Some shots of old marine electronics.

[Justgotohm]

I am a fan of old electronics so I’m an electronics nerd I suppose. Here are some pics of a 1969 Sperry Auto Pilot, any usable parts? I have asked for this equipment when it’s removed, I don’t know why I just don’t want it to go to scrap. I’ll actually go in and keep any usable parts down to switches and terminal strips.

 

[petehall347]

what is it supposed to do ?

 

[Lavane]

Some transformers that might be worth a good look see.

 

[Justgotohm]

what is it supposed to do ?

It’s an auto pilot from a gyro compass. You could add set and drift, rudder speed, if you have a tow or running light. You turn the big dial and the boat will go that way as long as the gyro is spinning. I love the little stick men figures next to the control dials. I have used this system before and it works very well, just not on this boat. The boxes hanging on the wall are just tall enoigh to hold some liquor bottles if they were gutted. You would have to keep the lights and switches on the doors.

 

[nj pheonix]

Looks well made.
I'm not familiar with what's inside.
Passives (resistors ,caps likely worthless)
Hardware, switches , terminals, knobs might have some value.
I don't follow things like that. It might ( )
be worth more whole.

 

[nj pheonix]

Looks like a serious bulkhead .
How big is the vessel?

 

[DaveVoorhis]

The relays, switches, fuse holders, power semiconductors and high wattage resistors might have some salvage value, but it's almost certainly worth more to a collector as an intact unit.

 

[quiet]

I don't know about collectability but if someone wants a working setup like that installed new or reconditioned used on a large vessel it's gonna cost "lots" of $$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[gslikker]

I think many techs did and still do have the chance to get specific equipment. Including myself, most have no time nor means to take it, preserve it, and enjoy it.

In my country, amount of time and room is usually limiting factor for techs. I even do not want to remember myself what I could have had and what I did have and put in the garbage.

For example: I did have a TI silent 732 thermal printer/terminal which was put in the garbage. It had two digital cassette tape drives on it.
Each cassette tape drive had 4 motors and the way it was built makes a Nakamichi audio cassette player look like a piece of elcheapo junk (which of course, it is....).
One day, I decided not dragging it for the rest of my life so it went in the garbage again....

Although, some boxes full of junk remain......

Nice to see those pictures, I like electronics junk too!

 

[Justgotohm]

Looks like a serious bulkhead .
How big is the vessel?

This boat is small at 105ft by 36ft, 199 gross registered tons. The gyro is non operational which is the money, at 20k It’s not worth fixing. The first thing I do when I get some free time on a boat is start plundering.

 

[dshoaf]

.....For example: I did have a TI silent 732 thermal printer/terminal which was put in the garbage. It had two digital cassette tape drives on it.
Each cassette tape drive had 4 motors and the way it was built makes a Nakamichi audio cassette player look like a piece of elcheapo junk (which of course, it is....).
One day, I decided not dragging it for the rest of my life so it went in the garbage again....

Well, well, well, I was once a Field Engineer for Texas Instruments and worked on those old 732 and 742 Automatic Send Receive (ASR) terminals. Those things had the forerunner of the Intel microprocessors in them - the 4004. They were modern versions of the old Teletype model 33 ASR's that used cassette decks in place of punched paper tape devices.

Nothing to do with audio on those cassette decks, too. They used a Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) recording mechanism that had checksums and parity bits for error detection. For the mid-70s, they were quite sophisticated.

Thanks for the memories.

Cheers,

David

 

[toxcrusadr]

That thing does look like it belongs in a museum. Unfortunately there is a relatively small number of vintage technology geeks who enjoy looking at this stuff. Compared to dinosaur bones, paintings etc.

 

[gslikker]

Well, well, well, I was once a Field Engineer for Texas Instruments and worked on those old 732 and 742 Automatic Send Receive (ASR) terminals. Those things had the forerunner of the Intel microprocessors in them - the 4004. They were modern versions of the old Teletype model 33 ASR's that used cassette decks in place of punched paper tape devices.

Nothing to do with audio on those cassette decks, too. They used a Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) recording mechanism that had checksums and parity bits for error detection. For the mid-70s, they were quite sophisticated.

Thanks for the memories.

Cheers,

David

David, I decided to dig my memories too! I found these pictures, one of them has the TI terminal, a Hazeltine I belief, and a Tektronix hardcopy unit which (also) could be used for having a pushbutton copy of the oscilloscope screen, as well as a graphics copy of a computer screen. TI cassette unit was 300 baud or so, it was to load diagnostics of the TI980 computers . Other picture shows 2 of the TI computers behind the printers, the left printer is a TI also afaik, other a Printronix, and two Sperry Univac minicomputers having several 8 inch floppy drives. I forgot about the "USA-Washing-Machine" type of big disk drive brand, which sometimes failed or we had to realign heads according maint procedures so I have opened those up many times....
In the same pile of pictures I even found pictures of an outdoor concert of Steppenwolf I went in a weekend, during an USA visit.
This must have been close to Ft Lauderdale or Miami, somewhere 1985 or so! (need a reason to keep the topic audio related AK worthy)

 

[toxcrusadr]

Cool stuff!

 

[restorer-john]

The control head/unit whatever it is called is fully awesome. I reckon you put a Class D amp inside the case! It is, after all called a 'control amplifier' on the front.

The fuse holders are lovely and all those fantastic toggle switches and barrier terminals. I'd have to strip it.

 

[Justgotohm]

David, I decided to dig my memories too! I found these pictures, one of them has the TI terminal, a Hazeltine I belief, and a Tektronix hardcopy unit which (also) could be used for having a pushbutton copy of the oscilloscope screen, as well as a graphics copy of a computer screen. TI cassette unit was 300 baud or so, it was to load diagnostics of the TI980 computers . Other picture shows 2 of the TI computers behind the printers, the left printer is a TI also afaik, other a Printronix, and two Sperry Univac minicomputers having several 8 inch floppy drives. I forgot about the "USA-Washing-Machine" type of big disk drive brand, which sometimes failed or we had to realign heads according maint procedures so I have opened those up many times....
In the same pile of pictures I even found pictures of an outdoor concert of Steppenwolf I went in a weekend, during an USA visit.
This must have been close to Ft Lauderdale or Miami, somewhere 1985 or so! (need a reason to keep the topic audio related AK worthy)
View attachment 1159457 View attachment 1159458 View attachment 1159459

That shot of the equipment room is awesome. It reminds me of when I was a kid in the 70’s going into the computer department of the large international engineering firm my father worked for. Lots of big reels spinning, a loud hum from all the gear, the tiny screens with the green numbers. My favorite memory is of the fax machines with the rotary dials.

The control head/unit whatever it is called is fully awesome. I reckon you put a Class D amp inside the case! It is, after all called a 'control amplifier' on the front.

The fuse holders are lovely and all those fantastic toggle switches and barrier terminals. I'd have to strip it.

Funny that’s exactly what I envisioned. Use the compass dial as the volume, the other knobs as preamp controls, etc. I actually have everything I would need to make this, it would be a fun long weekend project.

 

[gslikker]

Interesting is also it looks Japanese, considering Hitachi Transistors, the Iwaki name on a big green resistor and "Haruna Denki"on the two brown transformers or chokes, whatever they are.
Also the small bolts heads on terminal block just do not look "USA-built" as what would be expected from Sperry equipment.