Another what's this?

[Bill Kibbel]

Since were discussing obsolete, old-house parts:

Somebody found this in their attic.

[Richard Moore]

Cisterns (water tanks) in attics were the norm in England when I lived there and we had one in our house. Strange...the gravity fed water pressure in the house must have sucked by the standards I'm now used to, but I don't remember that. Of course, we didn't have showers. You took a bath once a week, whether you needed it or not.

Or...was the cistern just for flushing the toilet? Long time ago and I wasn't really paying attention to house components back then.