Steel Yoke?

[Garet]

Any idea what this is? It's next to the furnace in a 1903 duplex, which originally would have been heated by a coal-fired, gravity furnace. For scale, the yoke is probably about 15 inches across the top.

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[Neal Lewis]

Could it have held an old oil burner?

[Bill Kibbel]

I'd guess it supported a worm housing, that contained the worm that fed coal to the furnace from the hopper.

[waynesoper]

Looks like a tank support, but there would have been 2 of course. Older hot water storage tanks were set on those sometimes.

[Garet]

Could it have held an old oil burner?

Highly unlikely. Oil heat was extremely rare around here and there was evidence of an old coal bin.