Beauty of old electrical and measuring things, etc.

[anorlunda]

@arnorlunda
Do you think it's rare or worth anything?

I'm not an expert on antiques or collectibles. But I think Seth Thomas is quality but not rare.

 

[dlgoff]

I'm not an expert on antiques or collectibles. But I think Seth Thomas is quality but not rare.

Thank you. I did some google searching but couldn't find one like it.

 

[dlgoff]

Here's another big beauty that's needing a lot of work (it does involve a little electricity):

 

[dlgoff]

I got the old clock mounted with my other meters and gauges (which needs some glass cleaning).

 

[berkeman]

Looks nice on that wall. Looks like you're running out of wall space, though!

 

[anorlunda]

Is it running? .does it keep good time?

 

[berkeman]

Is it running? .does it keep good time?

The hands are in a different position compared to the previous pictures, so I'm assuming it is running. I want to know if it chimes every 15 minutes...

 

[dlgoff]

Looks nice on that wall. Looks like you're running out of wall space, though!

I am. Had to use one of my book shelf stands in my storm shelter for the radios in there. Now I've got stacks of books in the spare bedroom.

 

[dlgoff]

Is it running? .does it keep good time?

It runs for a while then stops. I'm going to open the clock mechanisms and do a little cleaning, etc. It chimes okay if you manually set the hands.

 

[dlgoff]

I want to know if it chimes every 15 minutes...

No. Only on the hour. Thank goodness.

 

[anorlunda]

It runs for a while then stops. I'm going to open the clock mechanisms and do a little cleaning, etc. It chimes okay if you manually set the hands.

The effective way to clean a clock works is in an ultrasonic bath. That would mean removing the works and finding someplace to send it off for cleaning. That may be more effort than you care to invest.

It is easy to overlook the time, trouble and expense that prior generations had to spend to keep their mechanical timepieces functional.

Edit: That reminds me of another thing I miss from my years on the boat. The ships clock, sounding up to 8 bells every watch became an important part of our lives.

 

[dlgoff]

Is it running? .does it keep good time?

I've gotten it running great. It looses just about 30 seconds/hour; I'll shorten the pendulum length a little. There's a very fine thread screw built into the hanging mass:

Once I got the hands in the right position for the chiming, it has chimed the correct number of time every hour.

 

[dlgoff]

The effective way to clean a clock works is in an ultrasonic bath.

I have an heated ultrasonic cleaner that I use on my optical project; which had been neglected for a year or so, but I've already got it going without much cleaning. (See above post)

 

[NTL2009]

I have an heated ultrasonic cleaner that I use on my optical project; which had been neglected for a year or so, but I've already got it going without much cleaning. (See above post)

Very cool. A while back, I was doing some research into mechanical wind up mantel clocks, and I finally learned from a youtube video the reasoning behind "don't apply too much oil to a clock". I just always thought it was to keep things neat and clean (pride in workmanship), and to avoid accumulating dust that might work its way into the bearing.

But it was explained that just the right amount of oil was enough so that the surface tension held the oil drop in place, clinging to the bearing. This kept it oiled for a reasonably long time. If you applied "too much", it would run out, break the surface tension, and you ended up with less oil in the bearing. So a little counterintuitive, but I think Mies van der Rohe would agree "Less is More".

Maybe this is common knowledge, but it was new to me.

 

[dlgoff]

Here's a couple photos of one of my beauties, wood and onyx with no wires:
View attachment 288574
View attachment 288575

Here are the original wood chess pieces for this board.

 

[dlgoff]

Looks nice on that wall. Looks like you're running out of wall space, though!

I'm now out of space on this wall. Here is my last meter; Bendix microwave frequency meter:

 

[anorlunda]

My aunt and uncle collected stuff from auctions. When their house got full of stuff, they bought the house next door. When that house filled, they bought the house next to that.

BTW, I love that quote from Jim Hardy. He was the Mark Twain of his age.

 

[dlgoff]

I'm now out of space on this wall. Here is my last meter; Bendix microwave frequency meter:
View attachment 289450

I had to raise it up a little. Too much weight on the clock:

BTW, I love that quote from Jim Hardy. He was the Mark Twain of his age.

He was indeed. I remember asking him if it were okay to use this quote and his name.

 

[dlgoff]

@anorlunda
I Thought about posting this on this thread, as it was given to me by Jim: https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/member-jim-hardy-has-died.974435/,
but I'll post it here instead:

 

[berkeman]

I Thought about posting this on this thread, as it was given to me by Jim: https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/member-jim-hardy-has-died.974435/,
but I'll post it here instead:

I started to give you a warning for a political post, but then realized that it seems to apply to both political parties. So nevermind...

 

[dlgoff]

I started to give you a warning for a political post, but then realized that it seems to apply to both political parties. So nevermind...

You know, I never thought about the rules about political post. Thanks @berkeman

 

[dlgoff]

Here's a beauty that fits the title of this thread. I mounted on my meter and gauge wall:
It's a MODEL 3 Survey Meter made by Ludlum Measurements Inc.
The meters unit of measurement is Counts/Minute.

 

[dlgoff]

My mentor Andy Anderson, W0AFQ, bought me an EICO Model 565 multi-meter kit so I could learn to solder. After putting it together, it didn't work, so Andy opened it and soldered all the cold joints. I did learn how to solder correctly; thanks Andy. The needle was broken into several pieces, so I tried to "glue" it back together. Here's a photo of it on my meter wall:

 

[dlgoff]

Here are some beauties. They're not electrical but are really old. Most came from Arkansas and some from Kansas.

I'm going to use silicone sealant to attach them to the board.

 

[dlgoff]

Here are the arrow heads after they were attached with silicone sealant:

 

[dlgoff]

I don't know if I've posted this old beautiful boat navigation light before, but @jim hardy knew exactly what it was when he saw it as he loved boats. e.g.
https://www.physicsforums.com/attachments/bogityshoop_zps7b23f4c3-jpg.168946/
It uses either an incandescent bulb or a kerosene lamp to light it:

 

[dlgoff]

Okay, finally something electrical that I know I haven't shown here before. I bought these little robots from Radio Shack back before they filed chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2015:

 

[berkeman]

I didn't know robots could file for bankruptcy!

 

[jedishrfu]

They can, its a pretext to world conquest.

 

[DennisN]

I didn't know robots could file for bankruptcy!

Maybe they were charged too much?

 

[dlgoff]

Here's a beauty that's only electrical in that it was related to Television. I was helping this lady clean out a storage unit at an apartment complex. She wanted me to put all the stuff in a dumpster. But I just couldn't throw this away. It's a television press pass for the Evander Holyfield vs. Lennox Lewis II boxing match on November 13, 1999:

There's a Turkey sticker on it making it kind of appropriate for this time of the year.

 

[dlgoff]

I've never used this with my vacuum system (which IS electrical) as it looks too fragile for the low pressures my system can achieve so it's just one of my "Beauties" that I look at.

It has a copper sealing ring on the bottom.

 

[dlgoff]

Here's something you don't see much these days:

I wish I had a machine to use it with.

 

[berkeman]

Oh wow. That's all I had when I was in my early teens. My dad used it for some audio recording that he was doing, and I was able to buy a couple reel-to-reel tapes to listen to (I pretty much wore out my copy of Santana Abraxas).

 

[dlgoff]

I pretty much wore out my copy of Santana

I can for sure understand that. I've got lots of their music. Luckily, it all digital on my PC.