Weston test equipment

[racergold]

I have some old test equipment, voltmeters, ammeters, etc. in bakelite cases, some made by the Weston Electrical insturment corp. I was wondering if any of you have any experience with them. I researched the company, run by one Edward Weston,(1850-1936) who was an inventor and had many patents. He did some work with electroplating, and among his inventions were two alloys,"Constanta" having a negative temperature co-efficient, and "Manganin" having an extremely low temperature co-efficient. He also compounded a German silver alloy containing 30% nickle(1887). I have not yet found what the two alloys are made of, and dont know if any of the equipment I have contains them. Have any of you heard of these alloys? Any information will be of great use to me, thanks in advance.

 

[jimdoc]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manganin

I have a roll or two of Manganin.
It was used in shunts.

Jim

 

[racergold]

Thanks for the quick reply. I also have some old "Shunts", some of which I have dis-assembled, and a couple "Potentiometers" one of which seems very complicated and inside it contains a glass tube in the shape of an "H" with what I am guessing to be mercury inside. The shunts seem to contain a lot of copper and brass but do you know of any PMs? The shunts are in bakelite boxes and come from Los Alamos and Sandia labs. One is marked "Rubicon" company.

 

[qst42know]

Often those old devices are collectible.

Have you checked what they sell for before you disassembled them?