nope, there are no blades on this thing. The central metal "basket" is not made for cutting anything, it looks more like it was made for holding something .... but what?

One theory I was given was that it must be some part of a fryer or something, e.g. you'd put whatever you want to deep-fry (spring rolls??) into that metal basket and then put this thing into a special fryer ....

I thought that this was a good theory until my friend brought this thing into the office and I was able to hold it in my hands. The entire thing isn't really that big, and the metal basket is far too small to hold anything the size of a Chinese spring roll ... It might still be something that's used for a deep-frying something, it just would have to be way smaller than the usual Chinese spring roll ...

[red-e-made]

It might still be something that's used for a deep-frying something, it just would have to be way smaller than the usual Chinese spring roll ...

Strudels?

I don't know. I'm stumped.

[scorp123]

Strudels? I don't know. I'm stumped.

Yeah, I thought of strudels .... but these have to be really small strudels then, about the size of a cigarette box. That's about the size of that metal basket in the center of the object.

One guy around our office claimed it's a pre-WW1 era "sex toy" because his girlfriend has such objects too in her drawers ... We were like: "Oh, fine .... AND HOW IN THE WORLD DO YOU USE THIS THEN ????"

For some mysterious reason the color in his face turned from pink to snow-white and then to a fiery-red. And he refused to comment any further or to elaborate a bit more on his claim and whatever objects his girlfriend is collecting ...

I just hope he was making a stupid joke, because if this thing is what he claimed then I am really deeply confused young man now

[linuxviolin]

Small fried pastry makings, small fritters maybe
(as I am not sure about my english translation here is in French what I want to say: des petites pâtisseries frites, des petits beignets)

[scorp123]

des petites pâtisseries frites, des petits beignets

Possible, I've seen stuff like that in Western Switzerland (French speaking area) and in France proper. I can imagine that it's used for something like that.

[bigbearomaha]

could it be along the lines of a press?

like a garlic press or something? that's kind of what it resembles when I looked at it.

Big Bear

[scorp123]

could it be along the lines of a press?

Nope, that central metal cage cannot be further collapsed or expanded.

[kenetics]

I wonder if it "locks" in the closed position? Perhaps there is a piece missing such as a cutting blade. It could be used to hold something while a blade is inserted, maybe a knife.

[porcorosso]

I know exactly what it is. It's a zach! (TV trivia reference)

[scorp123]

It's a zach! (TV trivia reference)

Huh?

[porcorosso]

Sorry. It's funny to Americans who don't know what "zach" means. It's from an old Dick van Dyke show.

I'll shut up now.

[scorp123]

It's funny to Americans

Too bad my "Location:" info says that I am from Switzerland which happens to be in Europe. Chances are I don't know about too old or too new American TV shows.

[red-e-made]

Sorry. It's funny to Americans who don't know what "zach" means. It's from an old Dick van Dyke show.

I'll shut up now.

Either you watch a lot of Nick At Nite, or you're as old as my dad.

[porcorosso]

Sorry. It's funny to Americans who don't know what "zach" means. It's from an old Dick van Dyke show.

I'll shut up now.

Either you watch a lot of Nick At Nite, or you're as old as my dad.

I'm probably older than your Dad. When I was a kid, there were no TVs. I saw the original airings of the Dick van Dyke show when I was a young adult. And -- I hesitate to actually tell anyone this -- I rode a horse to grade school for a couple of years. Parts of Oklahoma, where I lived back then, were pretty "rural."

I shouldn't try trivia from that far back.



But the "zach" thing is, if memory serves, from an episode where Dick purchases a strange contraption at an auction and starts wondering just how valuable it might be. After much tom-foolery he finds a "foreign" expert who tells him that he hasn't seen one of these devices since his childhood. He declares that it's a "zach" and everyone (being simple-minded Americans who know absolutely nothing of any culture or language other than Americanized English) is bowled over by the strangeness of the term -- until they find out what it means, and that the "thing" is worthless.

There. Of course, when one has to explain his trivia gems, they are worthless, too. Heh. So much for my attempt at humor.

[burdicda]

I agree it doesn't cut anything
the spacings are too narrow for cutting anything
like others said....best guess would be a fryer holder
or to hold something while it's boiling....

burdicda

[kenetics]

best guess would be a fryer holder
or to hold something while it's boiling....

That's a possibility, but I would think the metal part of the handle would be a little longer to keep the wood (and hand) away from the fryer/boiler.

Hey Porcorosso, maybe it has something to do with cracking walnuts.