La Brea Bike 

Frame building, I assume?

CliffordK

Somebody having fun?

It doesn't appear to me to have any specific use with bicycles, but I do wonder if somebody built it as a custom wrench for something, possibly not even bike related.

Chainwhip? Still, it would need to be anchored.

HillRider

Yeah, looks like someone just made a toy with left over parts. It's just a set of Campy dropouts hooked together with a bit of spare chain. I suppose they could be a set of 9 mm and 10 mm open end wrenches with no handles for leverage.

La Brea Bike 

Apparently multiple of these were found in the Campy toolbox...

CliffordK

Anybody know when Campagnolo started stamping their chain plates?

The rear dropout appears to have been clamped by a skewer multiple times, but I don't see any signs of brazing.

Perhaps this was used to apply tension to the cones while adjusting.

JohnDThompson 

Those look to me like SedisSport chain links.

The black oxide would have been dissolved by the brazing flux had they ever been brazed. I thought the same about them being used for cone adjustment. The OP states there were many of them in a box. I wonder if there were similar left-side pieces chained together.

In any case, it's home-made, not a Campagnolo factory tool.

La Brea Bike 

This was purchased in a lot with a frame jig as well... Dunno...

CliffordK

If it is homebuilt, there may not be an easy answer.

One could use it to protect dropouts from a knurled skewer during building, but then why not just find non-knurled skewer

I'm leaning towards a spacer for cone adjustment. But, you could try the Frame Builder's subforum if you think it has to do with frame building.

I.B.Roots

small, compact martial arts nun-chucks that you can take on tour?

79pmooney

My guess - used in pairs to be clamped with the QR when adjusting the cones. Adjust cone, tighten QR, feel axle, repeat. No bike required. Takes up little space in a toolbox. There might even be a creative way to hang the other dropouts on the wheel so the ones being used stay in place while wrenching the cones. (Stick through the spokes?)

Ben

Jeff Wills

IIRC: used by the mechanic in the support car to pre-adjust the QR on the spare wheels. This speeds wheel changes by not having to check the adjustment on the QR after a wheel swap: rider flats, removes wheel, mechanic installs spare wheel and clamps down on re-adjusted QR, rider sprints away.

La Brea Bike 

Ah, that makes a lot of sense!!!

CliffordK

Time to add Lawyer Lips and Locking Washers.

djb

neat idea (if true) that makes sense

although IB Roots answer gets points for funny.....and the associated visuals.

HillRider

I think you are right. Campy hubs, at least my 2006 vintage Chorus hubs and other similar models, allow for hub final adjustment with the wheel clamped in the dropouts. Perhaps two of these were used by mechanics to adjust the hubs with out having the actual bike.

sweeks

Makes sense... but wouldn't you need two of them? I guess he said there were more than one...

CliffordK

Front wheel and rear wheel.
And, probably yes, 2 or 3... plus a few spares for the ones that get lost. The two sides would need to be rather independent, although perhaps could be tied together with a piece of string.

justinschulz9

so why would it be attached with a chain then?
this may be a support car tool but how is this practical?

CliffordK

Are the front and rear dropouts different enough to want to have a different dropout for the front vs rear?

If I was doing it, probably 1 tool for all.

The chain would be a fun way to connect it all together, and would reduce tangles of having multiple strings or cables.

ksryder

It's obviously a dropout tension whip adjuster.

sweeks

I meant you'd need two of each so you could adjust the QR... there are, after all, two dropouts at each end of the bike.

Drew Eckhardt 

That was a recent change for Record/Chorus rear hubs in 1999 and fronts 2000 when they upgraded from standard 10mm and 9mm steel to larger aluminum axles.

1999 Record front hubs used a unique adjustable preload cartridge bearing.

Drew Eckhardt 

Yes. Front axles are 9mm, rear 10mm. Dropout thickness can vary too.

Cyclist753

If you have multiples and that you don't need then I'll take a set off of your hands... two of each!

Jeff Wills

I see a front dropout attached to a rear dropout. You would have two of these setups and use them to adjust the tension on the QR's while you're just riding along or while caring for spare parts between stages. A couple of these beats carting a frame & fork around just to check the QR's. Having the two dropouts chained together beats having a bunch of loose dropouts sitting around, waiting for one to get lost.