locomotive part what is it the mystery thickens what is this

[joshtesla]

it could be maybe a removable Amber catcher, they would mount something inside the smokestack and it would have a pipe that wheel thing would slide onto. I guess the logic of that would be to convert a train that does not have any way to control the embers coming out of the smokestack and burning down the forest and other equipment and they would simply easily placed this on to stop that. I tried looking for the patent number was not able to find anything the closest thing I could find for that patent number is a completely irrelevant piece from an axle of a car