Found this in the garage. WHAT IS IT?

[YELLAHEEP]

I say donate it to the American Welding Society:

http://www.aws.org/foundation/

Their website says they're working on a library and museum and looking for artifacts to display. (scroll to the bottom of the site). I'd be curious to see if they'd want it..... :dunno:

You could claim it as a deduction on your taxes for what it's worth in copper, which could be pretty significant these days.

 

[Mudderoy]

I'd get some wagon wheels mount it to the sides and sell it to someone as a cival war era welder!

That thing is TOO cool, thanks for sharing the pictures.

 

[zr2toxj]

Find someone with a megger. You can test the insulation of the transformer by putting voltage to it (500volts or more). Thats safer than just plugging it in.

I know, it takes all the fun out of it. LOL

 

[RichP]

Just remember one thing, when you change the taps [those rods sticking out tap off different windings on the transformer] turn it off first as in unplug it.change the tap, plug it back in. Id probably set it up so I had to walk by the wall plug to get to it, that way I'd not be tempted to take any 'short' cuts

It is pretty cool, I was up at the Adirondack museum years ago and they had a harley davidson V twin powered chainsaw as well as a harley powered snow mobile from the 30's, both home made. Home made stuff is cool.
I stumbled across a home made breaker for bending sheet metal, darn thing is made from 3 pieces angle iron and a few hinges, bolts to a work bench, guy built it to bend metal for his home built airplane. For sure got my gears spinning for some small stuff I want to do.

 

[msrorysddad]

I enjoy some of the rude comments posted on this thread. It is as stated a welder, to change the voltage, you change which lug is used. It's not very complicated, and would be safe in the right hands, no telling how many items were repaired with it. As for the Darwin comment, sir, just because it doesn't have a store bought cover does not make it some horrid death trap. If you do not understand, sometimes it's better to not make comments. Being rude to someone you do not know can lead to issues. If you do not know what it is, you should not use it. I would check the leads and use it. As stated try to take it to a museum, it is an amazing piece of American engineering. The man that made it seems to have a good grasp of what is useful. That, and the comments made about it will tell you a lot about what is wrong with our nation. It didn't come from the store, oh my don't use it!!! At one time in history people didn't run out to make payments, they built what they needed. Now, if you can't buy it in three colors, with switches and knobs it must be dangerous.

 

[karstic]

The CIA called, they want their torture machine back.

On a more serious note, a cool piece of Americana and good example of American ingenuity.

 

[IndyXJ]

Please plug in and run away while filming it and post to break.com and here of course.

 

[stewie]

I enjoy some of the rude comments posted on this thread. It is as stated a welder, to change the voltage, you change which lug is used. It's not very complicated, and would be safe in the right hands, no telling how many items were repaired with it. As for the Darwin comment, sir, just because it doesn't have a store bought cover does not make it some horrid death trap. If you do not understand, sometimes it's better to not make comments. Being rude to someone you do not know can lead to issues. If you do not know what it is, you should not use it. I would check the leads and use it. As stated try to take it to a museum, it is an amazing piece of American engineering. The man that made it seems to have a good grasp of what is useful. That, and the comments made about it will tell you a lot about what is wrong with our nation. It didn't come from the store, oh my don't use it!!! At one time in history people didn't run out to make payments, they built what they needed. Now, if you can't buy it in three colors, with switches and knobs it must be dangerous.

and i appreciate your being insulted by common sense. some things are better left not to be "homemade." its not a matter of being rude, but stating the truth. i believe Darwin has in fact taken a rather extensive vacation lately.

its not dangerous because it doesnt have a label from a manufacturer or retailer that makes it dangerous. its the fact that there are little to no safety features. how many people would have live wiring in their homes without insulation on it? note the lack of insulation on the "welder." the insulation on the leads and power cord are most likely deteriorated from age- it gets dry rotted cracks easily with age- and thus another shock hazard. speaking of shock, it only takes 1/10th of an amp to stop the human heart. most 220v outlets carry between 30-50 amps depending on their application. more than enough to kill someone in less than a hear beat. arc welding machines work by takeing a relatively high voltage low amps and turns it to a low voltage high amps. also take note of its somewhat high voltage piece of "equipment" mounted on a wooden frame. most electrical appliances (including my welders) get hot while in use. now its not just a severe electrical shock hazard but also a fire hazard as well. i would also say that there is no way to ground it to help make it safer. there is also no guard on the outside of the machine (aka case or housing) to prevent accidental contact with energized components. if there is a piece of safety equipment on something then there probably is a reason for it like it happened before.

i have responded to a medical emergency where two electricians had been electrocuted while working on a transformer. they were both blown out of their boots, and we were only able to find 3 of the 4 boots. both had their clothes melted to their skin. one guy lived with only severe burns on his skin and INSIDE his body. the other worker was airlifted to the area burn hospital where he died en route to the burn unit.

there are some things that are better left to the professionals. kinda like making fire arms, safety equipment and welders

 

[kujito]

That thing is fantastic! Don't sell it without doing your research. It may well be worth a lot! It may also be the best welder ever built. If you don't try it you'll never know. I'm not saying to just go try and weld with it right now though. Research. Find a welder/electrician or an electrical engineer who knows something about welding. I'm sure it will kill you if you do something wrong, but so will just about everything else in the garage. Does that mean you should lock the doors and never go back in there?

