Can anyone tell me what this is? I found it in an 1880’s vintage house in Lambertville, NJ. It was on a shelf in a second-floor closet. It is an all-metal container (approx. three gallon capacity). It has a glass sight gauge and spigot. A 1″ diameter iron pipe comes out of the top and vents to the outside of the house. The same diameter pipe came out of the bottom and ran straight down to the basement. Whatever it was once connected to is no longer in the basement. I was going to remove it but was worried about doing damage to the brick exterior of the house. So now it just sits there in that closet mystifying everyone. I’d sure like to know what its original purpose was.
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My guess is that it's a duplicate post. In fact, I'm fairly sure of it.
It's a remote water tank. Probably added before high pressure munincipal water supplies were available. Could have been added to the house when those new contraptions, flushing toilets or bathrooms, became the thing to have. Tank is placed high in the house for the pressure.