Solved!
Another peculiar item from the recycling bin. Once again I believe this to be titanium. There are three connection pins on the bottom. Google image search has many wild ideas, none of which seem to be right. It is 2.5” wide and 3” tall.
1st image: Top
2nd image: bottom.
The other pictures show the sides. I believe it was thrown away due to the nick circled in photo 5. One friend of mine suggested it may be some sort of fuel injector.
This is 100% in the right category, just with the details wrong. It's not technically an ion trap, which would be the mass analyzer part. This unit is a part of the front-end ionizer / filter parts. The six holes are to match with a subsequent hexapole analyzer/filter. The conical part is either an ion lens or an aperture to restrict gas ingress. Because the ionizer is basically at atmospheric pressure (and in the case of electrospray ionization, there's a lot of water becoming gas) and the analyzer is under high vaccuum, you need restriction orifices to let ions through but restrict the bulk uncharged molecules.
I thought it could be a speaker or microphone but if that was the case it would be ridiculously overbuilt. The connection pins are also unlike anything ive seen before.
I just took apart an old telephone headset and the plastic cover for the speaker sorta looks like this, but the speaker and receiver are much more flat and the holes are much bigger.
It actually looks like a flow reducer or flow regulator valve. The two blue pieces act to slowdown pressure like a damper. On the low pressure side there are 3 holes. Pressure side is one hole. The segments and missing all the components before or after the valve.
I think you're on the right track, but I bet it's just for measuring rather than regulating anything. See the "electric" portion of it. Those two terminals can act as a temperature sensor or impedance sensor, which can approximate any number of measurements.
Hi there. Not sure how to post links, but hopefully this works. I am pretty convinced its for audio calibration. You have an image of the item disassembled and one image caught me. The conical item has a pinhole in it. I have done audiometer calibrations before and used items similar to this. You set a "phone", headset or other audio sending device on top of this device to assure the sounds you are producing are correct. The larger hole on the back that goes through "front to back" kinda really does it for me. You would run a cable/wire/connection through there connecting the testing equipment. This plugs into a system that would give the results and calibrate the audio coming from the device sending to the "headphone" or other audio device. I am including some links to show different versions. There are multiple companies that make this kind of equipment, but all do the same type of audio calibration. If you image search for audiometer calibration equipment, you can see more examples. Not limited to audiometer calibration. Any sort of audio needing specific tone/sounds and decibel level. My guess anyways. https://akron.be/product/gras-43ag-ear-simulator/?lang=en https://www.larsondavis.com/Products/audiometer-calibration-systems/portable-audcal https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRxlQZBu9wibbFaNyTdrL4Gztd7TyNO2vBSJYhtkKt5LQ&s=10
Edit to add one more good image link: https://www.newcastle-hospitals.nhs.uk/services/medical-physics/audiometry-quality-assurance-service/
My title describes the thing. I would estimate it to be around 1lbs, but I do not have a scale handy. The rings on the side do rotate, but it takes a lot of force and im not sure they are really meant to rotate.
There is waste from cars and rockets in the bins so it is likely, thats why the fuel injector idea was possible for me. But I really dont know. I havent found similar fuel injectors online.
It has been identified as an ion trap. But the universities do make rockets which are pretty big. I am not sure if any of the rocket parts are from the government, I just assume they would probably have another way of disposing of them but who knows.
Total side note (as I've got no clue what it is), but I'm curious. Do you work for a recycling center? Or are you just finding wild stuff when you go dig around? You've come across some interesting things.
I dont work for the recycling centre, but i am able to dig around. There are lots of interesting electronic items. But whenever there is something that I am curious about, I take it just to see what it is. Often times google image search lets me know, but with this and the last item they seem to be one-offs.
Everything about the design and materials says “aerospace” to me, especially the prominent symbols and quirky electrical connections. I agree with your friend that it’s meant to spray (or suck?) something, but I doubt it’s fuel based on the design of the housing.
Where was the recycling bin? That can be a very useful clue.
Like I said in other comments, they get waste from universities, schools, and other institutions. I have found parts from rockets and model planes before, as well as race cars and go karts.
