Cold War Aerospace Equipment Found at Dump!

[UnderMiner]

Stopped by a local dump today to find a big dumpster full of weird stuff from an old aerospace lab. There was a whole bunch of stuff - metal, wooden, and even leather boxes containing voltmeters, stress sensors, decibel meters, calibration equipment, antennas, etc. Probably over a metric ton of old Cold War lab stuff. I took what I could and left the rest for tomorrow (assuming it will still be there, which it unfortunately may not be).

There was a very short time in history when electronics used these digital displays called "Nixie tubes", this old Multimeter is an example of this forgotten technology, surprised that it still works!:

This little box contains a piezoelectric calibration device - made by GE's Space Division.

This is a old analog multi meter last calibrated in 1952!

This is an electrical resistance tester. You turn the handle and it generates electricity. The level of electrical resistance of whatever you're testing is displayed on the analog display. And yep, it still works!

You can read some of the things they wrote in this analog volt meter's instructions.
"If opened, care should be taken to exclude the minutest dust or fluff."
Apparently there was alot of fluff in the air in the 1950's.

 

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[trapperart]

Very cool

 

[relic lover]

Love the megger. It's the only way to check for bad insulation in an electric motor

 

[texjim]

Believe it or not we still use a megger like that at my work. The one guy at work clamped a wrench in it one time and started to wind it and touched me with it. I dropped like a bag of potatoes.

 

[NOLA_Ken]

That's pretty cool. I love the look of that old equipment. I have a few old meters somewhere too, but mine aren't that neat.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Nice old instrument recovery!

 

[mirage83]

Probably some vintage electronics collectors would really enjoy getting ahold of some of your finds. I'm pretty confident you could list them on Ebay and get some interest in them. Neat finds regardless.

 

[Garrett424]

Awesome and cool dump finds. I hope you can get some more.

 

[Dakota Sioux]

Some of that stuff could be historic to the Moon Mission like the accelerometer from GE Space Division. Get all of that!!!

 

[Patriot Relics]

Thanks for sharing- you find the coolest stuff in the garbage. Nice work!

 

[against the wind]

Tony Stark is looking for you,,

 

[bill_wabo]

Man, coolest dumpster finds I ever saw. I saw in a vintage store, a clock with nixie tubes and it was 400$. Good luck tomorrow!

 

[dansalata]

killer finds.i remember in electronics class in the 1970s we has a big digital voltmeter with nixie tubes..i wanted that thing bad...i have a couple old m,eters like that..great find goods memories!!! wtg!!!

 

[kingskid1611]

Get the rest and send them to me..... Those are freaking neat!

 

[A2coins]

Hope theres more tomorrow and you post it!!!!@

 

[laidback4sho]

Although illegal, I used to use an old megger to fish with. Just drop the leads in the water and start cranking. The fish will float to the top for you to scoop up with a dip net. Folks, don't try this at home... it's highly frowned upon by Fish and Game.

Sent from my SM-S975L using Tapatalk

 

[G.I.B.]

Although illegal, I used to use an old megger to fish with. Just drop the leads in the water and start cranking. The fish will float to the top for you to scoop up with a dip net. Folks, don't try this at home... it's highly frowned upon by Fish and Game.

Sent from my SM-S975L using Tapatalk

Much quieter than a stick of dynamite.

I remember the nixie tubes quite fondly- it was amazing technology to see the flip numbers replaced by magic crap that glowed!

How cool...

 

[thrifty76now]

Good dumpster dive there.

 

[UnderMiner]

I went back to the dump the day after this original post but most of the stuff leftover had been taken away. I did however manage to get several more of those little wooden boxes that contained those piezoelectric calibration devices from GE's Space Division. Not really sure what these little things were used to calibrate but they're from the space program which is good enough for me. Don't think there was really much else worth salvaging. There is still a pretty large wooden box containing an old decibel meter but it looked broken - it was from an naval ordnance lab so I assume it was use to measure the noise level of rocket engines and other loud things. There was also very large oscilloscope, massive thing, but I have no room for it. Still happy with the haul though. Thanks to all who liked this post