posted 10-23-2014 06:53 AM               

I was hoping folks here could help me identify what the artifact in the lucite is. Friends are asking me and I don't know.

It is one of the large lucite displays 7x5 inches. The artifact inside the lucite is a hollow tube 2.75 inches long and approximately one-third of an inch in diameter. There is a triangular shaped collar (curved on one side) over the tube on the one end. A small bolt goes all the way through the collar and the tube into the other side of the collar. Obviously to hold it in place somewhere. This bolt through the tube would in my opinion impede any fluid or gas/oxygen etc. running through the line.

At Heritage Auctions, there is an almost identical piece in the current November auction. Who knows I may bid on this one also.

The only difference is my artifact has slightly less corrosion and has what appears to be writing in black or blue felt tipped pen on one side of the surface of the collar over the tube.

A Google search on the history of felt pens indicates felt pens were not readily used until the mid-1960s. If this is correct, I would assume the markings were made by the restoration team in Kansas post 1999. It would be very cool if it was an engineering marking during construction but I think thats a stretch on this one.

posted 10-23-2014 10:42 AM               

As I remember being told or reading somewhere it was part if a landing bag attached to the bottom of the vehicle.

Prior to splashdown the heat shield would separate from the vehicle by a couple of feet and be held in place by this landing bag. Upon impact with the ocean, the bag would cushion the impact. The tubing was part of a framework that supported the bag.

Here are some drawings of what I am trying to describe.