Unidentified bits of test gear

[Techman]

From the same place as the recent 'lot' of old valves is this, the first of some strange bits of kit that I acquired. It looks like it could be some sort of indicator for induced fields. There may be more to come!

[Techman]

OK, I'll get things rolling with the second item:-

[Techman]

And another one:-

[Techman]

Another one - I ought to open this one up and see what's inside:-

[Cobaltblue]

The Radio Mail is a Bridge for Measuring C and R (Capacitance and Resistance) the AC source is a small buzzer they work surprisingly well I have a couple of these.

Cheers

Mike T

[Techman]

And a fifth one - some sort of clip-on meter:-

[ms660]

Originally Posted by Techman

Another one - I ought to open this one up and see what's inside:-

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...d.php?t=183591

?

EDIT: Post crossed.

Lawrence.

[Techman]

Re post #5...thanks Mike, it's in rather a nice black box with a (unfortunately broken) leather handle - I'll investigate this further.

[Cobaltblue]

I wonder if No 1 is is an earlier version of this:

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/voltage-testers/4812116

Cheers

Mike T

[chriswood1900]

Looks like more tools from a sparky who used to work on industrial 3 phase supplies.
I recon the first post shows a mains test lamp from around 1940 used to see if the circuit is live and 460V to do 3 phase..
The second post says its a proving unit which usually generates its own voltage to test instruments and I suspect the aluminium can is a vibrator.
The Final GEC unit is to test the order of phases on a 3 phase supply for when you are connecting them up or wiring machinery like motors.

[Techman]

Re post #7...thanks Lawrence. Unbelievably I read this recent post and it didn't click at the time that it was the same thing. My excuse is that I took the pictures a little while back and forgot. A lot of the bits and pieces are still out in the caravan being sorted out - the (vintage) caravan having not been used this year due to the current situation has started to become a bit of a storage shed for sorting acquired 'stuff'!

Edit: Looking at the date on that thread it was almost exactly a month later when I got these items in October, so I'd forgotten by then.

[Techman]

Originally Posted by chriswood1900

I recon the first post shows a mains test lamp from around 1940 used to see if the circuit is live and 460V to do 3 phase..

The leads seen in the picture are in a closed loop, so I was thinking inductive pickup.

[Vintage Engr]

The Hammond & Champness lamp indicator was made in Walthamstow, near where I used to live.

I knew someone who worked there, who came to work with me on Audio-visual installations, as he got fed up with lifts! So, H& C were lift (Elevator) manufacturers.

David.

[chriswood1900]

Originally Posted by Techman

[QUOTE

The leads seen in the picture are in a closed loop, so I was thinking inductive pickup.

I don't think it is inductive I think if you pull on the two round knobs probably about 3/4" you will find they are probes, as mentioned in post 9 it is an equivalent to a Drummond test lamp.

[Techman]

Originally Posted by chriswood1900

Looks like more tools from a sparky who used to work on industrial 3 phase supplies.

It's possible that not all the items originated from the same person, but I've found a 'Ham' callsign both amongst the valves and on a loud speaker. I looked it up and it was a person who seems to have been prolific in the mid 90s and didn't look that young in the internet pictures then. There was one box of valves with all 'pulls' that were individually wrapped in torn up sheets of newspaper, which were all dated 1990. I've only unwrapped a few of these so far and it's a shame he didn't write the valve type on the paper wrap, so each one's a surprise, although some were marked with test results on the actual valves. Perhaps they were all going to be looked at again at sometime in the future, or were wrapped up ready to post to someone on a day that never came. I've found a couple of 'danger' type warning signs in a box that look like they could have come from a sub station.

[Techman]

Originally Posted by chriswood1900

I don't think it is inductive I think if you pull on the two round knobs probably about 3/4" you will find they are probes, as mentioned in post 9 it is an equivalent to a Drummond test lamp.

Thanks Chris, it's out in the caravan, so may leave it for tonight - will investigate tomorrow.

[Techman]

Originally Posted by Vintage Engr

The Hammond & Champness lamp indicator was made in Walthamstow, near where I used to live.

My grandmother lived in Walthamstow, just round the corner from the notorious Jobstocks shop (well one of them - there was a second shop a few blocks further along), so as a kid, a trip to gran meant a walk up the road and round the corner to the Jobstocks junk shop, where that old Philco 444 used to provide the 'in-shop' entertainment, torn grille and distorted sound, just listenable above the chronic mains hum that it had - I tried to buy it, but it wasn't for sale!

[Techman]

Here's another one. We know what it is, it's a Wayne Kerr Bridge from the late 40s, but how do you use it? I looked it up a few weeks back and I see that it's been mentioned before, but there seems to be no actual information out there about it. It obviously goes through all its functions, but will probably be out of calibration due to leaky capacitors etc. I was going to take it to an old mate when I next visited him, as he worked for Ekco in Southend when he was young and ended up with some of their old test gear when it was all scrapped and has a similar piece of kit which he still uses, but his is just an inductance bridge and from memory, is a lot bigger physically. He would definitely know how to 'drive' the thing, but he rang me a couple of days ago to tell me that his wife had just died in hospital following a routine knee operation...I'm absolutely gutted for him and can only imagine how he must be feeling at this terrible time, so definitely no playing around with old test gear with him for the moment.

[Craig Sawyers]

Get in touch with Wayne Kerr. I needed manuals (with schematics) for an RF bridge, oscillator and detector, valved and from the 60's sometime.

They came through and sent me pdf's in a couple of days. I think they keep a pretty good archive.

Craig

[Techman]

Originally Posted by Craig Sawyers

Get in touch with Wayne Kerr.

Yes, thanks, I'll try that. It's the last thing I would have expected for something that old - I didn't even realise that they still existed. I'll look up a phone number (if there is one) and give them a ring.