Josh,

The circular part is the "float bowl cover" from a Zenith patent brass 
updraft carburetor. Originally patented by Zenith (Societe du Carbureteur 
Zenith) and licensed to several manufacturers, including Zenith of America 
(who sub-licensed "The White Motor Company") which produced the one from 
which your part came. This float bowl cover came from an updraft model 
(similar to the Zenith Models "0" through  "04" ... you can view pictures of 
a Model 04 on eBay (this is a "plain" Zenith, without the White Motor 
Company imprimatur, but I believe it is pretty much identical to the one 
made/used by White, except for the "advertising" on the float bowl cover), 
if you hurry ... the eBay sale ends in a day-or-so ... here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270374058167

Your carburetor may have been from a White industrial motor (I believe they 
sold stationary motors for industrial applications ... like mills of various 
kinds, including sawmills, but I believe these were identical to the engines 
in their trucks, and only differed in the type of chassis they were mounted 
upon), but could just as easily have been from a White truck of the period 
(circa 1917-1918 is my guess for the time frame ... I dunno about Tennessee, 
but in Texas, the small "peckerwood" mills of the era commonly used gasoline 
engines scavenged from trucks, rather than engines designed/manufactured 
expressly for industrial use ... and I believe the carbs on both the truck 
and mill engines circa 1917-1918 were probably identical).

Also, the White Motor Company produced a truck specifically aimed at the 
logging industry (so your parts may actually be from a logging truck, rather 
than the mill ... or both ... since a "smart operator" would have the same 
engine on his mill and all his trucks to keep things simpler in terms of 
universality of repair parts ... I've included links to several of these 
rugged early White logging trucks in action, below).

There is a nice illustration (and description of operation, also showing the 
vacuum system) of a Zenith Model "0" (which is most likely the model of 
carburetor your parts came from) in a 1918 U.S. Army carburetor service 
manual, here:

http://books.google.com/books?id=53hMAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA312&dq=%22Zenith+carburetor%22&lr=&as_brr=3#PPA311,M1

Zenith (of Detroit) really became a mover-and-shaker in the carburetor 
bidness after WWI (probably from the good rep and connections/contracts 
gained from their widespread use in military vehicles) ... by 1921 (but the 
design of their truck carburetors had changed from the earlier style of 
yours, by then):

http://books.google.com/books?id=LLMnAAAAMAAJ&pg=PT596&dq=%22Zenith+carburetor%22&lr=&as_brr=3

http://books.google.com/books?id=UHEhAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA11-PA38-IA5&dq=%22Zenith+carburetor%22&lr=&as_brr=3

Early carburetor patent holders charged Zenith with infringing their patents 
and sued in Chicago courts 1912 (this case file doubtlessly would lay-out 
the history of patent claims in mind-numbing detail):

http://books.google.com/books?id=8swqAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA1309&dq=%22Zenith+carburetor%22&lr=&as_brr=3

Here is a picture (from the White Truck archives) of a 1912-1914 White 5-ton 
logging truck belonging to Savage-Scofield of Enumclaw, WA. This picture was 
taken in 1915:

http://www.hankstruckpictures.com/pix/trucks/goudy/white/1912-14_white_5t_logger.jpg

This pair of White trucks, hauled B-I-G logs in California in the 1920's:

http://www.hankstruckpictures.com/pix/trucks/goudy/white/white_loggers.jpg

White trucks were also quite useful and common in the period circa 1910-1920 
for delivering other products, for example, beer (or shine *chuckle*). This 
one is a 1911 3-ton White truck belonging to The Standard Brewing Company of 
Cleveland, Ohio, where these trucks were produced::

http://www.hankstruckpictures.com/pix/trucks/goudy/white/standard_brewing_1911_white_3t.jpg

Oh, the other part looks like a "threaded hose barb" used to interconnect 
the vacuum tank (a necessary part of these early carburetor systems, see 
manuals cited above) and the carburetor with rubber vacuum hose.

Bob Skiles (whose grandfather was an intinerant sawmill "filer" whenever he 
wasn't "cooking shine," whose father was a sawmiller as a young man in the 
Great Depression, and who, himself, has researched quite a few early 
sawmills for archaeological projects ... and as a former U.S. Forest Service 
archaeologist in the Piney Woods of eastern Texas and the Pacific Northwest 
... and whose ancestors came to Texas from Tennessee 3 & 4 generations ago)

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tuschl, Joshua (Nashville,TN-US)" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, April 17, 2009 3:17 PM
Subject: Unidentified Artifacts from a Sawmill and Associated Town


> At TRC, we've been working on an early 20th century sawmill and
> associated town recently.  As is frequently the case, we have some
> artifacts that we've been unable to completely identify.  If any of you
> need a break from your excavations and writing, perhaps you could take a
> look at the pictures I've posted at the link below and give me any ideas
> you might have.
>
> http://archaeoseek.ning.com/photo/albums/ravensford-mystery-artifacts
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
>
> Josh Tuschl
> Lab Manager
> TRC
> 1865 Air Lane Dr., Ste. 9
> Nashville, TN 37210
>
> Phone: 615-884-4430
> Fax:   615-884-4431