What is it? CXCII

[R.H.]

Just posted the latest set:

[Andrew Mawson]

1055 is a vibration frequency indicator 1056 1057 is a watchmans clock. Marks a roll to show when he checked points in his round 1058 is a set of lifting dogs, probably for timber as they seem to have been hammered in to start them gripping

AWEM

[Dave Baker]

1057. Detex Corporation "Newman" watchman's clock.

[Puff Griffis]

1055: Wattage tester ? 1056: Scuba weight 1057: Security guards watch clock 1058: Sled drag for dog sleds 1059: Planetarium light thingy

[dav1936531]

1055: Magical device that screws into light bulb socket and summons demonic gennies via electro-gravimetric powers? 1056: 3 pound scuba diver's weight for weight belt 1057: I am gonna say a train conductor's watch. 1058: Log hauling chains. Hammer in the spiked part, hook up to horse team, pull to collection point. 1059: Planetarium star projector? 1060: Knuckle breaking torture device from Chenney's CIA guys? Dave What do I win?

[Paul K. Dickman]

1060 is an alarm gun. It is loaded with black powder and a percussion cap. The wood screw gets driven into a tree. The hammer gets hooked to a tripline.

Paul K. Dickman

[Jim Chandler]

1056 is a 3# diving weight 1057 Night watchman's clock for logging check stations 1058 Lumber yard lifting tongs 1059 Planetarium

Jim Chandler

[Leo Lichtman]

1055--Totally baffling. Clearly, the base is made to screw into a light socket, but not for the purpose of making electrical contact. I suspect that it simply uses the mogol base as a convenient way to hold it. It measures a number of angles fairly accurately, and yet, there is no obvious way to input anything. Also puzzling is the brass "weight" near the tip of the pointer. It looks like you could adjust that up or down like the weight on a metronome, but WHY?

[John Martin]

Andrew Mawson thought that it might be a vibration frequency indicator, and I think you are both on the right track. I'd suggest that it might be for measuring the frequency of AC current. Adjust the length of the arm until the amplitude of vibration is the greatest (that's what the semi-circular scale is there to measure), and read the frequency off the linear scale.

John Martin

[Leo Lichtman]

"John Martin" (clip) I'd suggest that it might be for measuring the frequency of AC current. Adjust the length of the arm until the amplitude of vibration is the greatest (that's what the semi-circular scale is there to measure), and read the frequency off the linear scale. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ "The black part at the bottom appears to be made of bakelite." From the OP. There does not appear to be any electrical contact at the tip of the black part, nor is any mentioned. So I doubt that it is electrical. Also, I have trouble thinking of any way that all those angular adjustments and scales could be related to frequency. It looks like the straight scale is in the range aroud 60, which does support your suggestion.

[Andrew Mawson]

greatest

Initially I wondered if there was a coil internally which was electrically connnected to the Edisison Screw base and set the variable reed into vibration at mains frequency - but I discounted that as if there is the entire device would seem to be live to one side of the mains and thus lethal! Though I suppose it might be a 12 or 24 volt device. The calibration seems to be centred on 60, so that would point to American volts not good old standard English ones at 50 cps .

AWEM

[R.H.]

You're correct in that it's not electrical, there is no contact on the bottom, nor are there any coils inside. I've shown it to a couple of electrical engineers and we all agreed that it's some type of vibration indicator, as was mentioned by Andrew, but we could only guess at it's exact use.

There is no company name or patent date on it, just some numbers on the back that yielded nothing in a search. It does fit into a light socket, and note that the back plate is shaped like a light bulb, a couple possible answers that I've heard:

-Used by a bulb manufacturer to test the strength of filaments

-Used to test the amount of vibration that a bulb would have to endure in a particular machine, such as a large projector

These are just guesses but I think they're on the right track.

Rob

[HeyBub]

I once heard of a curious situation on the shake-down cruise of a heavy cruiser. When the 10" guns fired, every light bulb in a certain section of the ship shattered!

Maybe this gizmo is a Naval Bulb Vibration Test Instrument, Model 44-A2/2.

[Andrew Erickson]

(Posting from rec.woodworking)

A pretty baffling set this time...

1055 - This appears to be designed to detect and measure the strength of vibrations; the excursion of the pointer at the top would indicate their magnitude, and different frequencies (within some range) can be selected by varying the tension screw. The angle and elevation could serve to detect the orientation of the vibrations.

