The scary thing is, that makes complete sense to me, unlike the other answers.Those are base plate pins, and what's cool about these is that not only are they made of pre-famulated amulite, they are also surmounted by a malleable logarithmic casing. Without getting too technical, they're used to reduce sinusoidal depleneration in panendurmic semi-bolloid slots on (or in, depending on model) panametric fan shafts.