FOREIGN marking (again)

[Maarten]

Good afternoon,

I remember this being discussed before but I don't seem to find an answer to my specific question.

When was the "FOREIGN" marking (indicating imported equipment) obsoleted and replaced by more specific markings? I'm trying to date a (Far Eastern made?) pocket voltmeter which was presented as a 1940's one but I think it dates from much later.

[paulsherwin]

I think it was used until the UK joined the EEC in 1973. Anything not made in Britain had to be marked 'Foreign' or 'Empire' (mostly Hong Kong products) though specific country of origin marking (e.g. 'Taiwan') could be used instead.

[G6Tanuki]

"Foreign" and "Empire made" were still in use until the mid-1970s: thereafter it seemed to switch to actually naming the country-of-origin [sometimes with intriguing mis-spellings, I recall a cycle-lamp that said "Made in Hnog Knog"].

Strange that the use of "Empire" continued for so long, given that it was officially superseded by the title 'Commonwealth' in 1949!

At one time there was a formal system known as "Empire preference" which meant lower taxes/tarriffs on things imported from the British Empire. This was one of the reasons Hong Kong was a preferred source of electrical/electronic goods imported to the UK.

[Maarten]

I'll go with around 1973 as an upper limit then, which unfortunately doesn't really narrow down the possible year of manufacture so I'll probably leave it at that until further information turns up.

The pocket voltmeter in question can now also be found at http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/unknown...voltmeter.html

[paulsherwin]

It's a 1930s style, but my guess would be that it's from the 50s.

[Maarten]

Thank you, I though along those lines as well, keeping in mind the style of the lettering and the red and green plastic insulating bushings around the pins. Older models seem to have brown bakelite insulators.

[Nuvistor]

It looks apart from the name very similar to this one.

[Herald1360]

That suggests it could be a generic meter branded for whichever retailer sold it. Not much help, I suppose.

[Maarten]

That one seems a bit older (prewar probably) though.

[camallison]

On a business visit in 1996 to Xian, in China, I saw several of these still being used in a test department for rough go/no go testing. When I asked how old they were, I was told that they still manufactured them (as retro) at that plant. The company was the Xian Instrument Company.

Colin

[Maarten]

Wow! I had already looked for those being retromanufactured in Eastern Europe up to 1990 (since they were manufactured first around 1930 I was still looking inside Europe) and didn't find anything similar, but the China link explains a lot.