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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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1st Nov 2021, 3:59 am | #1 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Worksop, Nottinghamshire, UK.
Posts: 5,553
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Cass & Phillip hour meter and others
New thread spawned from this thread.
https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...d.php?t=182574 This one is not impulse wound so here we go. It is an early 1960s elapsed time meter believed to be off an old industrial test set. It looks like a Swiss made 6 volt unit that has been adapted to 12 volts. It has a brake that stops the rotary pendulum when power is removed to prevent overrun. As they used just one dropper resistor the power hungry brake solenoid tends to get a bit hot. The pendulum drive only needs short 6 volt pulses leaving the solenoid running on a little over 7 volts for most of the time. The gearing is pretty simple with a worm gear to drive the hour dials from the minute hand. The interesting bits were hard to get photos of. I managed to get the camera to take 103 photos on one charge to get enough decent ones that were worth posting. To be continued... Last edited by Radio Wrangler; 1st Nov 2021 at 6:52 am. Reason: typo fixed |
1st Nov 2021, 4:51 am | #2 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Worksop, Nottinghamshire, UK.
Posts: 5,553
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Re: Cass & Phillip hour meter and others
The first thing I spotted was that the brake solenoid was open circuit.
I had a wire to fix. I have more than one of these but the others have the glass and bezel so I am keeping them complete. The ratchet drive to the gearing can be seen with a free wheel device hidden under a dome shaped cover under the ratchet itself. In the third photo the jewel holder can be seen with a tiny spring clip holding the purple jewel. It looks like it might be amathyst. You can also see the tiny screw that holds the hair spring pin and the worm drive time calibration unit sealed with a liberal amount of red locking paint. In the next photo you can see the little contact that drives the coil. In the last photo you can see the mating fixed contact on the earthy end of the drive coil. In this photo you can also see part of the pusher spring for the ratchet mechanism on the iron flag. The laminated core of the drive coil can also be seen with the iron flag partly in the gap. There is a liberal amount of that red stuff in the laminations. The brake coil is 300 ohms and the drive coil is 600 ohms. |
7th Nov 2021, 10:04 pm | #3 |
Heptode
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Isle of Wight, UK.
Posts: 557
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Re: Cass & Phillip hour meter and others
What an interesting looking meter, how is the balance wheel impulsed from the coil?
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8th Nov 2021, 2:35 am | #4 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Worksop, Nottinghamshire, UK.
Posts: 5,553
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Re: Cass & Phillip hour meter and others
In the second post in the fifth photo you can see the ends of the laminated core of the 600 ohm coil painted with red thread locking paint with the iron flag in it. The iron flag is not just there to engage with the brake bar. It is also driven by the 600 ohm coil and is pulsed by the contact that can be seen between the iron flag and the main rotary pendulum.
The fourth photo on the second post shows a view from the right of the fifth photo and you can see the contact that meets the fixed contact. The fifth photo shows it resting on the fixed contact. The brake bar fully engages if the pendulum is not resting on the contact. The brake bar actually stops the pendulum with a little bit of energy held in the hair spring to aid starting. It takes a bit of studying to work out just how cunning the movement really is. |
8th Nov 2021, 11:15 am | #5 |
Nonode
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Coningsby, Lincolnshire, UK.
Posts: 2,819
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Re: Cass & Phillip hour meter and others
Nice little movement, I guess it’s a bit more complicated with it being an hours meter, you wouldn’t want it to run on when the power is cut, unlike the clocks which can carry on for a couple of minutes.
Regards Lloyd |
8th Nov 2021, 3:12 pm | #6 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Worksop, Nottinghamshire, UK.
Posts: 5,553
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Re: Cass & Phillip hour meter and others
That is exactly what the brake bar does.
It stops the movement and also parks it for a quick start next time power is applied. |
8th Nov 2021, 4:38 pm | #7 |
Heptode
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Isle of Wight, UK.
Posts: 557
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Re: Cass & Phillip hour meter and others
Thanks, I can see the impulse vane now, it is indeed an interesting device, working in the same way many 'electric' clocks of non synchronous type did back in the day, a nice find.
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9th Nov 2021, 1:53 am | #8 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Worksop, Nottinghamshire, UK.
Posts: 5,553
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Re: Cass & Phillip hour meter and others
Non quartz electric clocks of any kind were made for a relatively short period before affordable quartz movements became the norm.
Synchronous mains movements were made for longer. |