Mystery Item thread.... What am i?

[Darkwood]

This is out of an old Russian lathe it has 4 contacts on it 2 x NC and 2 x NO it has a coil and on top it has a sealed oil filled reservoir.
What is its function!

Spoiler alert!!! Answer in post 9!!!

 

[GLENNSPARK]

You were right the first time! It IS a starter, but why is it like it is? What's in the bottom box that operates the rheostat? Here's a picture of the motor, not sure that tells you very much but it's a 12hp Crompton Parkinson wound-rotor induction. If you only had a fixed rotor resistance instead of a nice 10-stud starter, you could pull the lever on the end to throw a shorting plug into the slipring connections once up to speed. But for this application it would take longer to get up to speed on a fixed resistance and anyhow there's no-one around up here to pull the lever. The man who just hit the start button is down in the pit getting ready to begin.

View attachment 20164

mather & platt brush lifters with shorting ring.

 

[Lucien Nunes]

Two brief video clips:
Starter operating: Discus organ blower starter - YouTube
Richard Hills re-launching the organ in 2007 after we restored it to playing condition, having fallen into disrepair over the years: Reborn Compton Theatre Organ 1 - YouTube

 

[Lucien Nunes]

mather & platt brush lifters with shorting ring

This isn't as refined as the Mather & Platt, it just has the manual shorting plug but no brush lifters. So with the automatic starter the brushgear stays permanently in circuit carrying the 20A or so of rotor current. The daily running time even in their heyday wasn't long so the brushes lasted well anyhow.

 

[Darkwood]

Me happy now... could have been really anything but kinda nailed it on the head

 

[robsparky1975]

Real interesting thread this one,love to see pics of old gear that is in use,we need more threads like this!

 

[Darkwood]

Hail! Lucien - Man of Mystery!

 

[Knobhead]

Not so much what is it, anyone know how old it is?

 

[Darkwood]

Judging by the double loop hard wearing thread and looking at its relatively good colour tones and mix id say its a post 2000 stool but difficult to nail the exact date due to that 1937-ish timer sat on top!

 

[Flanders]

Are you in the Pub Already ??

 

[Silly Sausage]

Not so much what is it, anyone know how old it is?

No idea, but a bargain for £6!

 

[telectrix]

is the sticker with 1951 printed on it a clue, or is that an auction lot no? i'd have said 1930's.

 

[GLENNSPARK]

Not so much what is it, anyone know how old it is?

1958....

 

[Lucien Nunes]

Ye Olde Venner type 'C' (or variant of same). They certainly came out in the late 20s although a quick peek in Sunco 1929 and 1936 shows them only with mercury contacts at that time although identical in other details. I'll go for a little bit later than DW and say 1939, because my hunch is they dropped that style soon after the war.

 

[Knobhead]

No idea, but a bargain for £6!

It's now been put in to use!

(Not me, a friends using it. It’ll be OK until she forgets to wind it up).

 

[Darkwood]

Been a while since ive seen one of these but thought id strip it out for your pleasure...................

Putting that manual touch to a Star/Delta Starter .... to note the O/L advice to set FLC of motor and it was a nice mechanical arrangement if you look at the wiring diagram shows the differing motor terminal arrangements of the out going connections than we are used to seeing nowadays.