Help ID this Tool

[goodfellow]

I found this specialty tool inside a cabinet that I purchased. It's clearly older and not complete, but I can't find any info on it.

The outside is marked "DuMont Valve Testing Pickup". It includes a sending unit, the large pickup itself, a cable which obviously plugged into a testing unit of some sort.

Any ideas on this one?

 

[Delray]

DuMont was involved with early radio and television. I would guess it is some sort of tester for use in that field. I think they used valve to describe speakers or microphones. It looks like it could plug into a vacuum tube connection.

 

[krusty the clown]

is that a vacuum hose barb on one end? it could be a transducer to convert vacuum into an electrical signal for a scope console.


my poor memory is telling me we have seen one of those posted here before........

 

[goodfellow]

is that a vacuum hose barb on one end? it could be a transducer to convert vacuum into an electrical signal for a scope console.


my poor memory is telling me we have seen one of those posted here before........

That seems to be a logical assumption. It does have a hose barb on the end, and I know it's automotive in nature since it came from an old autoshop test bench. If it's a testing instrument, I wonder if it can sense both pressure and vacuum?

The last pic (fuzzy one) shows another sending unit which looks like a temperature or pressure sending unit which could be exchanged in place of the larger cannister unit. In fact it has what looks like a standard oil pressure sending unit thread pitch on the end.

I've never seen a setup such as this, and never heard of the DuMont company with respect to automotive testing equipment.

 

[krusty the clown]

looks like delray is on to something

http://www.answers.com/topic/allen-b-dumont

 

[lbgradwell]

A vaccum tube tester for the CRTs of old oscilloscopes?

DuMont was involved with early radio and television. I would guess it is some sort of tester for use in that field. I think they used valve to describe speakers or microphones. It looks like it could plug into a vacuum tube connection.

I think "valve" is Britspeak for "vacuum tube".

 

[timgr]

I would guess it's an inductive pickup for testing radio stages without a 'scope. One method of testing the small signal stages in a radio without an oscilloscope is by listening. Each stage has a tuned inductor, and if you have a bum tube (aka valve), the signal won't make it past that stage. The connector looks appropriate for a headset, which would be useful in hearing the inductively-coupled signals.

I have a book about radio repair without an oscilloscope ... somewhere.

DuMont was a well-known brand of vacuum tube, back in the day.

 

[Stephenw]

It looks to me like it is a vacuum transducer. They are used to convert a vacuum signal into a voltage signal that can be measured or monitored with test equipment such as a scope, meter, chart recorder, etc.