Need info cool brass winch,

I can tell you what the environment was like that this device was used in. This can be determine with some certainty, from the "whitish" corrosion and that this corrosion is uniformly distributed. The corrosion often called "white rust" or "wet storage stain". The white residue is actually zinc oxide. It occurs when zinc or alloys containing zinc, has a very wet and continuous exposure to moisture (water). The air atmosphere (quality of air) was low in oxygen and carbon dioxide. In short a condition most metals would fail due to rapid corrosion.

The new pictures tell me this is RED BRASS, WITH A LOW ZINC COMPOSITION. Probably a 5% zinc, 5% tin added as a inhibitor agent to prevent corrosion. May also contain a 1 to 5% lead for machine-ability. Other metals aluminum and iron to harden. One thing is pronounced with the new pictures, there is a high copper content (85% maybe), obvious with the red color. Almost making this "Bronze" as it is Brass, this composition or copper alloy is called "Gun Metal". A very hard, durable and resist corrosion.



As I only see surface white rust and uniform distribution and no signs of galvanic corrosion, that would cause dezincification (the leeching of zinc, resulting in lost zinc and a physically weakened alloy). Who ever designed this device, built it to be strong, endure a corrosive environment. A Nice find, if it was me, I would keep it, but I'm weird, I keep old $hit with no possible future use.

Did you clean the front plate any? looks like someone has, that white rust should be on all of the device (are most of it). You can tell because it is behind all of the moving parts and inside the device frame. I'm thinking this was not a permanently installed device. More like was installed or attached to a much larger unit to facilitate a task (loading/unloading, maintenance/repairs). It looks like it was pinned or bolted to for temporary use. More like a tool, than a part of larger unit. (guessing, with a technical background).