I've had this little device in my junk drawer for many years. I ran across it the other day and was reminded that it came to me with some other interesting looking little oddities from my Grandma's house. I never knew what it was and today, I decided to find out.
Front & Back views
So I googled the name of the company, Novelty Electric Company of Philadelphia, and found an identical item that had been for sale on Ebay for $19. It was called an electrical wire resistance gauge. So I googled that and came up with a video that showed how it works here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/specializedtools/comments/ekjqq4/roebling_device_used_to_calculate_wire_resistance/?rdt=58150
The gauge in the video has a different name on it, The John Roebling Sons Company of San Francisco. John Roebling was the builder of the Brooklyn Bridge and also had his own company that made wire cables. This gauge does have the name of the Novelty Electric Company on it as well, but in a different spot. I wonder if the Novelty Electric Company custom made these with the buyers own name or company name on it?
And lastly, I looked at some old books that had belonged to my Grandad. They were Practical Guides to Electricity, dated 1917 and 1924.
1917 - Hawkins Electrical Guide - Volume 3 - pg 740
1924 - Audels Handy Book of Practical Electricity - pg 3644
My grandad was Floyd Heacock. After high school, his father, gifted him with attendance at a school where Floyd was able to learn his trade in electricity. He was his town's resident TV & Radio repairman and was also employed at the AT&T switching station in town. I imagine he used this nifty device many times in his business. And probably used the books as well. He had a well stocked work bench in his house that was filled with just about any tool he would need to repair TV's & radios and, I'm sure, other electrical items.
It's amazing the power that one little item has.
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