New electrical museum

[ppppenguin]

This website marks the start of a potential(!) new electrical museum.
http://www.electrokinetica.org/

The driving force behind it is Lucien Nunes Vaz who used to be very active in the world of vintage wireless but has now pursued much more varied vintage interests. He and his friends have assembled a rather large collection of electrical stuff, most of which is in store. The website is at a very early stage but will become a virtual museum. The main aim to to form a real museum.

Talking to Lucien last night we discussed existing electrical museums in the UK. Amberley has a significant collection, as does the museum at Christchurch near Bournemouth. We agreed that these are excellent collections but Lucien's aim is to have a more broadly based collection covering the entire 150+ year history of using electricity.

[matthewhouse]

Very interesting site indeed!

[Dr-Watts]

Superb !

Dr. Dave

[Lucien Nunes]

Thanks, Jeffrey, for the 'plug' regarding our current activities. (sorry, I couldn't resist that!) After many years of gestation we are finally getting underway and welcome any volunteers in any capacity. If you like old electrical and electronic things AND like getting your hands dirty, you will be made especially welcome! This week's highlight will be a trip to Longbridge Motor Works to recover a 6-ton 1930's motor-generator set before the building gets demolished next month.

At the moment our collection is on the move, so we should have some opportunities to photograph and display a wider range of items; website updates follow soon. Naturally every minute spent editing the website could also be spent conserving the collection, so sometimes the write-ups are a bit slow off the press. Of particular interest to valve enthusiasts will be our collection of mercury-arc rectifiers. Only a handful are visible on the website so far, but we have just acquired our 20th bulb and look forward to having them all glowing at once! I should mention that Jeffrey has a lovely grid-controlled Nevelin in mint condition, which we had the pleasure of seeing alight a few months ago.

So please have a browse, get in touch, and come play with the gubbins!

Regards
Lucien

[ppppenguin]

Lucien, welcome to the forum.

This photo shows a mercury arc rectifier in action.
http://electrokinetica.org/gallery/g...g=1&p=4&ret=mn

This is the control gear we used to run up my MAR.

[Phil G4SPZ]

Gentlemen,

Thank you for the link, which has resulted in a most interesting and enjoyable evening's browsing round the electrical museum. To quote my wife, "why have you spent the entire evening on the internet tonight?" Fascinating stuff; the curators are to be commended not only for their obvious enthusiasm and professional knowledge, but also for the excellent and well-written narratives accompanying the exhibits. Please keep up the good work!

Phil

[chipp1968]

Good luck with the real thing . No point hoarding stuff if people cant enjoy it .

[Lucien Nunes]

Thanks for all the encouraging feedback. I'm in the middle of a page about impulse clocks, to be followed by one on early domestic VCRs, mainly because these are the items we're packing at the moment. Hopefully the next time they get unpacked will be the inaugural exhibition.
Lucien

[ianj]

Yes, Ive enjoyed looking at the site, as well! ianj

[kalee20]

Great! I particularly enjoyed reading about the DC version of the Lister Start-O-Matic generator, having been involved with AC types.

Can't wait for the cinema pages too!

Good luck Lucien with your efforts.

[Brian R Pateman]

Thread re-opened at Jeffrey's (ppppenguin) request.

[ppppenguin]

Thanks Brian.

Lucien tells me there is some action at Electrokinetica. Here's his latest post in their forum which should now be properly active.

http://www.electrokinetica.org/forum/index.php

Now that we are making our first tentative steps towards a physical installation that we can visit and work on, I'm going to post updates about projects and progress hopefully on a regular basis.

Last weekend, three of us managed to get a couple of heavy plant items out of storage; the 1000A motor-generator and a Hewittic rectifier cabinet. The bulb from that cabinet is sadly non-functional but it is an impressive, large Hewittic in a very smart cabinet. Also now accessible is the woodwork from the St. Pancras Chambers passenger lifts. We have lined up all the panels with a view to re-assembling one or both cars, which will probably be a real jigsaw puzzle even though everything is labelled, because it wasn't practical to take detailed assembly pictures of the cars while they were still in the shaft. Then we will be able to set out the traction machines and controllers and perhaps operate them from the controls in the cars. That will require a working mercury-arc, to provide the 210V DC supply.

I've joined the EK forum. If you have an interest in things old and electrical that are rather outside the scope of this forum then the EK forum may be a good palce to discuss them.

[ScopeMonkey]

What a fascinating website! The museum project makes me wish I lived closer to London though.

Is Lucien the same chap as the one mentioned in Gerry's book as "wanting some DA100s"?

[ppppenguin]

Originally Posted by ScopeMonkey

Is Lucien the same chap as the one mentioned in Gerry's book as "wanting some DA100s"?

One and the same.

[Lucien Nunes]

And I still want some DA100s, although trouble with the output transformer put that project on hold indefinitely. When we organise our first open day at Electrokinetica, the PA amplifier that is likely to get used to reinforce the opening speech is the one Gerry encouraged me to build instead, still in use 25 years later.

[JoshWard]

Wow looks like a great museum