It would not normally, and now never be found in a house. Confusing enough for you?

18th?

would it normally be found on a boat/ship? (era non-specific)

No.

19th?

Does it transmit or receive?

I guess you could say it transmits.

The big one: question 20! Ask away!

Just to clarify my question, I didn't mean it to sound like I intended for an either/or answer. There are definitely three acceptable answers (two options and a neither).

It emits an electric signal through a wire generally. Sometimes wireless, though.

Still 20th...

To aid our twentieth question asker...

It is a powered device that can be considered a tool upon consideration, presumably due to the transmissions it sends out (whether wired or wireless). This device is an irregular shape, made of metal and some sort of plant-derived material, and of a size between a football and small car.

It doesn't measure anything, and it doesn't heat or cool anything... directly. Also, it has moving parts, but it doesn't have an engine.

So... good luck with the 20th question... cause the best guess I have at this point is some sort of computer, or telephone, or hell... a telegraph...

Telephones and telegraphs both recives and transmits, so does a computer. They are also found in houses quite often I would rather think of something like a wind turbine, but those are pretty regular in shape. Some kind of power producing gadget would be my guess

This is a unique item. It does produce a small amount of power through magnetic induction.

To clarify, when you say unique, you do mean "there is only one of these in existence in the known universe", right? Only I hear some people say "very unique", when what they mean is "unusual". It is not possible to have a "very unique" item, because something is either unique, or it isn't.

My guess would also probably be a telephone, but that isn't unique, you see. Whereas something like the president's phone in the Oval office would be unique, and would probably have some wood in it, which would satisfy the part plant-derived material point.

Anyone else got a better guess?

Your reasoning is very sound, Hambone. I DO know the actual meaning of the word unique and you describe it perfectly. A telephone's mic does produce a tiny charge from the sound entering it.

The item isn't a phone.

Now, let's get it on, compadres.

But it has to be something that is not placed inside. So something unique that sits outside but probably used to be used for some purpose since I assume as it's made from metal and wood/plant material. Also it's irregular of shape for some reason. So an antenna or something wouldn't fit that description. Could be an ornament of some kind.

The question earlier was about it being found in a house, not inside or outside!

Enough hints and clarifications you ne'erdowells!

I think it's something now found in a museum, like the first ever telegraph machine. My reasoning is:

1. "It's not normally and now never found in a house". This implies that it might have been in a house in the past, but most of the time it was found somewhere else (like a lab or telegraph office). But now it is never found in a house, which suggests it has reached its final resting place, e.g. a museum.
2. The item is unique (a piece of information that Mog revealed without us asking and I am going to file away as a very useful question), so I'm thinking it is the first instance of something that there may (have) been many of.
3. It produces some power by electric induction
4. Mog says it's not a telephone. So I reckon it's a telegraph or radio. Probably telegraph.

So my guess is that it's the first instance of a telegraph machine. Several were invented separately, but I'm going for the most famous - The original Morse telegraph, at the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution.

FINAL ANSWER

A museum is a house. Telegraphs is/were, as far as I know, almost always placed in houses. So it doesn't fit. It must have been something used outdoors (maybe on a house) and now permanently placed outdoors (or possibly in a tent or caravan or similar) as it is now never found in a house. Also the transmitting part of a telegraph is not bigger than a football I'd rather think a really big irregularly shaped doorbell fits better. Is there a famous such ? The liberty bell wound fit if it wasn't for the transmitting a small electric current and the wireing thingy

Last Edited : Friday, 11 May 2012 - 04:29

I'm not so sure, let's look at your objections:
1) A museum is not a house.
2) I think you normally had to go to a telegraph office to send a telegraph. If you had a telegraph in your house, why did someone turn up at your house to deliver a telegram? Also, you'd have to learn Morse Code to use your house telegraph.
3) Although Morse developed his telegraph apparatus in the Speedwell Ironworks, he first demonstrated it in a house attached to the factory.
4) Bigger than a football. I can't find any dimensions and haven't been to the Smithsonian. But the photos of the apparatus look like it is pretty big. Prototypes normally are - it will get miniaturized later. See upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/15/Morse_tegraph.jpg/220px-Morse_tegraph.jpg - look at the size of the apparatus compared to the battery (they didn't have AAA batterys back then).

www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definitions/house
12. A building in which something is sheltered or located; "they had a large carriage house"

also
18. A firm, or commercial establishment.[Websters]
19. A public house; an inn; a hotel.
...
21. A square on a chessboard, regarded as the proper place of a piece.
22. An audience; an assembly of hearers, as at a lecture, a theater, etc.; as, a thin or a full house.
23. The body, as the habitation of the soul.
24. The grave

but I think if the thing was "the corpse of Jim Morrison" and we asked "Is it normally found in a house, Mog would not answer yes because of Websters definition #24.

Final clarification Mog - without giving too much away - in your answer to Q17, you stated it is now never found in a house.

In the definition(s) of house that you used to answer this question, would the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution constitute "a house"?