Too Bad! Too Sad! No Winner!

Despite an overwhelming response and, I'm sure, untold hours of research there is no winner.

What’s it for or do?

Once upon a time the air conditioner in our house sprung a leak and lost all the freon. I fixed the leak but I had to pump the unit down to replace the freon. I didn't have a vacuum pump so I took the air conditioner compressor off of my pickup and the motor off my band saw, welded some brackets to a old pipe and used it to evacuate my AC system. It worked good, the home air conditioner worked good, and we never had any more problems.

What function does the 2” X 4” on the end serve?

It's a round pipe. If I didn't have the 2” X 4” on the end it would roll over when I laid it on the ground to use it.

What year was the mechanical device that is not the electric motor made?

1977. I took it off of my 1978 Ford pickup that was sold new in October 1977.

Now, here is the sad part. I have a vivid memory of the day I made this thing. When I completed the construction, I put it on my shoulder, picked up the bottle of freon and carried them about 300 ft the the AC unit. When I found it again last month I could barely pickup one end and drag it. Didn't Einstein say something about the more time passes the heaver and object gets?