What is this ancient electrical apparatus?
john...@johnson.com
http://www.box.net/shared/static/bxzjgxc5kq.jpg
Here are some comments on the photo:
1. The wires at the top left are obviously modern. The unconnected
upper ends are soldered and were perhaps once connected to a battery.
2. The black vertical rod, capped with a red knob, slides up and down
in its socket and has a graduated scale on the paper stuck on to the
shaft.
3. In the opened lower drawer are three brass pieces with chamois
leather covers. They obviously screwed onto some gadget that is
missing.
Can somebody tell me the function of this type of apparatus and its
name?
My daughter says it is an apparatus for making Frankenstein's monster.
Maybe this is so. I can't think of any other explanation.
t-...@webemails.com
I have no idea what it is but I do know a good photo when I see
one. ;)
T.
Andy Dingley
>What is this ancient electrical apparatus?
>http://www.box.net/shared/static/bxzjgxc5kq.jpg
Medical gadgetry for some early 1900's electrotherapy quackery. Possibly
hair removal, or even an early form of TENS. Looks older than the usual
1920s violet-ray machines. We could tell more if we could see all of it,
and underneath the lid
The cloth or chamois covered pads are used to apply the treatment -
they'd be moistened beforehand. The sliding rheostat is a fine current
control, the vertical rod is the adjustable core of an induction coil,
varying the coupling between windings and thus the coarse voltage
output.
You're probably missing batteries (connected to the + / - terminals?)
and a handpiece. The handpiece would probably have stored in the gap at
top left, where the modern cable is now.
>My daughter says it is an apparatus for making Frankenstein's monster.
Near enough.
Oldus Fartus
It certainly is an interesting piece of apparatus, and your suggestion
is probably correct.
I wonder though about the part you describe as a sliding rheostat.
That was my first impression, but looking more closely it doesn't appear
to actually have a sliding mechanism.
Perhaps the OP could take a close-up of that particular part, and the
whole device from several different angles.
--
Cheers
Oldus Fartus
Jessica V.
Some sort of quack medical device, I imagine a little shock will cure
anything that ails you. Any patent numbers lurking on any of the
parts? I think your daughters answer is fantastic.
Jess
john...@johnson.com
Thanks. Some clarification
In the photo at http://www.box.net/shared/static/bxzjgxc5kq.jpg what
you see is all you get in terms of the mechanism. The lid to the box
is hinged fully open over to the right (the two nuts mount the handle
on the top of the lid.
I agree that the gap at the top left is a battery holder. There are
traces of leaked chemicals on the floor of this holder.
As for the possible sliding rheostat, Oldus Fartus is correct. There
is nothing that slides. However the steel strip that runs from left to
right vibrates in the vertical plane, and the brass screw on top can
be turned to control the rate of vibration.
There is no manufacturers' name anywhere, but a five digit number is
impressed into the wood between the hinges. It looks like a serial
number.
Various letters are stamped into the wood alongside some of the items
on the circuitry. I could not make any sense of them in terms of the
English language - for example alongside what I interpret as the 'On'
'Off' swivel switch bottom left.
I would take some more photos, but I seem to have lost the key that
opens the box and it is now in locked down mode. I don't want to
butcher the lock by picking it, so shall visit a locksmith after the
Easter holiday.
Andy Dingley
>In the photo at http://www.box.net/shared/static/bxzjgxc5kq.jpg what
>you see is all you get in terms of the mechanism. The lid to the box
>is hinged fully open over to the right
OK, not the "lid", but what's under the top panel? Looks like there's
wiring under there, and probably an induction coil too.
There's also that 4-way switch in the bottom left, the function of which
might be explained by its wiring.
>I agree that the gap at the top left is a battery holder.
I don't think that it is. There should be a handpiece to go with that,
and that would probably have stored there. Batteries in period would
probably have been lead-acid accumulators rather than zinc-carbon dry
cells, and they would have been transported externally. This is also
supported by the handy + / - terminals.
> There are
>traces of leaked chemicals on the floor of this holder.
Another possibility for this gadget is that it's engineering, not
medical. You could use it for electro-etching (I have a modern one) with
almost the same circuit. The handpiece might then be likely to drip
chemicals that would stain the timber. Although I'd also expect the
drawer to have had something like an inkwell in it, to hold the etchant.
>As for the possible sliding rheostat, Oldus Fartus is correct. There
>is nothing that slides. However the steel strip that runs from left to
>right vibrates in the vertical plane, and the brass screw on top can
>be turned to control the rate of vibration.
It's DC powered and induction coils need AC, so this would have been a
trembler coil (like a model T ignition). Usually an induction coil was
its own trembler, but it's not unheard of for them to be separate,
especially if there's a variable coupling slug. A reed trembler can be
adjustable frequency if there's a way to slide a stop along to vary the
effective length, but this adjustment is probably just to keep it tuned
in as the contacts wear.
