UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Powered By Google Custom Search Vintage Radio and TV Service Data

Go Back   UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum > Specific Vintage Equipment > Other Vintage Household Electrical or Electromechanical Items

Notices

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.

Closed Thread
 
Thread Tools
Old 25th Mar 2018, 2:59 pm   #1
PencilMatt
Retired Dormant Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Plymouth, Devon, UK.
Posts: 4
Default What is this? Electric bed warmer? (Identified as a degaussing coil).

I found this left behind in the loft of an house I recently bought. My best guess is that it's an old electric bed warmer, but I'm not convinced. It has a partial label on it which I can't read clearly, and a model number of SK321. Can anyone shed any light on it?
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	BW1.jpg
Views:	381
Size:	94.4 KB
ID:	159899   Click image for larger version

Name:	BW2.jpg
Views:	393
Size:	83.7 KB
ID:	159900   Click image for larger version

Name:	BW3.jpg
Views:	351
Size:	134.1 KB
ID:	159901  
PencilMatt is offline  
Old 25th Mar 2018, 3:05 pm   #2
paulsherwin
Moderator
 
paulsherwin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Oxford, UK
Posts: 27,787
Default Re: What is this? Electric bed warmer?

It looks like something from the 30s, but the Rank logo and the brown/blue cable suggests a much later date, maybe the 70s. That's very late for a bed warmer, as they were mostly superseded by electric blankets in the 50s.

If it is indeed a bed warmer then it's a useful thing to have - you can use it as the basis of a heated propagator for your garden plants. I'd advise an RCD though.
paulsherwin is offline  
Old 25th Mar 2018, 3:06 pm   #3
ms660
Dekatron
 
ms660's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Cornwall, UK.
Posts: 13,454
Default Re: What is this? Electric bed warmer?

Looks like a degaussing coil.

For ID only:

https://picclick.co.uk/Vintage-Redif...l#&gid=1&pid=3

Lawrence.
ms660 is offline  
Old 25th Mar 2018, 3:19 pm   #4
paulsherwin
Moderator
 
paulsherwin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Oxford, UK
Posts: 27,787
Default Re: What is this? Electric bed warmer?

Well spotted. The coil certainly doesn't look like a heating element.
paulsherwin is offline  
Old 25th Mar 2018, 3:36 pm   #5
PencilMatt
Retired Dormant Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Plymouth, Devon, UK.
Posts: 4
Default Re: What is this? Electric bed warmer?

Aha, that seems to solve the riddle, thank you. The wiring was also making me doubt the apparent age of it. It doesn't appear to work, sadly.

What would it have been generally used for in a domestic environment? The previous house owner was an elderly lady who retired in the early 70s. I inherited the house with all the contents and she had no TV. A couple of lovely old Hacker radios but that's about it for electronics, so it seems a fairly odd thing for her to have owned.
PencilMatt is offline  
Old 25th Mar 2018, 3:40 pm   #6
linescan87
Heptode
 
linescan87's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Meath, Ireland
Posts: 547
Default Re: What is this? Electric bed warmer?

Rank degaussing coil for sure, I have one.

John Joe.
linescan87 is offline  
Old 25th Mar 2018, 3:53 pm   #7
julie_m
Dekatron
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Derby, UK.
Posts: 7,735
Default Re: What is this? Electric bed warmer?

The label seems to specify a maximum duty cycle (30 seconds in 5 minutes?), which would be more appropriate for a degaussing coil than a bed warmer .....
__________________
If I have seen further than others, it is because I was standing on a pile of failed experiments.
julie_m is offline  
Old 25th Mar 2018, 5:06 pm   #8
paulsherwin
Moderator
 
paulsherwin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Oxford, UK
Posts: 27,787
Default Re: What is this? Electric bed warmer?

They were mostly used by TV service engineers, so it's not clear how it ended up in your house.
paulsherwin is offline  
Old 25th Mar 2018, 6:10 pm   #9
Graham G3ZVT
Dekatron
 
Graham G3ZVT's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Greater Manchester, UK.
Posts: 18,676
Default Re: What is this? Electric bed warmer?

Quote:
Originally Posted by paulsherwin View Post
They were mostly used by TV service engineers, so it's not clear how it ended up in your house.
Granada (GTVR) engineer in this case. Look very carefully at the plug in the OP's first picture!

The dymo label says SK321. I am pretty sure that is the region (SK) and depot number (321)

I sure hope nobody is homing in on anything I might gave "liberated" back in the day!
__________________
--
Graham.
G3ZVT

Last edited by Graham G3ZVT; 25th Mar 2018 at 6:40 pm.
Graham G3ZVT is online now  
Old 25th Mar 2018, 7:07 pm   #10
Radio Wrangler
Moderator
 
Radio Wrangler's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 22,800
Default Re: What is this? Electric bed warmer?

Left behind on a service call?

David
__________________
Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done
Radio Wrangler is online now  
Old 25th Mar 2018, 10:16 pm   #11
philthespark
Pentode
 
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside, UK.
Posts: 158
Default Re: What is this? Electric bed warmer? (Identified as a degaussing coil).

I spotted the "granada" plug, it also depends on what her husband did, I'm an electrician and I've loads of weird and wonderful things that people have given me, "you may be able to use this" is the common one as they hand you something totally useless. The trouble is if you refuse something they may not offer you something that could be handy because "you didn't want the last thing I offered you".
philthespark is offline  
Old 25th Mar 2018, 11:37 pm   #12
hamid_1
Heptode
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: High Wycombe, Bucks. UK.
Posts: 811
Default Re: What is this? Electric bed warmer?