Yes no speaker cone visible, IF it’s got one behind the rigid metal cone shape with holes in it then it’s gotta be very small and confusing as to it being good for anything audible you can test if it makes a click sound when you connect a AA battery between any two wires
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Recycling bin from what kind of facility? That would probably help narrow down possibilities vs anything. Oh and my guess is potentially some kind of sensor detector apparatus. I'd imagine particles could pass through it if the was some sort of suction. Or something was coming out of it.
University could definitely lead some credence to my guess. But I'm definitely not an expert. The size of the holes would indicate to me that most likely it's air or some sort of gas that would be passing through it. It wouldn't really make sense for water or anything super thick really.
Tried to as this in your other post but it got locked while typing -
Oh man, I see you post a lot of this. Do you guys get paid to haul away all this "garbage"? It kind of blows my mind that lots of titanium is being considered trash. I'm assume you guys process it all down and separate out the metals? Then do you sell the raw material back to manufacturers? How well does being paid on two ends offset the cost of the reclaiming process? I know many aren't very efficient. I just wonder if it's profitable enough on its own osr is it subsidized or get government grants?
Man, what a rabbit hole. Sorry for all the questions and if any are irrelevant, fear not. I just ramble.
I actually have no clue! I assume the materials are separated then melted down. I do not work there, but they let me take items as I am friendly with them. I usually just go in search of things which I use like camera gear or cables, the occasional computer.
Oh fascinating and a cool source of crazy stuff clearly. I'd be curious to know the name of the place to do more research but can understand if you prefer to keep it private. I'd also be curious to see whet universities utilize it and what areas they research in. Would tell us a lot I'm sure.
I cant say the facility but there is waste from the three major Toronto Universities, as well as a plethora of other facilities both government and private. It is just a big recycling facility with all sorts of stuff.
Very cool. With what I know, my theory stands. In the military there were various detectors set up all over to detect chemical or radiological trace elements and the portion where the particles went in were very similar.
Is that nick deep enough to compromise structural integrity or seal integrity? If it broke the seal, that explains why they tossed it instead of just having a cosmetic dent.
Yes, seems like the titanium may have had a defect, it is a large chunk taken out of it. Its more of a hole than a nick to be honest, it goes to the centre.
Hmmm, I wonder if it is some sort of temp or pressure sensor. That piece of metal may deform with heat or pressure and change resistance. with two separate leads it could be comparing outputs or just built-in redundancy. It got too hot or shorted to ground and melted maybe making the unit inop?
Honestly, I believe it is a measuring device of extremely high precision for something like cosmic rays, alpha particles, or maybe a specific ion. The internal opposing conical "lenses" with the multi hole inlet and single hole final sampling to whatever sensor would have be connected to l2c. The round protruding"socket" appears to be first something like a thermal xducer or similar basic sensor to monitor some important variable with the chamber.
Based on the shape of it and the connections, this is screaming transducer of some sort, and based on the "this is adequate enough" nature of the mating surfaces seals/tolerances, I'm guessing it's downstream of whatever process it is monitoring.
From searches it could be a laser power meter. I2C is a serial communication protocol. Electronic sensors often use it. Never seen it on a speaker, so unlikely it's that.
If you look at the disassembled photos, there are two pieces which I am positive are aluminum. I also have some titanium to compare it to and they have the same feel and look. I mean they could technically be aluminum but I doubt it.
So I cheated and got AI to have a look. There were some weird and fanciful ideas, but a piezoelectric transducer seemed to be the closest match. It appears to be used in the dental and medical world a fair bit. People were on the right track about acoustics/speakers as it has something to with that too apparently. No idea other than that, definitely not something I've seen before.
I also got AI involved for a sanity check. It said it was a timer control for a clothes dryer. That doesn't feel right at all to me. Just an example of how AI can go wilding off.
Originally it was telling me it was an air gun silencer, which it clearly isn't. But I did actually look into that other doodad it suggested it may be and there were definitely some similarities with that round bit in the middle.
Either way, it's shiny and I want one 😂
Looks like a kind of speaker meant to go into some sort of modular system. Maybe an ultrasonic pest repeller? You could probably hook the leads up to a 9-v battery and see if it generates sound.
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u/Larry_Safari …ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ 2d ago
This post has been locked, as the question has been solved and a majority of new comments at this point are unhelpful and/or jokes.
Thanks to all who attempted to find an answer.