# Anyone want to take a guess?



## JRaef (Mar 23, 2009)

What are the red devices?









Closeup...









After 5 incorrect guesses, or one correct one, I'll show a bigger shot that might give it away.


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## RePhase277 (Feb 5, 2008)

Is that one of those GE electrodynamic vacu-latches, on the preframulated amulite base?

Whatever it is, it's clear that a circuit is made by the metal ring in the back against the rear poles. Low voltage drop out?


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## emtnut (Mar 1, 2015)

Without seeing the other side, or that meter ...

I'll guess limit switches, for god knows what :blink:


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## backstay (Feb 3, 2011)

Magnetic relays, maybe part of an overload system.


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## macmikeman (Jan 23, 2007)

Big dashpots


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## frenchelectrican (Mar 15, 2007)

If that was painted red so maybe a thermal switch or earthquake switch one of the two. 

but I am leaning more toward to thermal switch.


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## telsa (May 22, 2015)

Arc-less relay cut-out.

Holds until commutation.

Note total lack of pitting.


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## Chris1971 (Dec 27, 2010)

Phase loss detection.:laughing:


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## MTW (Aug 28, 2013)

Chris1971 said:


> Phase loss detection.:laughing:


Excellent guess. Thanks for sharing.


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## B-Nabs (Jun 4, 2014)

Ground fault detection of some kind?

Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk


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## Navyguy (Mar 15, 2010)

Circa 1925, pressure / vacuum / hydraulic adjustable switch. Guessing it was used on a locomotive / street car (brakes?), however based on the gray paint I am thinking some naval application such as a windlass / winch / capstan...

In the navy however red generally denotes emergency equipment, so not too sure.

Cheers

John


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## macmikeman (Jan 23, 2007)

Navyguy said:


> Circa 1925, pressure / vacuum / hydraulic adjustable switch. Guessing it was used on a locomotive / street car (brakes?), however based on the gray paint I am thinking some naval application such as a windlass / winch / capstan...
> 
> In the navy however red generally denotes emergency equipment, so not too sure.
> 
> ...


You mean like a dashpot............


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## Navyguy (Mar 15, 2010)

macmikeman said:


> You mean like a dashpot............


This is guess... just like everyone else... I am not sure if a dashpot has a direct electrical connection as opposed to an actual pressure / vacuum switch.

What I am not sure about is that it looks like the entire plunger assembly carries the current / voltage, so if that is the case it would have to be something non-conductive (unless the round section is insulated from the plunger).

Cheers

John


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## wildleg (Apr 12, 2009)

grounding detection


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## John Valdes (May 17, 2007)

Dashpot.


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## emtnut (Mar 1, 2015)

JRaef said:


> What are the red devices?
> 
> 
> After 5 incorrect guesses, or one correct one, I'll show a bigger shot that might give it away.



...Ahem :whistling2:


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## scotch (Oct 17, 2013)

Was told by an old steam boiler operator years ago that when they went into action in WW2 the electrical artificer switched out the motor overloads for "run to destruction ....almost" ones . They didn't want any problems in action ! Same as they "gagged" all they safety valves on the boilers in "action stations " mode .! They was on British cruisers...maybe US ones had same program .?


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## JRaef (Mar 23, 2009)

backstay said:


> Magnetic relays, maybe part of an overload system.


Partial winner



macmikeman said:


> Big dashpots


Winner!

Dash pot Overload Relays on 300HP 12 pole motors built in 1906, used to suck water out of the Sacramento River for irrigation ditches. The old starters were Manual Compensators, a.k.a. "one armed bandits". For you youngsters, these were essentially a Reduce Voltage Autotransformer starter, but instead of contactors to switch in and out, there was a manual "crank" on the side. So to start, the operator would push the handle forward, which put power to the motor through an oil-bath transformer, then when he heard the right sound in the motor, he would pull the handle back to "neutral, then pull it further to go across-the-line to the motor. The "one armed bandit" moniker came from it's resemblance to a Slot Machine!

One Armed bandits:









Motor:









Motor nameplate:









My guy making up the connection. Note that there were no peckerheads on these...


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## JRaef (Mar 23, 2009)

Forgot this:
Also for the youngsters, a Dashpot was a device that held a little pot of oil in it that had a specific viscosity, and when current flowed through the coil in the pot, the oil heated up. A small orifice was used, calibrated for the specific amount of time it would take for hot oil to pass through it, acting on a diaphragm that eventually tripped the contacts and dropped out the starter. They were phased out decades ago when bi-metal OL relays came out and eventually had to be taken out of service because the original oil used in the calibration had PCBs in it and using silicon oil meant having to rebuild them, so they just got rid of them for the most part. Yet somehow these survived.

Nameplate on the starters:








Did a little research and it appears Butte Electric and Mfg. in San Francisco didn't survive the Great Depression...


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## JRaef (Mar 23, 2009)

Jobsite:








The operator lived in a house next to this pump station, because to start the pumps, they called him on the phone, he went out to the station and had about a 15 minute routine every time. The pumps are not self priming, so there is a little vacuum pump that he starts and runs until it lifts the water to the top of the pump volutes. That vacuum pump has leather seals, so part of his routine is to first pour oil into the top of the vacuum chamber, then wait for it to soak into the leather. Then he starts that small motor (next to my guy doing the connections) and it runs, making a thapucketa-thapucketa sound, while he watches the vacuum gauge. If he doesn't get enough vacuum, he pours in a little more oil. the whole thing takes about 15 minutes, then he goes over and cranks on the starter.

It was like stepping back in time...

My job was replacing those old Manual Compensators with Solid State Starters. They couldn't find anyone to service them any more.


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## macmikeman (Jan 23, 2007)

I worked on some stuff exactly the same , 35 yrs ago, GE company and all on some underground water pumping stations that you ride a rail cart down a tunnel 2 miles at an downward steep angle into the earth. And they make you carry a 5 gallon bucket with you at all times in case you need to relieve yourself because they don't want nobody messing up the water supply and mostly because the air down there don't need none of that stink or ammonia smell....... Nowadays they got homeland security clearances to work down there. 

I knew I had this when John agreed with me. He knows his motors.


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## Navyguy (Mar 15, 2010)

JRaef said:


> Forgot this:
> Also for the youngsters, a Dashpot was a device that held a little pot of oil in it that had a specific viscosity, and when current flowed through the coil in the pot, the oil heated up. A small orifice was used, calibrated for the specific amount of time it would take for hot oil to pass through it, acting on a diaphragm that eventually tripped the contacts and dropped out the starter. They were phased out decades ago when bi-metal OL relays came out and eventually had to be taken out of service because the original oil used in the calibration had PCBs in it and using silicon oil meant having to rebuild them, so they just got rid of them for the most part. Yet somehow these survived


This is interesting; I did not know dashpot actually carried electrical current. Dashpots are still used today, from what I understand, they are used to isolate liquids (corrosive, volatile, hygienic, etc) in some sort of hermetically sealed environment and actuate a separate switch; or separate high / low temperature non-corrosive items (hydraulic, pneumatic, CO, etc) from equipment that cannot withstand that operating temperature.

I love learning stuff like this.

Cheers

John


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## RePhase277 (Feb 5, 2008)

I don't much about dashpots, but I know this:

They knew how to build motors back in 1906. I am fairly certain that any motor built today couldn't survive that long. The control technology has gone to the future, but the motor just keeps on keeping on.


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## circuitman1 (Mar 14, 2013)

THANKS for the cool pictures!that was when stuff was built to last. if you have more pics like this post them.love the old stuff!:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:


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