View Full Version : Any idea what this is?
Richard Slater
11-09-2008, 10:28
It was found in an old cupboard, the building is 400 years old. None of us have an idea what it might be.
http://www.richard-slater.co.uk/upload/bd/DSC00442_thumb.JPG (http://www.richard-slater.co.uk/upload/bd/DSC00442.JPG)
http://www.richard-slater.co.uk/upload/bd/DSC00443_thumb.JPG (http://www.richard-slater.co.uk/upload/bd/DSC00443.JPG)
You might want to shrink it, I cant see the whole thing on my screen :)
Is it a punch clock? Think that is the word, the sort of things they used to use in factories for the workers to clock in and out?
My reasons for this are: It has a clock, it says 'punch arm'.
Is it a punch clock? Think that is the word, the sort of things they used to use in factories for the workers to clock in and out?
My reasons for this are: It has a clock, it says 'punch arm'.
Seconded :)
leowyatt
11-09-2008, 10:35
It's a clock that is linked to all the others in a building and an electrical signal is sent round to instruct them to all change at the same time. If the power goes off all the clocks stop.
Just my guess
The signal switch can be used to let the clocks continue on their own time (i.e show different time zone) or obviously keep time to the others.
EDIT: I'd also suggest that the punch arm is used to check the signal running through the cable to make sure there isn't any problems with it as the punch tape would show any.
CaptRugWash
11-09-2008, 10:45
IT'S A BOMB!
FOR GODS SAKE DON'T TOUCH IT!
Is there any Patent numbers on it ?
leowyatt
11-09-2008, 10:49
Is there any Patent numbers on it ?
Top left corner on the back are registered design numbers but I think it might be obscured by the sticker.
Just Googled Techron Equip Ltd and its still a trading company in Arundel West Sussex. Although it says it's linked to Radiator Covers
Dropped an e-mail to my dad about it as he and some of his co-workers tend to have a good knowledge of that kind of thing. Heck, they probably even have one or two kicking around some place around the building!
Caused some fun and head scratching!!
General concensus of opinion is that is an event indicator/monitor of some kind. The tape would run at a constant speed and when a signal is received the punch marks the tape. Techron were a Brighton based company who now make screens. They were, if Jim's memory serves him right, involved in maritime electronics but he's not sure. They are still listed, based in Arundel, so an e-mail from your friend might elicit some response.
Arundel is a nice place btw.
We'll have a BD trip, take the thing and demand to know what it is..
Arundel is a beautiful place, from the castle to the (split in two) cathedral, all the way down to the Wildfowl and Wetlands centre. You can even go boating on the river for a laugh with mates, though splashing each other is frowned upon (no wet t-shirt competitions either :()
I think it could be a vintage 'black box' recorder adding to what Garp said. There was one very similar on the HAMB recently and they identified it as a WW2 flight logger.
another update..
Jim has just come back to me to say OOPPSS Techron make RADIATOR SCREENS so
they are not the same company as he thought!!
Techron Electronics were based on the South Coast he is almost certain! (but
then he said that about the firm at Arundel!!
OUCH!!
Well the address label for Techron on the box says Littlehampton, West Sussex, so that is correct :D
Doesn't bring back anything from the patent office on those two registered design numbers unfortunately.
Is it a time machine?! Is it is it is it?!!
*wants to play*
Looks like electronics from the 80's..
Richard Slater
11-09-2008, 17:55
If it is a punch clock why would the punch be on the back.
I am in Hove so South Coast makes much sense.
Next question why would a school have it?
it takes a casset of that tape stuff. which is then punched for some reason.
So it's not a work punch card thing.
It's got a clock on it, a device on the back that turns at 1 rpm (it says) a punching device with a roll of tape and a line in that says signal. It's definitely a data logging device of some sort. Was it anything to do with the physics lab? Is it a deluxe tickertape machine? :D
Mrs Slater
11-09-2008, 18:15
I believe it to be a machine that is used to send a signal the school bells of to signal the end of lessons or end of the school day. On the front clock dial you can just about make out a smaller dial that is divided into the days of the week so that it wouldn't go off on the weekend. I guess that the signal socket is what connected it to the bell system, same as the fire alarm ones. I'm not too sure what the punch tape is for, it may hold the information for alarm or it could be what helps to regulate the time.
Kell_ee001
11-09-2008, 18:31
It was for punishing naughty school children through sutble electrocution :) Bring it back I say! :D
Pumpkinstew
11-09-2008, 18:52
It's a primitive doomsday device. Standard issue to problem schools in the early 80's. If the working class oiks ran amok and no-one was available to reset it it would go off obliterating the school and preventing a more widespread uprising. The signal in is a remote failsafe in case any well to dos were still within the blast radius.
OK, honestly. It's the bell timer. The dial on the back has 'ring time adjustment' written next to it. No-idea what the recording ticker is for. Maybe just a very simple way of checking how much time has passed between rings, each hole is a minute and a punched hole indicates the bell went off.
it's pre '75 apparently, as the online digital records have no details of that registered design, apparently.
Arundel is a beautiful place, from the castle to the (split in two) cathedral, all the way down to the Wildfowl and Wetlands centre. You can even go boating on the river for a laugh with mates, though splashing each other is frowned upon (no wet t-shirt competitions either :()
:angry:
cleanbluesky
12-09-2008, 19:58
It's a small hadron collider
Stan_Lite
13-09-2008, 11:21
It's a small hadron collider
Accelerates protons to 7.8 Km/s and monitors the collisions.
We never had such 'newfangled' equipment at my (last) school in the mid 80s. The bells were rung manually from a switch outside the headmasters' office. I rang those bells many times (and not out of malice either before anyone suggests otherwise :p)
You turned on your headmasters bell manually? :confused:
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