What Is This? Electronics Content.

[Tom H]

I just gots to know....What the heck is this that comes in a wooden box like it's something expensive?





Somebody here must know. Thank you!
Tom

[xackley]

It is definitely not a wachamacallit or a thingamajig

[Wayne Orwig]

Tuning fork tachometer.


https://maritime.org/doc/fleetsub/elect/chap12.htm

[Chuck in Indiana]

Uhhh, it sez what it is on the paperwork. I'll bet it *was* expensive..

[John Croucher]

Tuning fork tachometer.


https://maritime.org/doc/fleetsub/elect/chap12.htm

Electric motor governor?

[delrod]

Way too complicated for me to grasp
True story: way back a contractor I was involved with had to set up humidity controls for a mosquito breeding facility.
After failing multiple times a suggestion was made to call the mosquito hatchery at Lousiana state penitentiary (apparently experts in the field). Their system consisted of a open steam pipe with a valve controlled by hand. "If the paperwork on the desk feels wet close the valve a little.if the paperwork feels dry open a little"

[ohiorider]

Whatever ...... address of mfg is Philadelphia 3, Pennsylvania.  Before the age of ZIP Codes.

[fotoguzzi]

Way too complicated for me to grasp
True story: way back a contractor I was involved with had to set up humidity controls for a mosquito breeding facility.
After failing multiple times a suggestion was made to call the mosquito hatchery at Lousiana state penitentiary (apparently experts in the field). Their system consisted of a open steam pipe with a valve controlled by hand. "If the paperwork on the desk feels wet close the valve a little.if the paperwork feels dry open a little"

a mosquito farm, why didn't I think of that?

[oldbike54]

 Now it is just a cool paperweight .

 Dusty

[rodekyll]

The label is misleading.  It's obviously an instrument tuner for early (pre-zip-code) techno-music.  It's labeled wrong because the techno-music instrument tuner hadn't been invented yet, so they didn't know what to call it.

[Tom H]

Geez guys, those were some answers

Wayne, thank you! The article lost me after it needed the other dohickeys to tie it all together.

I knew it was a tachometer of some sort due to the label, but a tuning fork???? I guess it's a constant in the setup.

I was hoping that someone that knows this item was going to tell me that it's still in use and is very sought after and it's worth thousands.

Looks like it's just another item from my dad that is worth nothing now, but alot back then. Just like the papers I found on how to build a computer starting with a blank pc board.

Thanks all,
Tom

[Groover]

I think this is old Phone stuff - like from a switchboard, bell ring, or SOS stuff.

Edit: or tuning fork as mentioned above 

[wavedog]

Thanks Wayne for the article. I remember learning about that stuff when I was in uncle sam's canoe club. I was in class and the instructor was droning on doing his best to put us in a coma when he stopped and asked us if we had any questions. As a freshly minted smart a88 NUB I raised my hand and asked "That's fine and all, chief, but what has this to with finding the best place to have fun in Subic?" (my question was a little more explicit than that, but this is a family site)  Muffled laughter from the other students. The chief paused, gave me the steely eye - took a swallow of stale coffee from the cup he always carried, took a drag from the cigarette that he always smoked, light glinted off the dolphins on his khakis, and said "Listen, NUB, if you don't learn this you won't be gettin ANY fun, liberty or ANYthing in Subic. Got it?"   Yes, Chief, I got it. Later when I found out I was never going to go to the P.I., I promptly forgot it all. Until now. Thanks for opening some long dormant neural pathways.

[Zoom Zoom]

You never know, it might be worth something to a collector of some sort. Or perhaps a maratime museum might be interested.

ZZ

[Chuck in Indiana]

I think it's a glorified Vibra-tach. An elephant is a mouse designed by the military..

[cloudbase]

Way too complicated for me to grasp
True story: way back a contractor I was involved with had to set up humidity controls for a mosquito breeding facility.
After failing multiple times a suggestion was made to call the mosquito hatchery at Lousiana state penitentiary (apparently experts in the field). Their system consisted of a open steam pipe with a valve controlled by hand. "If the paperwork on the desk feels wet close the valve a little.if the paperwork feels dry open a little"

Coonass engineering.

[MikeW]

The 60 cycle tuning fork was used to generate a reference frequency for the operation of the shaft revolution indicator systems on submarines back in the day.

It's very clever stuff from the pre computer era!

For those who want the techie stuff...
12A2. Operation of Electric Tachometer Corporation type unit.
The controlled frequency power is obtained from the a.c. output slip rings of a rotary converter and energizes the lower of 2 synchronous motors in the frequency control unit. One side of a mechanical differential is driven in synchronous relation with the converter output frequency by this lower synchronous motor. The other side of the differential is driven in a reverse direction at constant speed by the top synchronous motor. Constant frequency power for this top motor is obtained from a vacuum tube amplifier and its associated tuning fork which is adjusted to vibrate at exactly 60 cycles. Thus, the 60-cycle tuning fork is the prime source of constant frequency which it generates in coils nearest the weighted ends and impresses on the amplifying tube. The fork and amplifier work together; the tuning fork vibrates independently at its own natural frequency and the amplifier keeps the fork vibrating by feeding back some output power. Most of the amplifier power output goes to rotate the top motor at a constant speed corresponding to the frequency of the fork.

A spider arm is operated by the action of the differential and this arm operates a rheostat to control the field current of the inverted rotary converter. The action which takes place is as follows:

When the top and lower motors are running at the same speed, there is no motion of the differential spider arm. This condition exists only when the converter output frequency is the same as, the fork frequency. If the converter falls below synchronous speed, the decreased speed of the lower motor and its half of the differential starts the spider arm revolving. The spider arm turns the arm of the rheostat. The change in position of the rheostat arm changes the converter field current so that the speed and output frequency of the converter are restored to synchronism with the tuning fork. The frequency of the converter output is thus effectively locked.

[smdl]

Looks like it's just another item from my dad that is worth nothing now, but alot back then. Just like the papers I found on how to build a computer starting with a blank pc board.

Sounds like your dad is (was?) a pretty cool guy!

Cheers,
Shaun

[Tom H]

Was. He was an electrical engineer, he worked at Hughes A/C for most if not all of his carrier. There is all sorts of integrated chips, diodes, resistors and the like. Took a mixed bag to a hobby type electrical shop (not Radio Shack type) and the guys there said it's a bunch of neat stuff, but it's worth nothing now. I asked if they wanted it all for free, they turned that down.

All the stuff is 30+ year old tech. I still have to figure out what to do with oscilloscopes and the like. Could fleabay them, but they are heavy so shipping would not be cheap.

For this item I sent an email to a ship museum out here. Waiting to hear back from them.

Tom

[smdl]

Definitely the type of guy I would have enjoyed chatting with.

Cheers,
Shaun