Antique B&W Billiard Iron

[ryanah147]

Bought this iron in during the week and Im wondering what those 4 cylindrical rings are for. Anyone here have any ideas or suggestions?.IMG_0078.jpg

[philip in china]

Are they part of the original casting or have they been welded on at a later stage? I can't make out how they are made exactly.

[100-uper]

Looks like sections of a scaffolding pole tack-welded to the iron. I would be pretty confident that Burroughes & Watts had no hand in the conversion. Probably used for something totally unconnected with billiards.

[philip in china]

A bit heavy for scaffolding pipe I would have thought but almost certainly a later addition.

I wonder if somebody has used the iron as a weighted base for some purpose and the 4 pieces of pipe are attached to take something. I don't know what.

Even if they were something which is original it would be difficult to cast in that shape. Those pipes just don't look like castings for a number of reasons.

Do they retain water if they are filled? Also is there a seam of weld running up the pipes. It should be fairly clear if there is. If so they are welded pipe.

I wouldn't tack weld to cast iron. I would braze. Welding to cast is notoriously difficult and often causes the casting to crack as the weld cools.

Looks like sections of a scaffolding pole tack-welded to the iron. I would be pretty confident that Burroughes & Watts had no hand in the conversion. Probably used for something totally unconnected with billiards.

[ryanah147]

Thank you Philip and Peter for your replies. I have just had another look at the iron and as you suggested these `rings` were fitted at a later date. It is a 1" pipe with no seams. The weld is done on the inside of the ring to the top of the iron showing no blobs of weld on the outside.
The sole of the iron is quite smooth with very little pitting,it has also been cleaned and sanded to show it must have been used to iron the table in the last year.
The table which it came with was one we got for nothing as the aged owner had died and the family had no more use for it.
Looking at this pic which I have just taken you will see the rings fixed over the `B` in Burroughes, and the `TT` in Watts.
Iv been in this trade a long time and have never come accross anything like this.
I have just rang the son of the table owner and he informed me that the iron was always used as an iron (not a doorstop or anything in that line) and as long as he can remember the 4 `adornments` were always there.
Well.... looks like a job for Geoff !!!!IMG_0079.jpg

[philip in china]

The reason I asked if the tubes hold liquid is that I thought they might have been filled with meths or something of the sort, the spirit lit and the iron heated that way. Of course that is pure conjecture on my part.

[perpetualboredom]

Short stubby candle holders for ironing your table in the dark?
Unlikely the maker would cover up their name with them if they were original, so I'll add my tuppence to a later addition.

[sberry]

heat rises, that would not work (meths/spirit)

[jrc750]

I was thinking maybe to help with cooling ?? maybe corners were getting too hot, and somehow these would help ??
I dunno, just thinking aloud

[DeanH]

maybe just hot water?
but not sure about this either, I would not like any liquid being moved above the table cloth
definitely looks like a later addition

[ryanah147]

Wow!, the plot is really thickening with this one, and thank you all for your suggestions... keep em coming.
The table which the iron came with was fitted in 1951, and before that it was housed in the old Marconi Telegraph Station in the southwest of Ireland, maybe the alteration was done then. I do not know if the iron came in its present condition when it was sold with the table.
Short stubby candle holders would make very good sense if the iron was not used for ironing the table, but seeing that it was, it just discounts that idea.
Ah well.... looks like Im back to square one.

[sberry]

LoL, now you say As it's obviously added afterwards it was probably for some other weird use as most of these ended up as ornaments, door stops, etc, but a candle holder would work as you could put 4 good size candles in the corners for a good light effect and it has a handle (though maybe not for carrying when candles alight!) - perhaps for playing snooker in a power cut

[philip in china]

Convection rises. Not all heat distribution is via convection.

heat rises, that would not work (meths/spirit)

[DeanH]

heat through materials is conduction
but if these were for hot water or oil, etc., you would have thought there would have been a lid of some sort for protection of the user and the table

[philip in china]

Which is why I suggested meths burners. None of us knows. The idea that it had been used as a candle holder- or some other totally none snooker iron related use- is most likely.

heat through materials is conduction
but if these were for hot water or oil, etc., you would have thought there would have been a lid of some sort for protection of the user and the table