Plumbing – this old plumbing fixture and can it go

plumbingplumbing-fixture

I'm looking to do some DIY plumbing work, but this fixture confounds me. It looks like the biggest water hammer arrester, I've ever seen; but it can't be that simple. What is it, and what will I lose if I remove it?
What is this pipe for

Best Answer

I've never seen one of these (old ones) myself, but following Ed Beal's comment on a different question it's probably "an early form of damper as it was full of air" which could be as "large 2" pipe tee after the main valve with a stubbed leg verticle for 4-6 feet". A bit of googling can find similarly tall (and old looking) ones, although perhaps not quite as tall as yours (n.b., the one below was labeled "primitive"):

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