Old test equipment - guess what it does. - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: ADT123
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2017, 03:46:27 pm
content: Sorry for the rather poor photo (and slightly off topic post) but can anyone guess what this bit of old test equipment was used for. Bonus point if your answer includes why it has a telephone.

author: StillTrying
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2017, 03:56:04 pm
content: Measuring mains water pressure somehow ?

author: don.r
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2017, 04:31:03 pm
content: I was going to say seismograph but there does seem to be a lot of water related equipment nearby. Phone is for emergency contact? "SHUT IT DOWN NOW!!!!"

author: ralphrmartin
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2017, 06:53:24 pm
content: Is it for testing WCs?

author: Fungus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2017, 06:58:00 pm
content: It's a rainfall gauge with chart recorder.

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2017, 07:05:50 pm
content: I'd say it's a feed water level (not pressure) recorder for something steam related. The switch appears to be labeled "Raise water".The phone is probably to warn about imminent explosion, and to wake up the operator!It looks too old to be nuclear (as in 'Don't expose the core!') Coal fired power station boiler feed water?Edit: Hey, it's nothing to do with Tower Bridge is it?

author: don.r
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2017, 09:30:07 pm
content: A lock control!?!?!?

author: Vtile
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2017, 09:40:15 pm
content: It is energy meter, but how it relates to water.That were just a guess since it does have gears in it as first electromechanical energy meters tend to have.Is the clear tube and the "flow / viscosity bullet" part of the test setup of this device?

author: StillTrying
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2017, 10:16:38 pm
content: If you mirror the image you can see this in the reflection.

author: rob.manderson
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2017, 11:00:03 pm
content: Is it for testing a fire alarm? The phone is for calling the fire brigade *before* testing so they know it's a test.In my first year apprenticeship (1970) one of my daily tasks was to do just that - use the phone to tell em it's a test, then press the button (it was in a cabinet rather like the one shown). Naturally, one morning I forget the phone part of the task. Quite embarrassing when the fire brigade turned up to a non-existent fire. Fortunately apprentices are forgiven the consequences!

author: bjcuizon
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 10, 2017, 01:44:54 am
content: Quote from: StillTrying on September 09, 2017, 10:16:38 pmThe first word obviously is "Water" then the next one is "Mains"??The 3rd one (lower left)...I dont know. But the fourth one is "Pipes"SO MUST BE SOMETHING RELATED TO WATER (as others have said)

author: schmitt trigger
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 10, 2017, 02:12:33 am
content: Also, the blue joystick control on the bottom appears to say something like "raise water"?

author: thisguy
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 10, 2017, 05:17:06 am
content: "Raise water", and "Release to lower water" ?

author: ADT123
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 10, 2017, 06:22:52 am
content: Some good (close) guesses.Its a 1960s instrument / data logger for measuring water level in a river. The clever part is that the water level was used to select different recorded messages so you can phone up to get the current level.Now days of course you can just view this sort of data on the web but that did not come along for another 25 years.Not actually seen it myself (a friend who knows I am into this sort of thing) sent me the photo. It is an exhibit at the waterworks museum in Hereford, UK -http://www.waterworksmuseum.org.uk

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 10, 2017, 09:12:12 am
content: Clever, I wondered what those two cords/tubes/sleeves/wires were coming out of the bottom.Quote from: Vtile on September 09, 2017, 09:40:15 pm

author: DTJ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 10, 2017, 11:38:51 am
content: Quote from: Gyro on September 10, 2017, 09:12:12 amBecause it's a museum display and not a real installation.......Maybe the large clear tube on the left is supposed to represent the stilling well and float for measuring the level.The cable running down the then float in the stilling well probably would have exited the bottom of the wooden case.As the float moved up and down the cable would rotate that bottom horizonal shaft in the cabinet??

author: schmitt trigger
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 11, 2017, 04:51:25 pm
content: Quote from: ADT123 on September 10, 2017, 06:22:52 amThe very last message was: "Oh, Shit!"

author: bjcuizon
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 11, 2017, 06:42:44 pm
content: So this is where you call before you go fishin' to know the tide in the river?