Solving the Whatziss...

Casey and OFS get constructive credit on the main item, though they were only *close* not quite correct - in that their answer was correct, if essentially incomplete.

The items in the second picture of the Whatziss post are the *waterproof liner* and gasket for a mine horn. And yes, Casey, essentially they are little batteries-in-waiting, which, when crushed by contact with a ship, the chemicals mix to make a battery, setting off the mine. More specifically, this ship crushes the lead horn, which cracks the vial of sulfuric acid inside it, the acid then running down a tube and into a lead-acid battery which until that point contains no electrolyte. That fires up the battery, which detonates the explosive.

Earlier forms of this type of detonator had horns filled with sulfuric acid, surrounded by the mixture of potassium perchlorate and sugar. When the horn was crushed, the acid mixed with an ignited the perchlorate-sugar mix, and the flame exploded the charge. Here's the complete picture, minus the part (the actual horn) that I've used as a "Whatziss" in the past:

In complete context, so to speak (well, absent the whole lying on the sea-floor waiting for a ship to brush it thing) is a typical german naval mine - drop the thing from the minelayer, it drops to the sea-floor, and then releases the mine on a tether to float below the surface, waiting for that unsuspecting victim.

Now, the first item in the whatziss, that was just there to be there and not really intended as a challenge - it was similar to posting a valve spring from an engine all by itself and asking you to identify it. I'm not *quite* that mean... Bar shot? That didn't occur to me - not just because I knew what it was, but I've never seen bar shot with a valve on it before. MunDane, who made the only semi-serious attempt, offered up a condenser, possibly from a small steam engine.

It's a component (about 17 inches in length) of the pneumatic guidance system for a V1 "Buzz Bomb," that fell in the Kentish countryside in 1944.

No, I didn't expect anyone to get that. I looked hard, but there's nothing on the 'net that showed it - though I did find it in an exploded drawing I have in a book - well, that's not on the 'net, eh? That was just there because I thought it would be fun to put it up there and see how creative you guys go.

The *most* creative (yet predictable) answers were thankfully emailed me.