Oldus Fartus
I have taken the liberty of cross-posting this to aus.electronics where
there are quite a few posters with many years of experience in the
field. Hopefully one of them may have the answer.
--
Cheers
Oldus Fartus
a_sha...@yahoo.com
red tip up their ass and would get off on the shocks.
Graceful Exits
devices, but this doesn't resemble any of them I've seen. The quack
med devices usually have a hand cranked generator and 2 metal handles
hooked up to it (often with a bizzare array of rheostats, switches,
and other electrical components to make them look "modern and
scientific" for the times.
The idea was for the patient to hold one of the handles and the
"doctor" to hold the other. When he turned the crank, the electrical
current would force the doctor's "healing properties" to run through
the patient, curing everything from baldness to asthma. In the case
of some practitioners, the patient would hold both handles while the
healer would turn the crank giving the patient a little jolt.
In this case, it would help to know what the red capped item is and
how it relates to the device itself. What I see is a rheostat, 2
terminals that probably hook up to a battery or a hand cranked
generator, an on/off switch, 3 padded "end tools", and that red
capped item, suggesting the padded end tools should be connected to
the red cap thingy. If the pads fit on the end of the red capped tool
and rotate, it is probably a polisher (suggesting the red capped tool
is an electric motor). If it doesn't rotate, it's probably a medical
device. If it doesn't hook up to other wires in the device, I don't
have a single clue as to what it may be.
-Pete
Graceful Exits Estate Liquidation Services
www.graceful-exits.com
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pwr...@pacbell.net
looks like it must be pushed down when the top is closed. if this is
the case, then i think it's a switch to make sure that, when the cover
is closed, the machine is off. that said, i believe that the hole is a
battery box, and the soldered on wires are superfluous. the two brass
fittings that the wires are soldered to would actually fit to the
battery terminals, and any wires coming from the gizmo would be attached
to the two brass fittings marked + and -. these wires could have been
part of a hand-held something or other that the flannel covered bits
would be fitted to. they probably would have been moistened before
placing on the skin to deliver a small electrical shock or somewhat.
just my 2 cents.
rhiannon
john...@johnson.com
track now.
Jeff Behary of The Turn of the Century Electrotherapy Museum tells me
that it is a Faradic Medical Battery but he has no clue as to the
manufacturer. He says these sorts of machines "were made left right
and centre from the 1870s - 1920s.
Jeff's site is well worth looking at:
http://www.electrotherapymuseum.com
After looking at other makes of this type of gadget I connected a 1.5
volt battery to the terminals top left. Then soldered wires to two
short lengths of copper tube and connected them to the scrw down brass
terminals on the left and below the battery connections.
The steel plate above the coils in the centre of the picture starts
vibrating and you get a mild electric shock through the hand held
copper tubes. Fortunately my son worked out that the red capped rod
top right controls the flux (I think that is the phrase he used) and
that for the mildest effect you keep it pulled up in its socket. BTW
this arrangement is a breach of OHS principles!
The strength of the shock varies with how tightly you grasp the copper
tubes, how sweaty your palms are and how far the rod is pushed down
into the hole.
SO BEWARE - if you have one of these machines, and (1) have a tight
and sweaty grip and (2) have the rod pushed fully home then your
muscles will so contract that you will be in great pain and unable to
let go of the copper tubes.
THEREFORE start with the rods resting in the palms of your hands and
the rod extracted from its socket.
The electric shock is a tingling of high frequency, not a jolt.
The chamois covered pads must have been used to localise the electric
current on particular parts of the body.
The only unexplained part of the gadget is the switch at bottom left.
It swivels so that it can contact each of four poles that are screwed
into the woodwork. It has no effect so far as I can see.
To see what's going on under the top panel you would have to remove
it. You can't see anything in the roof of the drawer compartment.
Moving on to identifying the country of manufacture, I notice that
some numbers written in pencil on the inside of the wooden cabinet and
a drawer put a line across the stem of the number 7. This is of course
a European way of writing a number.
Each of four brass terminals has a label in the form of a letter
stamped into the wood:
1. What is probably the positive battery terminal has the letter 'K'.
2. The other battery terminal has the letter 'Z'.
3. One pole of a switch (function unknown) has the letter 'P'.
4. The other pole has the letter 'S'.
Can somebody identify what words these represent? I have looked in
German and French dictionaries and cannot get any sense from
'positive', 'negative', 'on' and 'off'.
On 9 Apr 2007 10:03:37 -0700, "Graceful Exits"
Graceful Exits
what the heck it was... And also thanks for posting Jeff Behary's
website URL, it is so *cool* !!! If I ever dispense with my
collection of old tech, I'll donate my two quack medical machines to
his museum.
-Pete
Graceful Exits Estate Liquidation Services
www.graceful-exits.com
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