Much like your attic, garage or basement, the NIST archives are home to quite a number of arcane objects of unclear origin and purpose. We periodically collect these victims of misplaced paperwork and present them in a series we call “Unidentified Museum Objects.” We invite you to put on your thinking caps and help us figure what these relics might be.

New mysteries

Item 0290
The museum collection notes this is possibly a strain gauge and certainly made by the B.C. Ames Co. of Waltham, Massachusetts. Their tagline is “Masters of Measurement.”

The gauntlet has been thrown.

Item 0290. A strain gauge? Metric wall clock? The world may never know. (Credit: NIST Museum)

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