vintage test equipment

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Here is the picture that I was able to find. This one lists the unit as a Readrite 9 the other picture lists it as a Readrite 6. It appears as if someone inverted the number because both look exactly the same.

The picture doesn't display from the link

I am glad that you found it. All of the Readrite set testers that I have seen are later than yours, which is why I did not recognize it.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Here is the schematic of the Readrite 6

don croze wrote:

By the way all of the meters are Readrite meters manufactured in Buffton, Ohio.

It does not look like any of the Readrite set testers that I have seen or seen photos of. I suspect it is homebrew using Readrite meters (the full name of the company was Readrite Meter Works). In the early '30s they were a major meter manufacturer, along with Triplett, Jewell, and Weston (the biggie). If it is a homebrew I am not surprised it has Readrite meters. That many meters represents a substantial investment and Readrite meters were relatively inexpensive.

Dale: thank you again for your help. I will look at the sites you have suggested and I have already done an extensive search on the internet. I would appreciate you looking through old magazines but I would not want you to spend time you do not have just to help me. I have also discovered that it does indeed have a 4 to 5 pin adapter. By the way all of the meters are Readrite meters manufactured in Buffton, Ohio. The 3 meters on the bottom have raised embossed writing going from left to right reading: B volts  C volts  A volts. Of the top meters only the one on the right reads: Test meter and the 3 in the middle only the one on the right has the lettering and it reads: B Mil-Amps. Thanks again for your much appreciated help.

don croze wrote:

Do you have any other info on this particular model or how I can find out who the manufacture Co. is or what the model number is?

If it doesn't have a manufacturer on it I couldn't begin to look. Although I have extensive radio service-oriented magazines from the '20s and '30s it would take maybe a week to look through all of them. From the look of it perhaps it was homebrew. You could google ["set tester" site:worldradiohistory.com] without the square brackets (but including the quotes) and look at some of the 2,000+ results from that site

Conelrad wrote:

In any case, this appears to be a passive device, not requiring external power but from the set under test.

All classic set testers (from around the '30s) are powered by the set under test. It wasn't until 1938 that sophisticated line-powered systems began to be introduced. See my page on The Chanalyst and Kin.

Dale: thank you very much for your info. Do you have any other info on this particular model or how I can find out who the manufacture Co. is or what the model number is?

That is essentially a simple set tester. There should originally have been a 5 pin adapter for the 4 pin cable. You plug the tube under test into the tester and plug the 4/5 pin cable into the chassis in place of the tube, then select the meter of the correct type and range for the measurement that you want to make. This type of tester was soon replaced by more sophisticated set testers such as my Triplett 1167-A Set Tester. consisting of the 1166-A Free-Point Auxiliary Set Tester (left) and the 1125 Universal VOM (right). The chassis cable has an octal plug, with adapters for 4-pin, 5-pin, 6-pin, and 7-pin sockets. It is one of the more versatile late-model set testers, ca. 1935.

I may have errored, thinking there was a 5-pin plug.

In any case, this appears to be a passive device, not requiring external power but from the set under test.

Thank you for the responses. I am trying to post some more pictures but am having trouble. All of the meters pull out and plug back in. The two sockets on the right do not pull out. There are three cables in the storage bin. One is a black cable with a 4 pin socket at the end. The other two are single lead cables with a pin on the end. Hopefully I can post the pics so you can see what I am talking about. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

With the original 4- and 5-pin plugs showing, I'd say it is more a circuit analyzer for real-time testing of a radio by allowing full parameter metering.

For example, if your set had 01A tubes in it, you would pull one out and replace it with the 4-pin cord.  Put that tube in the correct socket in the tester, then power up the radio and see just what voltages and currents are happening.

This set is obviously from the era where all sets had either 4- or 5-pin tubes.  All in all, a fairly neat concept for the repair shop.

Conelrad

That looks like a very Good tester. With all those meters that you can use. It would be tedious but probably more accurate than most to calculate the performance of Transconductance. To bad you don't have any booklet or paperwork. But Electronics Math and many a tube chart from RCA -G.E. -Raytheon,would go along way.

It probably has an A.C. Transformer in the case and at least a D.C. Power supply.

You have a rather Scarce Tube Tester for sure.

If you do get further information, please post it here.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Does anyone know anything about this meter?
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