Sunday, August 19, 2012

CWS Puzzled

CWS Metal Puzzle
Picked this intriguing item the other day. Obviously the initials CWS (Co-operative Wholesale Society) took my interest. Approximately 7cm x 3cm x 0.4cm thick. It's metal, possibly steel and weighs 24 grams. Embossed into it are the words "For Quality", "Reg. Des", and "789052".

So what is it? Is it part of something larger? Puzzled, I soon found the answer. Registered Design 789052 is from 1934. It is part of a tanglement puzzle. You need at least two pieces in a puzzle and you have to separate them. It usually wastes a lot of your time to solve. Then you have to put it back together. Unfortunately the last time this puzzle was solved the other piece which was a tiny horseshoe got lost. It'll never be solved again. The chances of finding the other piece is a bit slim.

You can read all about Tanglement Puzzles, and see hundreds of photographs of them at Rob's Puzzle Page. In there is the puzzle itself, complete with the other part. 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

We still have the complete puzzle and every time we come across it in the drawer, we have to play this puzzle. As was said - a great time waster, but still fun!

You can email : coop AT biffadigital.org with any information that will help in the making of this history.