A few years ago I had the (dis-) pleasure of clearing out much of
a defunct textile mill, the White Mill, in Athens, Georgia.  In the
corner of one of its massive chambers sat some huge, yellow-painted
cast iron machinery that, because of its innately attractive and rather
"skeletal" (steam locomotive-ish) design, indicated that it was of
1920s or earlier vintage.

But the mess all over it, I initially assumed, indicated that it had
been through a fire.  Closer examination, though, in better light,
revealed that the "mess" was drippings of black rubber, and that this
device was the coating apparatus for cloth fed through it.

Since then, I suspect that all the old machinery in the mill has been
sold for scrap.  But if someone here is seriously fanatical enough to
want to add this 2-ton, gooey chunk of history to their collection,
I'll consider going back to see if it's still there.

Gordon Stelter