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Author Topic: Can you explain what these little clips might be?  (Read 160131 times)

Greg Daspit

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Re: Can you explain what these little clips might be?
« Reply #90 on: August 11, 2012, 07:43:12 PM »

Bob, 
Regarding post 73, If you zoom in too close it will be too grainy to see. Just zoom enough for the whole image to fill the screen. Use the sketch I did in post 73 to see where to look. Its difficult to see right off and you need proper lighting in the room but the strap is there.  You may have to download these files so you can then zoom in properly. Just clicking on the images attached is likely not going to be enough.

The clips are not identical and I agree they were made as an add on. That is what I have been saying. It's why they are important. They are unique.

 The extra hole is to tie the clip to the strap so when the strap is rotated the clip always stays pointed in the direction where the teeth resist the pull. The extra hole is to attach to the strap only to maintain proper alignment, It's not meant to screw into the box. This allows the clip and strap to rotate and not get miss-aligned. There are no rotation marks in the second hole. Only gouge marks, like it was sewn to the strap. The image of the box under the plane shows this attachment. It has a screw in one hole and stitches in the other, like the sketches I did before finding that picture.

This is explained better in the PDF
Please download the PDF and other images attached in the other post,  then open them and zoom in if you need to, but don't zoom too much. And pan down to see all of the PDF
Please let me know if you can't open or see the PDF attached
3971R
 
« Last Edit: August 11, 2012, 08:36:33 PM by Gregory Lee Daspit »
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Bob Lanz

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Re: Can you explain what these little clips might be?
« Reply #91 on: August 11, 2012, 11:00:40 PM »

Gregory,
No matter how you cut it, that is a very poor quality photo.  With digital imaging software, I took the picture in post 73 and re-sized it 1% at a time re-sampling to keep the image at 300 ppi until I had a much larger and higher quality picture.  All I got was a better quality picture of nothing, IMO.  I wouldn't even attest to the fact that it is Noonan's Sextant Box.  I also find it interesting that FN would just set his Sextant box down where it is.  One would think that as important as that instrument was that it would be in the plane or in a safer place.  I'm sorry, I just don't see what you see in that photo.
Doc
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Greg Daspit

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Re: Can you explain what these little clips might be?
« Reply #92 on: August 12, 2012, 12:12:46 AM »

Bob, Agreed, its a bad quality picture however, the picture in post 73 in its current resolution is good enough for me to see the strap.
I think if you increased the ppi you may have only added pixels where there shouldn't be any. That was super nice of you to make that effort and it is appreciated by me even though you can't see the strap. You may want to try only adjusting contrast slightly. Again, just zoom in enough so the whole picture fills the screen.  You may even be looking too hard for it. Just look at the overall box. There is a strap there.

I agree the box under the plane may not be Fred's sextant box, with a sextant still in it, for the reasons you say. That is a constructive and logical comment that Woody has already made, and I had said to begin with when I first posted the image.
In taking that comment into consideration, the box under the plane could still be the sextant box found on Gardner because there was no sextant found in the box on Gardner. In fact the box found was described as likely being latterly used only as a receptacle. That later use could have been a tool box before the last flight.
Even if it is only a tool box, not even an old sextant box, it still could have made it to the seven site, where it was dissasembled, the strap taken off and the wood part burned or lost. Note all of the supplies taken from the NC or gone now but there is a picture of them. Stuff on that island obviously gets scavanged or weathers away. Again I am not married to the idea that "the sextant box" has to be related to the clip. I do think a box or boxes with straps are easier to carry accross the island.
I do beleive the box under AE's plane, what ever it is for, could be related to the clip for the reasons shown in the latest PDF. It may even be a smoking gun(edit: in my opinion) if a better resolution image could be obtained
3971R
 
« Last Edit: August 15, 2012, 11:23:42 AM by Gregory Lee Daspit »
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Mark Pearce

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Re: Can you explain what these little clips might be?
« Reply #93 on: April 23, 2014, 10:22:08 PM »

