Ask a Librarian

Thingamajig

by Alethea Drexler, archives assistant
mcgovern@exch.library.tmc.edu
We haven’t had a Thingamajig in awhile but, luckily, we just got a new donation, and new donations often mean new mystery objects.  We can thank the estates of Drs. Robert G. McCorkle, junior and senior, for the following:

Twins!

There are two of them, left and right.  They’re about seven inches long and very slender.
They have sliding blades.  Here’s a close-up of the blade:
Blade

The curved edge of the opening is also sharpened on the reverse side.  The opening is small, no more than a quarter of an inch.
The flattened “paddles” allow the doctor to slide the runner back and forth to manipulate the blade.  That brings us to a Black Bag first:
Video!  Watch the blade slide open and closed.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JySK12d0QcY&w=425&h=349]
If you have any ideas about what these are, post a comment, or email us at the address at the top of the page.