Wall Decor in the Cafe!

[mole42uk]

I saw this wall decor in the Thali Cafe in the Tobacco Factory in Bristol.....

Richard

[echelon]

I think I see a 5'' mono portable tv/radio-cassette combo, a possible pair of gonio aircraft landing indicators, maybe a Heathkit SB-104, at least one valve oscilloscope, external timebases, VTVMs.

Just to clarify- are these actual items, physically present there, or did you take a picture of an existing photorealistic 2-d life-sized wall decoration?

[TrevorM6TSE]

Wow! Quick... restore it!

[mole42uk]

Originally Posted by echelon

Just to clarify- are these actual items, physically present there, or did you take a picture of an existing photorealistic 2-d life-sized wall decoration?

These are actual items, carefully stacked on a shelf for maximum visual impact!

There are a couple of other items as decor in the cafe.....

Richard

[Peter.N.]

No leads?

[pmmunro]

I don't know if the owner of this cafe is expressing a personal interest - in which case all may be well but when I see displays of old equipment in chain owned premises I have considerable misgivings.

Often these displays have quite interesting items, historically, and not just electronics. I imagine that, once a theme has been selected, a junior "design" assistant is sent out with a considerable budget, a tight time scale and limited knowledge. The items will then be "conditioned" to suit the artistic requirements with little regard for historical conservation. However, the real problem comes when a refit is decreed. For commercial reasons time limits will be tight and it is simplest just to rip out the old decoration and dump it in a skip regarding it all to be of no further value.

A conflict often seems to arise between "creative" and conservation interests, even, possibly especially in some museums. Still, even we would be unable to restore everything but it would be a pity if some items of real significance were lost this way.

PMM

[Nickthedentist]

Very true, PMM.

There's a clothes(?) shop at Gatwick airport that's literally lined with interesting clocks, the vast majority of which are real rather than reproductions. Except they've all been painted green, many of them have had their movements removed to double the space they will fill, and a few have been sawn in half! Here's a pic of just a tiny percentage.

http://www.clocktowerpeople.com/grap...k_clocks_1.jpg

Like you, I am upset that all these will end up in landfill before too long.

On the other hand, if these things were destined to be scrapped (which could well have been the case), then at least they're providing some interest to people like us, and ,ay possibly get others interested in our hobbies.

Nick.

[robin coleman]

Very annoying to see clocks cut up for displays just as bad as bending 78 records into bowls for the present vintage rage
Regards
Robin

[cmjones01]

Looks like there's some Bruel & Kjaer stuff there, and the remains of a Tektronix 549 storage scope with type M 4-channel plugin at the top. I suspect it's been sawn in half because it wouldn't fit on the shelf otherwise. The tube escutcheon is missing and the tube seems to be rotated to a crazy angle! It's a shame, but the wonderful 549 won't be extinct as long as I've still got my (restored, working) one here...

To most of the world, this stuff is just scrap metal. If it looks pretty, the person who'll pay the highest price for it is the one who wants to display it in a cafe.

Chris

[Wendymott]

Theres also a Marconi L/C/R Bridge.. on the left lower middle row.........

Wendy G8BZY

[G6Tanuki]

Originally Posted by robin coleman

Very annoying to see clocks cut up for displays just as bad as bending 78 records into bowls for the present vintage rage

Or the "books by the foot" that are often found as decoration in pubs/restaurants.

A while back, in such a place I noticed a WWII-era ARRL Handbook as part of the "ambience". Trying to get it down from the shelf I found I couldn't: seems that to make the display they 'd stacked all the books up then *drilled a hole* right through the lot and pinned the books to the bookends with a long length of half-inch wood dowelling.

[Nickthedentist]

The swines!

I've seen a beautiful, rosewood, full (concert)-sized grand piano in a pub which was famous for music in the past. Not only was it now used as a drinks table, much to the demise of its french polish finish, but the fallboard (lid) had been crudely screwed shut with 2 No.12 chipboard screws.

N.

[AC/HL]

To be a bit more positive, the pub I frequent has just such a display of books. A bit thin recently, awaiting returns, but it does actually get used!

[McMurdo]

There's a military-themed nightclub here in Stoke that has a wall-full of cold-war era comms equipment and instruments behind the bar. It has been completely sprayed-over with drab olive for effect

[m0cemdave]

Originally Posted by cmjones01

Looks like there's some Bruel & Kjaer stuff there

Looks like a couple of 2603 measuring amplifiers from around 1960, one very early and one later model.

Also I see a Marconi TM7164/TF2400. This was a heterodyne converter for early frequency counters, before frequency division prescalers became available.

[Radio Wrangler]

Bottom right looks like a dual regulated power supply. I don't recognise the make, but I think I've seen one before.

David

[Sparky67]

Top left...a Marconi 10/25W power meter (or bolometer as one of our techs called it) ?

[Radio Wrangler]

A bolometer is a device which measures RF power or optical power thermally.

Usually DC or low frequency is backed off to keep a sensor at a constant temperature when RF is applied. The amount of heater power cut equals the amount of RF power absorbed.

A neat trick with thermistors and bridges allows an amplifier to make them self-balancing, so you just read the DC and note thedrop when RF is applied.

It's also OK on a triple word score, but goniometer sounds funnier.

David

[Anthony Thomas]

I was over in Brighton UK three weeks ago and noticed one shop window in The Lanes that had several early 1950s television cases which had been emptied of their innards and repurposed for display. Quite disturbing in my eyes.

Tony