Seems to me these two clips might be related in some way to the eight pieces of copper screening that were found at the same site in 2001.
The serrated edges of the clips may have been designed to grip the open weave of the screening while keeping it stretched over a wood frame or support of some kind. 

http://tighar.org/Publications/TTracks/2002Vol_18/researchreport2.pdf

The clips and eight pieces of screen are listed here under "From Fieldwork at “Seven Site” Aukeraime North 2001"
http://tighar.org/Projects/Earhart/Archives/Expeditions/NikuVI/PIPAreport/PIPAAppendices/PIPAAppendixC.html
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Ric Gillespie

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Re: Can you explain what these little clips might be?
« Reply #94 on: April 24, 2014, 05:50:14 AM »

Seems to me these two clips might be related in some way to the eight pieces of copper screening that were found at the same site in 2001.

The clips (or "giddies"as we call them) are more complicated than they look.  The screws are standard American wood screws, which argues against them being associated with the British settlement.  The aluminum plates are home-made, not manufactured, and though of different shape, seem to serve the same purpose.  There are only two of them.  If they were used to somehow fasten the strips of copper screening it seems like there should be more of them. 
The puzzling thing is the second small hole in each plate.  It must be there for a reason.
These seem to be simple home-made devices fabricated by an American from available materials for some specific purpose.  I can't think why the Coasties would have any need to make something like this, although that's certainly a possibility. I keep thinking of the sextant box and the possible need to modify its interior so as to secure some attachment the box was not designed to hold. 
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JNev

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Re: Can you explain what these little clips might be?
« Reply #95 on: April 24, 2014, 11:38:31 AM »

Seems to me these two clips might be related in some way to the eight pieces of copper screening that were found at the same site in 2001.

The clips (or "giddies"as we call them) are more complicated than they look.  The screws are standard American wood screws, which argues against them being associated with the British settlement.  The aluminum plates are home-made, not manufactured, and though of different shape, seem to serve the same purpose.  There are only two of them.  If they were used to somehow fasten the strips of copper screening it seems like there should be more of them. 
The puzzling thing is the second small hole in each plate.  It must be there for a reason.
These seem to be simple home-made devices fabricated by an American from available materials for some specific purpose.  I can't think why the Coasties would have any need to make something like this, although that's certainly a possibility. I keep thinking of the sextant box and the possible need to modify its interior so as to secure some attachment the box was not designed to hold.

The aluminum construction and idea of "fabricated by an American from available materials for some specific purpose" seems like a fair starting point - and says alot.

Aluminum happens to be readily available around aircraft.  It's true that there was aircraft junk in the region, which could easily be a source.  But why such a specialized design?  The teeth imply 'grip', but the second hole is odd and remains a mystery to me.  When I see a second, smaller hole like that I tend to think of 'anti-rotation' or some 'safety feature', or perhaps a secondary attachment for anchoring something. 

The first two thoughts just named are typical around airplanes.  The teeth also might not have been merely for gripping, but perhaps to offset some rotational force.  The wood screws take it away from direct attachment to primary structure and of course suggest attachment to wood.  Floors are the only thing that come to mind in the Electra, offhand.

The sextant box is a fairly clear candidate for having spent time in an aviation setting (especially if that box was related to what we would like to find it related to), so aviation-grade materials in a hand-made fix or modification would not be a surprise.  The 'grip' feature has, I think, been explained as a possibility - strap hold-downs.  Why the small hole?  For an anti-rotation tack, perhaps?  Why not a second screw?  Maybe they were an expedient after-thought to keep the tabs oriented properly.

All speculation of course, but I absolutely agree that these were purpose built, and the strong implication by material type is American (screws) with aviation as a likely background (aluminum).
- Jeff Neville

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Martin_Peters

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Re: Can you explain what these little clips might be?
« Reply #96 on: May 13, 2014, 03:07:44 PM »

Could these clips be part of those kites Amelia seems to have carried ?
(There was a photo in the post about whether a spot in the Lambrecht photo could have been AE or a flare or a kite).

