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Photograph showing device attached to the seat-tube

I dug out my late Dad's bicycle. Dad used the bicycle during his medical school days in the late 1940s ... or so. The bicycle has accumulated sufficient rust that it is impossible to identify the manufacturer.

What is this device attached to the seat-tube? It's upper portion appears to be spring-loaded..

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    Are you sure the upper part has not been sliding down such that we can really take a clue from the distance between the two parts? If they were farther apart, it could have been a holder for a pump.
    – Christian Lindig
    Dec 27, 2016 at 17:31
  • The top-part may have slid down and/or been positioned thus. Could be rust holding it in that position after it slid down, or clamped firmly after it slid down. Could you post a reference please?
    – Everyone
    Dec 27, 2016 at 17:51
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    @ChristianLindig: Can you post that as an answer? Nathan has also posted it as an answer but your comment was on the ball sooner so if it comes as an answer I can accept it - else I'll accept Nathan's answer.
    – Everyone
    Dec 27, 2016 at 18:41
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    My first thought was, "Duh! The lettering's as clear as day!" And then I read it and realised it was the camera's date stamp. :-)
    – David Richerby
    Dec 27, 2016 at 20:26

2 Answers 2

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Are you sure the upper part has not been sliding down such that we can really take a clue from the distance between the two parts? I suspect that the two parts of the fixture are meant to hold an air pump with the upper part having come down.

On modern bikes the fixtures rely on a spring as part of the pump to secure it between the two pegs. It looks like here the fixture includes the spring to hold a pump that might not have been spring loaded.

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It appears to be a clamp-on pump peg that got moved down out of the way either intentionally or from coming loose.

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  • My first feeling as well. It must have been farther apart and has been used to hold something. The distance from the bar makes only a bike pump likely.
    – Willeke
    Dec 27, 2016 at 17:57
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    Looks like you're right. I ran a google image search and one of the results that came up appear to be a close match... i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTYwMFgxNjAw/z/p3YAAOSw42JWD8QZ/$_35.JPG Never seen something like that mounted upon current bicycles here on the sub-continent though ...
    – Everyone
    Dec 27, 2016 at 18:40
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    The top thing should be further up. It's a pump-holder, used to have one of those. The top one is spring-loaded. You could pull it upwards, insert the pump and let go. It would clamp the pump firmly, which was required in the days of cobbled roads.
    – Carel
    Dec 28, 2016 at 12:58

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