The "What Is This?" game

[Janx101]

Tisha boom!

[Elmojo]

Tisha? I do not know that woman. 

[Watcher]

Morse code thing?

[Elmojo]

Nope! Good guess though.

[Kiwingenuity]

Aneroid barometer cells? from an old fashioned analogue barometer?

[Elmojo]

*Ding Ding Ding* We have a winner!

It's a recording barometer, from a sailboat that one of my clients used to live on.
It still records, but he hasn't changed the paper in a while, so it's drawing spirals on the drum.
Very cool to see a visual graph of the past weather, especially when a storm comes through and it drops like a stone. 
Good job Kiwi, your turn! 

[Kiwingenuity]

Absolutely have to admire the workmanship in some of the old analogue instruments out there - saw a working example of one in a jewellers not too long ago.

Since it is a Friday and I am sitting on a work PC here is something vaguely unusual and somewhat expensive to maintain.

[Watcher]

Some kind of gripper for indexing?

[Elmojo]

All the parts of the "jaws" appear to be fixed in place by the pins and bolts.
Is it a blade guide for a huge bandsaw?

[Watcher]

Bandsaw doesnt strike me as "expensive to maintain".

It does seem like a piece of production equipment, though...

[Kiwingenuity]

It does grip - but what?..

It is expensive to maintain due to what it grips not being able to be removed from operation very often. Definitely not a bandsaw part.

hint - notice the tubes it is attached to

[Watcher]

Looks extremely familiar for some reason.

Does it involve ropes?

[Elmojo]

Also, I don't see any tubes in the photo, which part are they?

[mennobike]

red and black, on the left edge

[Janx101]

Something something insulator clamp something?

[Elmojo]

Can we get a size reference?

[Kiwingenuity]

Something something insulator clamp something?

Oooh so close.. whats the opposite thing to this?

size - about your hand (size L glove)

[Elmojo]

A conductor!
For heat or electricity.

[Kiwingenuity]

Elmojo has it - it is a busbar conductor grip.  It is attached to an itty bitty vacuum circuit breaker which is rated 3.3kV @ 1200A

[Elmojo]

So are the tubes vacuum lines?
Cool stuff in any case.
Ok, give this a shot...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gh5sf5l26gdb6tj/thingy.jpg?dl=0