 

[Original_MudButt]

Ever seen Back to the Future? I wonder, are there any clock towers near you? Perhaps some that have been struck by lightning?


Hahaha

Exactly what I was thinking!!

It's a flux capacitor!!

What ever you do..... BE CAREFULL!!!!!!

 

[MaxxXJ]

I enjoy some of the rude comments posted on this thread. It is as stated a welder, to change the voltage, you change which lug is used. It's not very complicated, and would be safe in the right hands, no telling how many items were repaired with it. As for the Darwin comment, sir, just because it doesn't have a store bought cover does not make it some horrid death trap. If you do not understand, sometimes it's better to not make comments. Being rude to someone you do not know can lead to issues. If you do not know what it is, you should not use it. I would check the leads and use it. As stated try to take it to a museum, it is an amazing piece of American engineering. The man that made it seems to have a good grasp of what is useful. That, and the comments made about it will tell you a lot about what is wrong with our nation. It didn't come from the store, oh my don't use it!!! At one time in history people didn't run out to make payments, they built what they needed. Now, if you can't buy it in three colors, with switches and knobs it must be dangerous.

dont trip its not worth my time to argue with them, besides i dont beleive in darwin, god, buddah or any other mythalogical person out there, so its no good to throw that mess to me.

dangerous or not, im not scared to try something out just to see what it does, i know to take all the right safety precautions... your not gonna get shocked thru leather welding gloves anyways... or else i'd get shocked on a daily basis with the welder i work with and the only time ive ever been shocked was when my gloves were soaked with rain water.

if your scared to try something new you'll never get anywhere in life.

 

[AIbandit]

I'm taking care of my great aunt's house for her since she no longer can do it herself and behind her house is a shop and garage that her late husband used to work in all the time. This thing was top to bottom loaded with things from way back when (obviously never threw anything out.)

I have attempted to clean it out, throwing out the useless junk (who needs belts for cars that aren't on the road anymore?) One of the last things I have found is this machine sitting in the corner. My first guess would have to be that it is some sort of ancient welder. There are many welding sticks in the garage, and this would make sense, but looking at it, I can't figure out how it would work.

So I figure there may be someone out there that has some welding experience that can identify this relic, or someone else will be able to tell me what it is. I took pictures from many angles. Let me know what you think and if you can tell me how old this thing is:

If this is indeed a welder, can someone tell me if how to use it? I did plug in the power but I'm not sure what to expect to happen.

I used one of these in Abu Ghraib works like a champ...

PS: dont take pictures when u do

 

[wolfpackjeeper]

just fyi: Darwin was real, not mythological

other than that, Id use it after I cleaned it up a bit. Nothing too dangerous if you are not stupid

 

[duke000088]

Just weld something with it already!!!

Post associated videos on YouTube for us all to enjoy.

Uhm... but be careful. Wear, like, a welding helmet.

 

[bjoehandley]

Just showed the pictures of this thing to my Father, he thinks it might be an early Miller Electric AC welder or a home built from plans equivalent and guesstimated that it's about 65 years old. He also suggested getting in contact with Miller if you want to get rid of it since it could be one of their products. He didn't think it would be worth contacting AWS since it probably would not only not make them money, but their lawyers would be less fond of it than those who've posted in this thread so far and would probably recommend not touch it with a 10 foot pole. He also thought that so long as all the wires and connections checked out ok and you have some welding experience it should be ok to try and weld with, he'd even trust it more than some of it's more expensive competitors from when it was new if he was given a choice today

 

[stewie]

go for trying it out. make sure you video it so we can see the results. maybe we can point and laugh, or maybe you could...

 

[RTicUL8]

It's been 17 hours since jeeperguy21 has logged in.

I say he plugged it in and went poof!

.

 

[1985xjlaredo]

How do you just find something like this anyways? Musta been under a bunch of Jeep parts

 

[Hypoid]

He never did say what his Great Uncle died of. LOL

It's not a play toy, that's for sure. Make sure there are no kids, pets, or drunks around when you plug it in...well, maybe allow the drunks to watch.

Some farm kid may have built the thing, but I guarantee he didn't wake up one morning with an idea for that auto-transformer he found on the back 40. It took thought and considerable expense to make this equipment.

I'll bet your uncle grew up during the great depression. Most who did, don't toss stuff like it was intended to be disposable.

 

[Stihl029]

I think that's awesome to use a big transformer on a cart for welding. It serves as a basic welder only its stuck on AC.