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Other Vintage Household Electrical or Electromechanical Items For discussions about other vintage (over 25 years old) electrical and electromechanical household items. See the sticky thread for details. |
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20th Nov 2018, 3:38 pm | #1 |
Octode
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Bath, Somerset, UK.
Posts: 1,805
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Dynatron Probe Adaptor
I picked up this device in Crewkerne around three months ago. As can be seen, Dynatron did not just make radios. The usual high attention to detail and precision assembly that we are all familiar with are evident here. The finish is the usual "nuclear cream" as opposed to "medical green", colours so evident in the fifties. The serial no is 51, so not a high production level on these.
This appears to be an interface box that goes between a GM probe and a radiation measurement system. This unit would not have travelled far, the Atomic Energy Research Establishment (now largely a science park) is only a short drive away near Weymouth. Ten different types of reactor were tested here with a small amount of power generation feeding the grid. Neil
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20th Nov 2018, 5:20 pm | #2 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Worksop, Nottinghamshire, UK.
Posts: 5,554
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Re: Dynatron Probe Adaptor
There are indeed one or two unexpected makers of radiation counters.
I have got an EKCO one that is missing its probe. |
24th Nov 2018, 1:24 pm | #3 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Leominster, Herefordshire, UK.
Posts: 16,536
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Re: Dynatron Probe Adaptor
Ahhh...... lots of the dreaded pink wire
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24th Nov 2018, 3:37 pm | #4 |
Nonode
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Cambridge, Cambs. UK.
Posts: 2,198
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Re: Dynatron Probe Adaptor
.......but it's profitable pink wire. And I see that each wire is properly numbered.
Martin
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24th Nov 2018, 8:46 pm | #5 |
Nonode
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Papamoa Beach, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand
Posts: 2,944
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Re: Dynatron Probe Adaptor
Evidently part of the Dynatron Nucleonic range, which was given a brief mention in the 1954 Radio Show catalogue:
The cabinets included in that product list had been advertised previously: Cheers, |
25th Nov 2018, 2:41 pm | #6 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Surrey, UK.
Posts: 4,398
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Re: Dynatron Probe Adaptor
I expect that quite a few brands associated with domestic radio manufacture had had experience of wartime military contracts and some would have continuing reputation and contacts for government work. In a time when consumer circumstances continued to be austere, contracts for the then new and apparently wondrous nuclear industry must have been a useful lifeline and an opportunity to show off just how well they could make things (when the taxpayer cheques beckoned!)
It's striking that the isolating couplers, acrylic switch-mounts and PTFE feed-throughs all hint at something operating at high voltage and/or high impedance and possibly floated well above chassis potential, yet rather workaday Paxolin switch-wafers also feature. Of course, it could all be operating at 1kV or whatever, yet not need the relative clinical pole separation of ceramic wafers- still looks at odds, though! I spy what looks like a late model, apparently good condition Eddystone 750 in the background, Colin |
26th Nov 2018, 10:52 am | #7 |
Octode
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Bath, Somerset, UK.
Posts: 1,805
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Re: Dynatron Probe Adaptor
Hello Colin, yes, I had just finished restoring the 750 and was enjoying it until the cord broke . Still works well though, just got to keep spinning until I get something .
The area where this unit would have been used reads like a plot from The Avengers. Winfrith AERE is surrounded by villages crammed with thatched cottages and with an army tank testing range (Bovington) nearby as well as Lulworth Castle. When I last went down that way six months back a group of veteran cars came up through Winfrith Newborough. I almost expected John Steed and Emma Peel to pass me by . Neil
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30th Nov 2018, 4:30 pm | #8 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Surrey, UK.
Posts: 4,398
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Re: Dynatron Probe Adaptor
Or the ghost of Colonel Lawrence on an ethereal Brough....
Good luck with the dial cord- the one on my early production 750 is frighteningly fine, almost as if it emerged from a robot spider. I assume from the dark green colour that it's something like bronze? When overhauling, I ran it through a bit of rag with some proprietary bicycle inner cable waxy lube in the hope of prolonging its life. I wonder if Eddystone/Stratton ever got involved with things like the Dynatron module? They certainly made various low-run sets and modules for various government/professional applications and their reputation for precise, neat, sturdy construction would have suited this sort of thing to a T. |