Lump
Well-known member
Some of you may recall last summer when I posted that I had bought a bunch of tools at an estate sale, in which the guy had been an electronics whiz from the Physics Lab at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. The guy also repaired radios and TV's on the side, so he had LOTS of old electronic diagnostic equipment. Shoppers at that sale totally ignored those instruments, but I looked through them carefully, and was happy to find three vintage Snap On diagnostic automotive meters with Bakelite bodies, and an Allen timing light still in its original box.
(Later I ended buying all the electronic stuff, cause the seller panicked when it began to seem that no one would be interested in them at all).
Anyway, I had decided that today was the day for me to sort out lots of tools, and sell off a percentage, while selecting certain tools to become part of my own collection. So after some wringing of hands and knashing of teeth, I decided to sell the classic Snap On meters (look for them later today in our Garage Journal classifieds, if you like). I got them out of the cardboard box, and found that two of them had labels on the back, warning that batteries were inside, and need to be changed from time to time.
Uh-oh!
These meters had been sitting around for a LONG time!
When I opened the first one, I saw the old battery still in place. And it was wrapped in a paper cover, like REALLY old batteries were. Double UH-OH!
But after carefully examining it, I found no corrosion. My next immediate assumption was that this was some kind of weird old battery; probably not available any more.
After popping it out, I was surprised to see that it is a pack of 4 AA batteries soldered together to make one six volt cell. I've never seen anything like that; at least not in a factory-made instrument. Another surprise was that the paper shell lists a zip code as part of the Eveready manufacturer's address. So that battery is no older than the mid 1960's! And why is there no corrosion? That battery pack still holds some voltage...although only about 3 volts of power left, according to my test meter. Wow.
So before posting the meters in the classified, I just thought I would share these photos here, in case you folks might find that interesting.
(Later I ended buying all the electronic stuff, cause the seller panicked when it began to seem that no one would be interested in them at all).
Anyway, I had decided that today was the day for me to sort out lots of tools, and sell off a percentage, while selecting certain tools to become part of my own collection. So after some wringing of hands and knashing of teeth, I decided to sell the classic Snap On meters (look for them later today in our Garage Journal classifieds, if you like). I got them out of the cardboard box, and found that two of them had labels on the back, warning that batteries were inside, and need to be changed from time to time.
Uh-oh!
These meters had been sitting around for a LONG time!
When I opened the first one, I saw the old battery still in place. And it was wrapped in a paper cover, like REALLY old batteries were. Double UH-OH!
But after carefully examining it, I found no corrosion. My next immediate assumption was that this was some kind of weird old battery; probably not available any more.
After popping it out, I was surprised to see that it is a pack of 4 AA batteries soldered together to make one six volt cell. I've never seen anything like that; at least not in a factory-made instrument. Another surprise was that the paper shell lists a zip code as part of the Eveready manufacturer's address. So that battery is no older than the mid 1960's! And why is there no corrosion? That battery pack still holds some voltage...although only about 3 volts of power left, according to my test meter. Wow.
So before posting the meters in the classified, I just thought I would share these photos here, in case you folks might find that interesting.
