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Can anyone help ID this "gizmo"?
Old 03-16-2011, 11:09 AM   #1
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Can anyone help ID this "gizmo"?

Yesterday, as I was flying down the highway at 70+ mph, I glanced over at the late-model Mercedes-Benz 530SL in the lane next to me and saw the driver holding a "gizmo", that it appeared like he later breathed-into?

I cannot figure out what this gizmo was. I'm hoping someone here can satisfy my curiosity. Mind you, I glanced over as I was driving, so I'm describing this from a very brief observation...

The gizmo was a rectangular white box (which looked to be a plastic case containing some electronics), approximately 5" x 9" x 1" with a fairly large "window" on one of the 5" x 9" sides that appeared to show lit-up electronic numbers. The lit-up digits looked to be about 1" high, and there may have been 7 or 8 of them.

The gizmo had a thick white cable (which dropped out of sight, so I don't know what it may have been connected to) connected to the middle of the "bottom" = 5" x 1" side .

Coming out of the "top" (= the other 5" x 1" side) was a short metal tube (maybe 2" long and 1/2" in diameter)and on top of that tube was a somewhat conical metal piece. It's into this thing I think I saw the driver breathing-into (or perhaps talking into?)

My first thought was "Is that a breathalyzer?" but that didn't make sense, as he was already driving the vehicle at highway speeds.

So, based on this admittedly sketchy information, can anyone venture a guess or, better yet, answer me definitely as to what this gizmo was?

omni
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Old 03-16-2011, 11:27 AM   #2
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Guess is a breathalyzer.

We knew a guy that had one in his car as a condition of DUI probation. He had to blow into it before the car would start. Not aware that he had to blow in it as he drove down the road though.
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Old 03-16-2011, 11:33 AM   #3
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Maybe he was practice blowing?

Or everytime he stopped blowing the car would slow down.
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Old 03-16-2011, 11:38 AM   #4
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LOL

I just googled 'breathalyzer" and all of the images I found were for a much smaller device -- something closer to a large cell phone in size.

This gizmo was almost the size and shape of a soft-cover book.

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Old 03-16-2011, 11:39 AM   #5
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Was it Dennis Hopper by chance ?




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Old 03-16-2011, 11:48 AM   #6
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Maybe a portable oxygen concentrator?
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Old 03-16-2011, 11:51 AM   #7
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Original car phone.
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Old 03-16-2011, 12:07 PM   #8
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Maybe it's a home made tobacco spitting container. Tobacco spitters do all kinds of crazy things to keep chewing.
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Old 03-16-2011, 12:34 PM   #9
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Maybe a portable nebulizer ?

Strong, Dependable Nebulizer Compressors From $27 -Omron Nebulizer Compressor and DeVilbiss Nebulizer Machine
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Old 03-16-2011, 01:07 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MasterBlaster View Post
Was it Dennis Hopper by chance ?





I think he has passed on so that would be a handy device to have!
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Old 03-16-2011, 01:57 PM   #11
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+1 for nebulizer.
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