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What the heck is this thing?

YamahaFreak

YamahaFreak

Super Member
(Posted here because it's not really audio-related)

I found this odd numerical display in the innermost bowels of our vacuum tube warehouse, and I haven't the faintest idea what it came out of, or what it was designed to do. If I had to hazard a guess, it'd be elevator floor indicator.

numdisplay1cq8.jpg


It has eleven clear panes inside, each etched with a character: numbers 0-9 and what appears to be a hollow decimal point. The top portion of the unit has a contact pin for each of the character panes as well as a common ground pin.

numdisplay2qz2.jpg


Each of the panes has its own filament bulb that lights it up from the top.

numdisplay3ex9.jpg


Under the top cover, you can see the bases of the bulbs, each of which is mounted inside a spring.

numdisplay4ue3.jpg


Judging by the positions of the characters relative to one another, the display is designed to illuminate only one number at a time, i.e. it can only display up to the number 9. There is a number stamped on the back of the unit as well: 101097-1.

It would be really cool if I could find out what this contraption is, and where it came from! :yes:
 
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The count-down timer to a large BOMB. 9,8,7,6...you'd better be running fast now...5,4,3...

Actually, I have no idea, but it sure is an interesting thing. Your elevator-floor indicator guess is as good as any, I suppose.

Alternatively, maybe a room or bed indicator for a hospital ward: the patient presses a button to summon help, and the display shows the nurses which patient bed (or room) it was.
 
That's the device that the show Sesamee Street would use way back when to display the number that the show of the day was sponsored by. :thmbsp:
 
Cool.

I've got the skinny. Back in the day, when the powers that be saw that 8 tracks were on the way out, they were going to upgrade them to - you guessed it - 9 tracks.

You obviously have an extremely rare prototype display from that scrapped effort (they found, too late, folks didn't like odd numbers of tracks, except when the Beatles sang about them). Sell it on eBay for $10,000, link to this page.

:)

Pete
 
Thanks for the replies! When I first saw it, I immediately thought 'nixie', as well. Arkay's hospital bed indicator could be it, as well. :yes: I wonder what I can use it for? All the numerals light up nicely.
 
That's a register from a retroencabulator. The modern equivalents utilize LCD technology.
 
A long time ago, the NFL was going to do away with the 30 second clock to reduce it to 9 seconds to make the game go faster.

It does look pretty cool, though.
 
You can almost hear the calm female voice of the old Bell System counting down, "seven.....six.....five.....four.....three....."
 
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