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Thingamabob that he keeps running into in Boston basements
By adamg on Sat, 05/06/2017 - 6:30pm
Bo Williams asks:
I keep seeing these… devices in the basements of Boston-area homes. What are they?
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Some answers via Twitter
Old door bell mechanism
Old door bell mechanism
Watch out
That's an early version of the Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator.
Could be
Seems a bit too crude and simple to be a turbo encabulator.
No, clearly an original
No, clearly an original Oscillation Overthruster.
No, no; this is how people
No, no; this is how people used to hook up their interocitors back when they still were wired. Of course, wireless interocitors were developed pretty early and took over the market, rendering these things useless.
What is it?
It seems to be an early prototype of the Krell Mind Control device
I KNOW I'm not the only one...
...that ran downstairs to take a picture of my 'telephone thingie'.
I knew it was telephone related and now I know what it is.
Cash prize for oldest date...
I have 2 in my basement.
I have 2 in my basement. Wanted to take them down but wasn't sure if it was an essential part.
Iluddium Q
So that's where I left it.
It is probably an old (pre
It is probably an old (pre-1950) telephone line "station protector" I recognize the two red vertical rods as heat coils, designed to take the overload from a cross of a power line with the telephone line. If you examine the white insulator closely, you may spot the letters WE for Western Electric. The station protector saved the station equipment, the home phone, from power line crosses.96
By jove!
You're right! The white thingee does say "Western Electric."
" The Song Of The Open Wire "
( Protection Equipment for Open Wire | The Song Of The Open Wire )
Thanks for the great link.
Thanks for the great link.
Ebay
And protects from lightning strikes apparently
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=%22western+electric%22&_osacat=0&_f...
An Old "Phone Phreak" Technique
( as described by Evan Doorbell )
Haven't heard that voice in a while
The woman reading the mothers day announcement is very likely to be my husband's grandmother. It sounds just like her! She worked for the phone company around that time. She died five years ago at the age of 99.
Went down to check out the wiring in our basement
Because I knew we had some majorly pre-1950 wiring, based on the fact it was pretty solid stuff and because of this tag:
But, alas, no cool line-protection thingamabob, just a wooden board with what looks like a bakelite-based connector thingee for the wires coming in and the wire going upstairs (that, most recently, the Verizon FiOS installation guy used to anchor some of his wires).
A More Modern Version
( protectors are inside the "large gold bolts" on the left side )
Uh-oh
If you have both a thingamabob and a thingee on the same circuit, there's a possibility of a moebius short-circuit. You're lucky that Verizon guy didn't bridge the tepid wire to hermes, or your entire building could have gone into a timeloop.
Boston thingamabob
These are versions of Western Electric type 98 station protectors installed by New England Telephone Co to protect your phone line coming into your house from hazardous voltages due to a problem outside. The long red things are fuses that blow with excessive current. Underneath the black knob in center are two carbon gap protectors that allow short burst of high voltage to get safely to ground. With a sustained high voltage on the line they actually short circuit to ground, keeping the high voltage from going in and damaging the house or telephone !
Question for Bo
What are you doing that you frequently find yourself looking at people's basements in Boston?
He's a Thingamabob salesman.
He's a Thingamabob salesman.
Not To Be Confused With A Thingamajig
♬ ... he repairs them all, with what you call a thingamajig! ♬
Speed 3: The House
If the house goes over 50 mph...
Back in the 1950's during the first TLF scare
this early gobble detecting system kept America safe from roving bands of giblet terror.
Flux capacitor... Dr. Brown
Flux capacitor... Dr. Brown could have used this!
Analog
That's an analog flux capacitor! Only good for a couple hundred megawatts.
brights
Step on the button in the middle and you'll turn on the house's high beams.