ECN Forum Forums Photo Discussion Forums Electrical Nostalgia Large Old Dimmer

Harold,
Is this the same company that made the system of speed control(of the same name) for DC motors?.

Harold,

The origin of your name may well be true, for there is indeed the Royal Forest of Dean, in Gloucestershire (county):


It's large area designated a National Forest Park: http://www.fweb.org.uk/dean/

harold endean:

If your great-great grandfather entered the US via Ellis Island you might want to run a search--there are 20 male Endeans listed there.
http://www.ellisisland.org/search/matchMore.asp?LNM=ENDEAN should bring up all 31 matches.

Thinkgood,

GREAT website. I'm sorry I didn't see this sooner. Now I have many more avenues to trace back my ancestors. Thanks a lot. The trick is how to pick up on them once I get to the other side of the ocean.

Those old dimmers bring back memories of high school. We had rows of the dimmers mounted on what they called a "piano board." I can remember using the thing to do plays. It took about 4 of us to run the lights, and we worked up quite a sweat (something that is not desired when around exposed knife switches) dashing around pulling levers and locking various ones into a master that was run by a motor which made a horrible racket and caused the whole board to shudder. Dealing with stuff like ghost loads, the enormous amount of heat it generated, and the total lack of safety, it was a big task to keep the lights on and in sync with what was going on on the stage. Personally, I thought that board was the neatest thing in the whole school. With its banks of levers, light bulbs, meters, knife switches, and fuses it seemed like it would fit right in a mad scientist's lab.

To my knowledge, the board is still there (at least it was in late 2003) and in use.

Tim:
"...mad scientist's lab" is exactly right. These things were pretty fiendish in their design. How did you manage to keep other uninformed people away from these boards? In some of the road shows I worked many years ago, we used to have them set up backstage in two rows, facing each other. In that manner, an operator could stand between them and theoretically work two boards at the same time - in reality the poor guy would have to be an octopus to make it happen (as a side benefit, this arrangement also discouraged people from accidentally bumping into something hot). It was also kinda risky standing between two of these things in case something suddenly went south. We also plastered "Danger - High Voltage" signs all over these things, as well as open the company switches (the sources of electric power) and lock them out when not in use. Other circuits, such as house lights and stage work lights, were controlled from a permanently installed board somewhere nearby.

It's interesting that your system is/was still in use as of late 2003. In this age of electronic controls, I would have thought all these dinosaurs would have long since gone to the boneyard (or into someone's private museum ). They were obviously made to last forever, and then some.

BTW: Did your system use a lot of those old 50 amp stage plugs and plugging boxes - the kind with the long flat copper blades on each side of an insulating body/handle that mated with the equally large porcelain receptacles?

Mike (mamills)

[This message has been edited by mamills (edited 08-17-2004).]

[This message has been edited by mamills (edited 08-17-2004).]

"How did you manage to keep other
uninformed people away from these boards? "

Most people were too scared to touch the things. We also had a few signs and locked the door to the room.

"We also plastered "Danger - High Voltage"-signs all over these things, as well as open the company switches (the sources of electric power) and lock them out when not in use. Other circuits, such as house lights and stage work lights, were controlled from a permanently installed board somewhere nearby."

I don't remember pulling the power co's switch (located in the basement), but there are some knife switches that disconnect the board's various circuits so that if, say, the aisle lights needed repair you didn't have to shut the whole thing down.

"It's interesting that your system is/was still in use as of late 2003."

I'm guessing that there was no money to upgrade. This is a small northern Iowa town of about 2,500 and most likely they follow the motto "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." If you think of what it would cost to pull that old beast out and replace it with something modern, you can see why it survived for 80+ years.

As an interesting side note, many of the old dimmer boards have survived and are still in daily use in some of the old movie palaces of the 1920s. A great example is the Byrd Theatre in Richmond, VA. I went to their website (http://members.tripod.com/~g_cowardin/byrd/index.htm) which tells a great deal about the place and how it's practically unchanged since 1928.


"BTW: Did your system use a lot of those old 50 amp stage plugs and plugging boxes - the kind with the long flat copper blades on each side of an insulating body/handle that mated with the equally large porcelain receptacles?"

I do remember something of that nature, but it was one of those things I never really paid attention to.

Speaking of Nostalgia, just saw the pictures of the rotary dimmers and it brought back memories (1958). My first (unpaid) job as electrician,off-Broadway, at the Davenport Theatre, NYC. I had about 3-1/2 ft in front of a double bank where I worked- using 2 2x4's to pull down both sets of handles simultaneously. If I knew then what I know now....