Old volt-meter - Electrician Talk - Professional Electrical Contractors Forum

electro916 · 11-01-2009, 10:16 PM

I got this meter given to me by a friend of mine who is into old mining antiques. This is a DC voltmeter used in the mines, Im not really sure of the time period or what the 2-pin base is for above the gauge.

It has a 1 to 8 volt capacity, and it is a Weston Model 301, made by the Weston Electrical Instrument Corporation, Newark NJ

sparky.jp · 11-05-2009, 08:02 PM

With that voltage range I'm guessing that this was used to check primary cell voltages. I'm also guessing that the two-pin socket may have been used for a light bulb (looks like it's wired in parallel with the meter), say a 6V bulb, which may have been for meter illumination and/or a secondary visual indication of voltage level (plus it would load the cell as well).

John Valdes · 11-12-2009, 01:22 PM

That range may be scaled to a much higher voltage. Not much use for a DCV meter that can only go to 8 volts. But I have never worked in a mine either.

It looks homemade too. Wooden mount? Maybe a panel mount meter?

goose134 · 11-13-2009, 12:46 AM

I've got an old Weston meter as well. I looked it up on the interweb and found that Weston was the pretty much the guy who invented the ammeter. He's got about 300 patents to his name, and for a long time Weston meters were the standard. Here's a link if you'd like to read more about the company: http://weston.ftldesign.com/