What is this?

[willits18]

I have never seen one of these before. This is under the hood of my 1950 Dodge B2D pickup truck.  This is the first Dodge truck this old I have worked on.  There is a cable and wire to open and close this in the cab. I couldn't find anything about this in my shop manual. It doesn't look like any type of heating device. There is a vent in the cowl.  Any help appreciated. Thanks, Tracy. 

[stylesadamson]

Voltage Regulator

[stylesadamson]

Oh....you mean that thing next to it....

[willits18]

I was talking about the round thing with 2 tubes coming out of the top just to the right of the regulator. 

[Merle Coggins]

Can you get a close up of the logo, stamping, on the end?  I've never seen anything like that. Are the tubes open all the way into the base unit? Is there anything else connected to it, outside or inside the firewall?

[Reg Evans]

Where does the wire go to from that contraption?  It's definitely an after market doohickey.

[Jeff Balazs]

Could it be some sort of solenoid actuated heater control valve? Perhaps it was used instead of a manual valve on the heater connection at the rear of the cylinder head.

Jeff

[greg g]

"Turboenabulator"!

 

[Plymouthy Adams]

its a fartwhipper

[kencombs]

You say it opens and closes, what exactly opens/closes?  path between tubes or?  Is there an electrical connection?  If so, where to?

[Radarsonwheels]

The two tubes look like some kind of elaborate venting so water can’t get in or something? They are open at the bottom edge right?

 

The case looks like it could have a motor in it?

 

And the coat of arms logo is pretty cool too. The last mystery on here (possible keyhook turns out to be a pivot for a bus driver style fan) was a juicy one I hope we get to the bottom of this.

 

And I couldn’t help hitting like on Plymouthy’s post- it wasn’t helpful but “fartwhipper” has such a nice ring to it and those could be spark arrestors in case the electric motor reacts badly with the methane...

[willits18]

As near as I can tell there has never been any electrical connections at all. There is no motor in it. There is a cable that connects to it from the dash panel on the inside. It seems like some kind of venting system but there is no tube to the interior of the truck. The truck was a farm truck in south central Nebraska for over 50 years. I have just never seem any thing like it before. I will probably have to take it off to see what it is and does-if I can figure it out!?

[Plymouthy Adams]

you may wish to investigate some of the hardware associated with milking machines that run off engine vacuum.....

[HotRodTractor]

2 hours ago, Plymouthy Adams said:

you may wish to investigate some of the hardware associated with milking machines that run off engine vacuum.....

 

That is a possibility, but I have never seen a rig like that and I have seen a pretty good amount of dairy collectible over the years. Its not uncommon to find an old farm vehicle with a vacuum port to hook up to an old pulsator.

[T120]

Forum member, JIPJOBXX, called his blackout Dodge."Cowdodge"…. 

[Mike36]

Boy am I disappointed, you guys don’t know a manual flux capacitor when you see one?

[Plymouthy Adams]

On ‎11‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 10:07 AM, T120 said:

Forum member, JIPJOBXX, called his blackout Dodge."Cowdodge"…. 

careful slinging that name around...we do not want a Beetlejuice experience here....