Posted 1 year ago
sowefly
(3 items)
Westinghouse Electric & MFG. CO. Portable Watthour Meter.
Pittsburgh, PA. USA
- Normal Current 1 5 10 20 40 Amperes
- Normal Voltage 100 200 Volts
- Style 149742 A
- Serial - 387568
- Listed "PATENTED" dates on this Watthour Meter: 12-30-1902 6-5-1906 6-26-1906 5-14-1907 5-11-1909 8-3-1909 10-31-1911 1-7-1913 7-22-1913 11-10-1914 5-11-1915 5-2-1916 8-8-1916 10-31-1916 1-30-1917 5-15-1917 12-4-1917 1-5-1918
Westinghouse Portable Watthour Meter with a handwritten ledger from November 16th 1920. My father was a electronics engineer and technician, this was one of his pieces of many vintage electronics and by far one of the neatest looking gadgets I've seen. After finding another very similar here on CW, I decided to join and share to hopefully add another piece to this treasured history. There is no way I can exceed the already fabulous post here on CW of the other Watthour Meter so I will simply just add this piece and encourage anyone to explore the other watthour meter for an incredible history of these devices including amazing research with patents and important historical moments in time shared with Edison and other main players in the electric revolution of our country.
Welcome to CW. Glad my post influenced you to join. Hopefully you will share some of your other treasures with us.
Saw a few similar ones..here's one older(by serial numbers)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/133747659312
And one newer(by serial numbers)
https://soulisauctions.com/Cat/catLot.php?lid=23290&public=TRUE
When you think about this fact..
"Oliver B. Shallenberger, chief electrician at Westinghouse, invented the first successful AC ampere-hour meter in 1888."
These meters were still fairly new devices back in the 1920s. Great Meyer, thanks for sharing.
Since you mentioned that your father was an electronics technician..my father actually taught electronics in the late 60s at a vocational school, just one of his many hobbies. Later he taught electronics in the basement for fellow Ham radio friends. Here's a glimpse of my father's workshop.
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/293195-hy-gain-antenna-advertisement-give-away
**meter** Sorry you'll figure out that we cannot edit our comments. An annoying feature here
I would suggest that you condition the wood and the leather handle to help preserve your meter. You can find stuff at your local hardware store..I use the Howard's beeswax on a lot of stuff.
https://www.amazon.com/Howard-Products-FW0016-Feed-N-Wax-Conditioner/dp/B001BKQYGW/ref=asc_df_B001BKQYGW/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167151917164&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1533406951092282775&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9033461&hvtargid=pla-359966166447&psc=1
WOW...My Dad's shop looked almost identicle! Unreal. I will have to dig up some photos to share:) Thank you on the Howard Beeswax. I will condition, I really thnk you for your tips as I felt intimidated trying to pick cleaning solution scarred in my childhood when I tried to "clean one of my dad's radios with I think pledge and sprayed a perfect ring circle on the wood around the glass face only to wipe it off and leave a permanent white bleached stain circle. He nearly teared up as he thanked me for trying to help and I knew then what I had done.
I saw the older one earlier and I was a bit confused as when I was posting my pictures I read a disclaimer saying to not post anything for sale on CW or any platform but clearly so many are for sale?
The beeswax won't hurt anything and can easily be removed if needed. But yes, you want to keep the wood conditioned..if it drys out its no good. Same with the leather. You can use the Howard's on the leather as well or an actual leather conditioner. It will darken the piece up until it dries up some. That's ok though.
It's OK to link stuff for sale in the comments as examples of items or comparables. You cannot list stuff that's for sale in the "show & tell" section. We also do not discuss values here either, since they have a paid appraisal section. There is another section of CW that has items listed for sale.
Thank you very helpful I appreciate the low down and rules briefing.