What is it?

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What is it?

Reply to
Meat Plow
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Looks like brushgear and sliprings on some kind of generator

Ron

Reply to
Ron

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Well, doesn't have to be a generator, but definitely a slip ring/brushes of some kind.

Big ass 3 phase motor maybe.......

Reply to
WangoTango

Could be just about anything. Slip Rings (collector Rigs) are used to simply pass power to a rotating object that may have devices on the rotating apparatus, that requires power.

Could also be a energized or controlled rotor, to adjust for torque and translated to speed in many applications. A lot of these motors simply allow access to the rotor windings to allow a 3 pot stack to adjust the current created with in the stator, via the rotor.

The idea in any case though, is to relay power to the rotating object or to monitor sensors from the rotating object. etc..

Reply to
Jamie

On 8/19/2009 10:06 AM Meat Plow spake thus:

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A commutator and brushes as others have said. Obviously.

My guess: a big honkin' 3-phase motor. (Or could be a generator, possibly from a motor-generator set.)

Looks like a /Life/ cover photo to accompany an article on "The Electric Age" or some such. Guessing pre-WWII here.

Nobody's commented on how nice and clean and polished everything looks, like a piece of well-maintained precision equipment. Compare to the dirty, pitted, scratched commutator of any power tool you may have lying around the house (or your vacuum cleaner).

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Found--the gene that causes belief in genetic determinism
Reply to
David Nebenzahl

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Yes the cleanliness should be an obvious clue to the observant. And I think the equipment is circa 1941.

I don't know its exact function but I do know what it is directly associated with.

Reply to
Meat Plow

On 8/19/2009 12:21 PM Meat Plow spake thus:

Lemme guess: the Manhattan Project?

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Found--the gene that causes belief in genetic determinism
Reply to
David Nebenzahl

Lol it could have been located near Manhattan.

Reply to
Meat Plow

I'm fairly sure it is a three phase alternator that got power from the rotor instead of the stator. I have a similar picture somewhere in a book showing this type of unit in a power generation system (the book's illustration said for a 'small town' but back in those days a small town didn't use much power!)

Reply to
PeterD

Similar from a book of that approx era

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Geo
Reply to
Geo

On 8/19/2009 2:16 PM Meat Plow spake thus:

So, Meat, I give up: what's it from?

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Found--the gene that causes belief in genetic determinism
Reply to
David Nebenzahl

Old telephone exchange switchgear possibly automated or "dial service."

The picture was among others from the early 1940's showing a large operator manned central office with international coverage. Wish I had bookmarked it.

Reply to
Meat Plow

On 8/22/2009 6:16 AM Meat Plow spake thus:

Motor? Generator?

Yeah, I love pics like that too.

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Found--the gene that causes belief in genetic determinism
Reply to
David Nebenzahl

More likely slip rings for a rotary switch bank. Possibly akin to an old TV tuner?

I think I ran across it while reading some info on Western Electric at wikipedia.

Reply to
Meat Plow

A ring generator? They used a motor generator to convert 60 Hz in 20 Hz, or other ring frequencies until the first solid state units in the '70s. I saw one, but it was in the early '60s at the long gone mechanical exchange in Middletown.

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You can\'t have a sense of humor, if you have no sense!
Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

That's another possibility. I'm going to try to hunt down the series of Life magazine articles this picture came from. I've been using Google Chrome for a browser and have it set to not store a history. However it does preserve some kind of history as it does track followed link colors.

Reply to
Meat Plow

The ring generator I saw had multiple output windings to break the load into separate ring groups to equalize the load. Each came out on separate slip rings. Most of the equipment at that CO was late 20's design, according to the tour guide.

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You can\'t have a sense of humor, if you have no sense!
Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

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