Quote:
Originally Posted by PencilMatt View Post
Aha, that seems to solve the riddle, thank you. The wiring was also making me doubt the apparent age of it. It doesn't appear to work, sadly.
It may actually work, but you may not know it. Since it's not actually a heating element, it won't appear to do much if you plug it in. When the button is pressed, it will give off a powerful alternating magnetic field which is supposed to de-magnetize a colour TV CRT. You might hear a slight hum when the button is pressed, but you can't feel or see a magnetic field unless you bring the device near something magnetic, like some iron filings poured onto a sheet of paper. (It might erase magnetic tapes or hard drives if brought very close to them - be careful.)

My guess is that it was left behind by a visiting TV engineer who never came back to collect it. The old lady put it away in the loft just in case someone asked for it back, but they never did. The TV could have been rented from Granada and taken back by them or disposed of before you bought the house.

You could always offer it in the For Sale section here. A vintage TV restorer might want it, though it's not highly valuable.
hamid_1 is offline  
Old 25th Mar 2018, 11:49 pm   #13
emeritus
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Brentwood, Essex, UK.
Posts: 5,316
Default Re: What is this? Electric bed warmer? (Identified as a degaussing coil).

If you still have a CRT monitor, you could try bringing it close to the screen when it is running. By accident I found that the magnet of the speaker a Sony portable radio was strong enough to change the colour of mine a few years ago, necessitating using the degauss function of the monitor to get it back to normal.
emeritus is offline  
Old 26th Mar 2018, 10:24 pm   #14
peterpixel
Pentode
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Wilmslow, Cheshire, UK.
Posts: 209
Default Re: What is this? Electric bed warmer? (Identified as a degaussing coil).

If my memory serves me right the switch shown had a biased toggle so that after switching on and degausing the crt the switch was released so springing back to the off position and switching off the coil.They worked very well provided you remembered to switch off well away from the crt otherwise you were back where you started.They were around in the early seventies.Peter.
peterpixel is offline  
Old 26th Mar 2018, 10:37 pm   #15
Refugee
Dekatron
 
Refugee's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Worksop, Nottinghamshire, UK.
Posts: 5,549
Default Re: What is this? Electric bed warmer? (Identified as a degaussing coil).

I can remember a TV engineer who put one down on the bench the wrong way up.
It it began to fill the workshop with smoke.
Refugee is offline  
Old 31st Mar 2018, 3:46 pm   #16
Mad Mal
Tetrode
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Spennymoor, County Durham, UK.
Posts: 69
Default Re: What is this? Electric bed warmer? (Identified as a degaussing coil).

Definitely a degaussing coil. Used one on Colour CRT sets when I was at Rediffusion NE Ltd. Ours had a self cancelling toggle switch that cut the power when you let the switch go. I can remember doing a "Manual Assist" in a house in Newton Aycliffe. We were going to take the set back to the workshop. But the "Loan" set showed the same symptoms. Then we realised the set was next to a steel radiator. A degauss of that got some very weird looks from the customer, but it did the trick. Degauss of their set and the service call was done.
Mad Mal is offline  
Old 28th May 2018, 8:19 am   #17
mutley1234
Retired Dormant Member
 
Join Date: May 2018
Location: Warminster, Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 2
Default Re: What is this? Electric bed warmer? (Identified as a degaussing coil).

I'm the proud new owner of the degaussing coil which PencilMatt describes above.
Does anyone know what the metal buttony-thing on the outside is? As far as I can make out it isn't a switch, but if it isn't a switch then what is it? You can't press it in and it doesn't seem to turn. What puzzles me is that if it isn't meant for some kind of user intervention then why is it mounted on the outside of the case?

Can post more pictures if required.

Thoughts appreciated!

Thanks

Steve
mutley1234 is offline  
Old 28th May 2018, 11:14 am   #18
Refugee
Dekatron
 
Refugee's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Worksop, Nottinghamshire, UK.
Posts: 5,549
Default Re: What is this? Electric bed warmer? (Identified as a degaussing coil).

The button is the push to make switch.
It is only supposed to operate for 10s of seconds.
They burn if you power them for too long.
Refugee is offline  
Old 29th May 2018, 6:49 am   #19
mutley1234
Retired Dormant Member
 
Join Date: May 2018
Location: Warminster, Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 2
Default Re: What is this? Electric bed warmer? (Identified as a degaussing coil).

Thanks - based on your info I took a closer look - it was actually a momentary toggle switch with the toggle missing (the toggle lever goes through the slot in the top).

Have ordered a new switch (not easy to find a replacement as there is only 13mm clearance in there plus a new fuse holder (old one corroded) and will see if I can get it up and running.
mutley1234 is offline  
Old 29th May 2018, 9:17 am   #20
Nuvistor
Dekatron
 
Nuvistor's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Wigan, Greater Manchester, UK.
Posts: 9,427
Default Re: What is this? Electric bed warmer? (Identified as a degaussing coil).

The one I had was a biased toggle switch, that broke after many years and required replacement.
__________________
Frank
Nuvistor is offline  
Closed Thread

Thread Tools



All times are GMT +1. The time now is 10:43 pm.


All information and advice on this forum is subject to the WARNING AND DISCLAIMER located at https://www.vintage-radio.net/rules.html.
Failure to heed this warning may result in death or serious injury to yourself and/or others.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright ©2002 - 2023, Paul Stenning.