The mounting screw end looks suspiciously similar to a light bulb mounting. It's not clear if there's an electrical contact at the bottom, but if there is, it's pretty well hidden and not mentioned, so I'm assuming not. I'd guess it may be some tester for evaluating light bulb sockets for vibration, perhaps for developing vibration-resistant light bulbs.

If there is a contact on the base, it may be some sort of an AC frequency meter, with an electromagnet somewhere inside to excite the pointer. The scale for the tension would be reasonable for modern 50/60 Hz AC circuits. The pointer doesn't look to me like it would have that high of a resonant frequency, however.

1056 - A number 3 webbing holder/weight; maybe (wild guess) for adjusting the center of buoyancy of divers?

1057 - Obviously a clock of some sort, made in the USA by a Chicago company. I assume a correct answer is a bit more involved!

1058 - Some fetter or other restraint for livestock?

1059 - Simple planetarium machine, with only a few key stars. I'd guess for illustrating the seasonal and hourly variations in where constellations are in an educational setting (marine navigation?)

1060 - Looks to be a punch or former of some sort. I'm clueless as to the specific application.

[DoN. Nichols]

According to R.H. :

reconfiguring my network last night.

1055) Obviously a device for monitoring power line frequency. Power line in part because of the lamp type screw base, and in part by the frequncy range covered -- about 45Hz to 85 Hz, so it would work with both common power line frequencies -- 50 Hz and 60 Hz.

It is a vibrating reed, and you adust the free length by turning the knob at the other end of the the cylinder which mounts the reed, moving the pointer (and a clamp to effectively shorten the reed, thus changing the resonant frequency.

You screw it in, adjust the two angle clamps to make it easy to read and to access the knob, turn on the outlet, and adjust the knob for the maximum swing (on the arc-shaped scale under the reed pointer.

1056) This looks like a skin-diving belt weight. 1057) A night watchman's recording time clock. There is a key at each station which he puts into a keyhole on the back or side and turns it to imprint a unique number for each station to prove that he was there at the proper time. 1058) For lifting something with a crane. From the size and the hooks, I would guess that it might be a hay bale, but it could be a number of other things just as well. 1059) A desktop planetarium 1060) A guess is that it screws into the underside of a shelf, and is used to hang papers by a single hole punched in the paper.

Now to see what others have said.

Enjoy, DoN.

[DoN. Nichols]

You first tune it for maximum sensitivity to the fequency in question, then you shift the angles and compare the maximum swing of the reed. This lets you determine in which axis the vibration at that frequency is at a maximum, and thus what is the likely componenet contributing to the vibration, so you can work on balancing it.

Enjoy, DoN.

[Eigenvector]

That is an inertial balance. Its for the purpose of measuring the inertial mass of an object.

large brass screw near the bottom changes the pendulum arm length. The weight at the top can be altered to increase the weight (hence the numbered slots in the box).

What it's measuring - I don't know.

[DoN. Nichols]

According to Eigenvector :

I had agreed in another branch of this thread that it was not for measuring electrical frequency -- but the mechanical frequencies will be related to the electrical power frequency assuming an induction motor instead of a series or parallel wound DC or universal motor.

in a physics lab. This device which we are discussing looks more like something to use in the field.

It is measuring the amount of vibration at a selected frequency along a selected axis -- for the purpose of identifying the sources of the vibration and eliminating or at least minimizing them, one at a time. You select a frequency, determine along which axis it is strongest, and work on balancing a device rotating at the proper RPM to produce that frequency and oriented to produce the vibration along that particular axis (that is -- perpedicular to the axis of rotation).

Not sure how much we will be able to follow this newsgroup for a while, given that it appears to be under attack by massive cross-posting to/from sci.crypt. I've set my killfile to eliminate those, but there is bound to be a lot of discussion about that -- plus probably cross-posting attacks from elsewhere as well.

Enjoy, DoN.

[R.H.]

Sounds like a good description of it, I went ahead and put this on the answer page, I like it better than what I had there.

To everyone at RCM: feel free to join us on one of the other groups on Thursday if you want to post some answers or read some comments on next week's post. Hopefully things will clear up soon.

Rob

[Don Young]

I agree with the functional description. My questions are: 1. Why was the Edison screw base used as an interface?, and 2. Are there any other known uses of the Edison screw base for anything other than light bulbs, heaters, and other electrical connections? We may never know, but it is sure interesting.

Don Young