M
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Bob Smith

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Re: Can you explain what these little clips might be?
« Reply #97 on: March 16, 2015, 10:13:13 AM »

similar to vernier adjustment tags on auto flywheels for adjusting spark timing?? Also could be a locator or indicator of inclination/declination on a sextant or surveyor transit..
Bob S.
 
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Daniel R. Brown

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Re: Can you explain what these little clips might be?
« Reply #98 on: September 09, 2021, 10:23:49 AM »

Given the wood screws embedded in these clips, I wonder whether other wooden structural elements were present in NR16020. There was plywood flooring (not sure to what extent flooring mods to accommodate extra fuel tanks were factory standard), and the non-standard cabin navigator's window bench/platform, installation early March 1937. Any other wood?

Dan Brown, #2408
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Ric Gillespie

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Re: Can you explain what these little clips might be?
« Reply #99 on: September 09, 2021, 10:54:50 AM »

The American wood crews suggest American rather than British origin.
If these clips are from the Electra it seems like they must have been from some portable wooden object that would be worth transporting to the Seven Site. The wood rotted away leaving only the clips.
That's also true if the clips were part of some wooden object a Coast Guardsman brought to the Seven Site and left there.
The clips are clearly "home-made" rather than manufactured, so they are probably a modification to some manufactured object. 
The Coast Guard station probably had the wherewithal to fabricate the aluminum tabs and drill the holes, but that's also true of any aviation shop.
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Christian Stock

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Re: Can you explain what these little clips might be?
« Reply #100 on: September 09, 2021, 05:47:02 PM »

Perhaps some way of securing the plywood in the cabin while still having the ability to remove the boards? That sort of modification would have been done in an aviation machine shop.
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Bill Mangus

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Re: Can you explain what these little clips might be?
« Reply #101 on: September 10, 2021, 10:15:46 AM »

What is under the plywood floor that they (AE/FN) or a mechanic at some distant airfield might need access to?
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Christian Stock

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Re: Can you explain what these little clips might be?
« Reply #102 on: September 10, 2021, 10:48:29 AM »

You always need to get under the floorboards. Access to wiring, control cables, corrosion, etc...Same with any other panels that were custom installed. You need to be able to remove them without a bunch of tools.

Also, this may have been noted before (the rest of the thread is TLDR), but Phillips screws were not common until after the mid to late 1930's, so a slotted woodscrew, especially with a rounded head, would have been more common prior to 1936.
« Last Edit: September 10, 2021, 10:58:52 AM by Christian Stock »
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Christian Stock

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Re: Can you explain what these little clips might be?
« Reply #103 on: September 10, 2021, 11:07:27 AM »

How about the back panel of a radio, whether Electra, Colony or Coastie?

Something like this?
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Greg Daspit

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Re: Can you explain what these little clips might be?
« Reply #104 on: September 10, 2021, 06:17:10 PM »

I think any candidate for what it was attached to needs a plausible explanation for why it was brought to the Seven Site. If from Earhart or Noonan it also needs a reason why it was not noted as found in the area when it was searched a few years later

Edit:Another thing to consider is an explanation for the design of the things. For example the reason one hole has a screw and the other hole does not.
One explanation for the design could be it was part of a water collecting device. The screw to grip the folded end of a tarp to the top of a wood pole positioned at each corner above an open container.  Like the strap fastener theory, the screw can go thru the folded material and the teeth near the screw end are meant to spread the stress out and keep the hole from stretching. The hole without the screw would be for cords to stake the poles to the ground. They would be part of something like a mobile kit.

The work party water tank might be a possibility. It was left nearby but the timing in the availability of the metal might be an issue for that period. And the American wood screws is an issue as well.
3971R
 
« Last Edit: September 10, 2021, 07:29:18 PM by Greg Daspit »
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