This is a tool……

[Oompa LumpaParticipant @oompalumpa34302]

Almost certainly, but what for is the question?

Has puzzled a friend of mine for some years.

What do they do?

graham.

[Oompa LumpaParticipant @oompalumpa34302]

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

My first thought was "It's a flipping ball point pen for goodness sakes!"

Then brain caught up with the two calipers that the eyeballs where also seeing

Geoff – Look forward to replies

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Not everyone knows what a ballpoint is. In a SciFi series recently a parallel universe was so computerised people considered manual writing implements historic artefacts. An inter universe traveller was given away by dropping a pen. We will soon be like that.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

They are clips for holding up your trouser cuffs.

Neil

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

It's a left hand version of one of these .

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

You beat me to it Neil, They where a mystery Item featured in ME a good few years back(1980s/90s).

Ian S C

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

> They where a mystery Item featured in ME a good few years back(1980s/90s).

Don't give away my secret!

Neil

[modeng2000Participant @modeng2000]

How do they work? Looks too spiteful to get anyway near them.

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

Bazyle,

'Fringe' by any chance?

Great series. They oh so nearly made a balls of both universes.

Nice one John!

Geoff – One other passion is SciFi. The 'Lensman' series of books being one of the very best.

[Eric CoxParticipant @ericcox50497]

Neils right, they are the forerunner of bicycle clips. You folded the trouser leg over at the ankle as per the norm but instead of using the spring steel clip you used the implement hooked into the trouser material.

Edited By Eric Cox on 28/06/2014 15:17:23

[NJHParticipant @njh]

They look a bit FISHY from that angle….I dunno but you've certainly got me hooked!

(O.K I'm leaving now)

N

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

> The 'Lensman' series of books being one of the very best.

Nothing to beat the tale of Qadgop the Mercotan.

Neil

[modeng2000Participant @modeng2000]

Thanks Eric.

[Oompa LumpaParticipant @oompalumpa34302]

Amazing, sort of lightweight, travelling (they fit into the small metal container) bicycle clips!

Really Amazing.

[StovepipeParticipant @stovepipe]

Yes – Lensman books are a very enjoyable series. Did they use cycle clips in the Lensman books ?

Dennis

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

I wonder, they might only work in trousers with turn ups, you would travel many a mile before finding those.

Ian S C

[mark costello 1Participant @markcostello1]

Not to hijack the thread, but, never heard of The Lensman, now off on another journey.

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

I have at last realised that the biro is not a part of the assembly. And I thought that was what socks are for.

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

The Lensman series comprises of 8 books by E.E. 'Doc' Smith.

Although written before WWII, some of the technology he describes is virtually bang up-to-date, with just his descriptions differing to the modern variety.

They where the first SciFi books I read in the early '70s, and I've been hooked ever since.

I actually bought a complete set a couple of years ago, as well as audiobooks.

Others have tried to carry on with the series, but their writing is not a patch on the original.

Well worth reading. I've now read them three times.

Geoff – Now reading 'Great North Road'

[Author]

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