Hello all MWF members
This is my first post for a long time, have been extremely busy relocating back to Malaysia and also caught a little of the very nasty travel bug..
thought I would contribute a post for my own welcoming back. hehe
Can you all guess what this is?
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Nope it's not a B&R
I got my hands on this little piece of aviation history while braving the treasure cove of Portobello market.
I have to admit I have no idea what it is, even the old man selling it says he have not a clue and had got it from a scrapyard that strips old unfit for service aircrafts.
But what intrigues me is the MOD (Ministry of Defense) plate on the top of the base, indicating this piece of equipment might once be on one of the RAF plane.
I did a dig around on the history of the maker, (god bless Google).
It's a company called Mechanism Ltd. Croydon. and they are active in the 50s and 60s, making aviation equipments (barometer, marchmeter, etc) for civil and military aircrafts. And in the 70s, they were taken over by another company that is equally rich in history, Negretti and Zambra. they have been around since 1800s, and is a specialist in optical instruments, they were once the british royal family's appointed opticians and scientific instrument maker.
Pretty amazing history considering I paid 8quid for it (the opening price was 25!!!)
Now, I still have no idea what it is, I've tried searching for the serial number, but alas there won't be a database for such an obscure equipment.
I'm guessing it's some kind of pressure gauge, since it has the unit Ins Hg inscribed on the face.
Just sharing a little history project I've embarked one sleepless night.
See how aviation watches got their inspirations from? =)