My museum thread - Now with Rossi and Fogarty leathers.

c_dug · Super Spammer Joined: 04 Sep 2007 Karma :

Before I start I'll just say that I find this kind of thing really interesting but sorry if it is boring for some, I guess just don't look at it Laughing

I've mentioned before that I work in the Science Museum in London, I've worked there for just over a year now but until recently I was working for the retail department which meant I was more or less stuck in a small corner of the building for the day. In January I managed to get myself in with the Exhibition Maintenance Department which is probably one of the best things ever to have happened to me as it has gotten me out of a 6 year retail rut, it has also allowed me to go exploring the museum a lot more which basically means my job is paid urbex! This will be my thread to show you guys the cool things in the museum that most people don't get to see. I'll also throw in a few of the main galleries for good measure as I'm sure most people have never been to the museum. This will be an ongoing thread and I only have pictures from one gallery for now.

This first set of pictures are what inspired me to make a thread, weekends are quiet for my department so I took a wander around the museum and I found myself in the corridor that runs behind the "Secret Life Of The Home" Gallery, basically a gallery showing the development of gadgets around the home. I realised most people never get so see any of these things so I took a few pictures.

This is a googled picture of the gallary:
https://lowres-picturecabinet.com.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/43/main/20/99199.jpg

This is the corridor where I found all of the bits and pieces:
https://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee81/paddy2007dug/WP_000187_zps0e040baf.jpg
The corridor allows access in to display cabinets but they realised half of the old things had asbestos in them so shut the cabinets off. Blocking the old access doors are storage racking and cupboards, some of the cupboards were locked because they contained items with asbestos but the rest were open so I took a peak. Here's what I found:

https://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee81/paddy2007dug/WP_000188_zps6dd0c672.jpg
Some old irons, a lamp and what I think is a sausage meat grinder?

https://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee81/paddy2007dug/WP_000190_zpsdb8dd716.jpg
A windey thing of some sort and some very old electric heaters.
Edit: A mangle for squeezing water out of clothes! - thanks bendy.

https://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee81/paddy2007dug/WP_000191_zpsa748b518.jpg
Random bits and pieces.

https://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee81/paddy2007dug/WP_000192_zpsa022c174.jpg
Custard test anybody? Laughing

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Bendy · Mrs Sensible Joined: 10 Jun 2002 Karma :

Cool pics. I love the science museum Thumbs Up

I believe the 'windey thing' is a mangle, for forcing the water out of wet clothes.

c_dug · Super Spammer Joined: 04 Sep 2007 Karma :

Ooooh, think I may have known that. Thanks Thumbs Up

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oldpink · World Chat Champion Joined: 02 Aug 2006 Karma :

Barrel thing looks like a churn for butter Thumbs Up

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c_dug · Super Spammer Joined: 04 Sep 2007 Karma :

oldpink · World Chat Champion Joined: 02 Aug 2006 Karma :

yes that the barrel locks in and is spun

the thing in the tin looks like a paraffin stove

measure thing is a punch of some description
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hellkat · Super Spammer Joined: 12 Jul 2004 Karma :

*searches in vain for the "This post is awesomeballs" karma*

I was thinking about you just the other day, not seen you ont road for Time!
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c_dug · Super Spammer Joined: 04 Sep 2007 Karma :

c_dug · Super Spammer Joined: 04 Sep 2007 Karma :

Anybody know what the thing with the glass ball on the left is?

https://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee81/paddy2007dug/WP_000208_zpsd72cb48d.jpg
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G · The Voice of Reason Joined: 02 Feb 2002 Karma :

Meat grinder thingy is a meat grinder - should have a grille attachment over the front, then for sausages would also have another attachment to hold the sausage skin.

Agree on the stove in the tin.

Think your measuring thing a punch of some kind?

hellkat · Super Spammer Joined: 12 Jul 2004 Karma :

Lone-Wolf · World Chat Champion Joined: 13 Jul 2004 Karma :

c_dug · Super Spammer Joined: 04 Sep 2007 Karma :

Just realised I have a short video of our loom running too. A couple of times a week we run a Toyoda 1924 Automatic Loom, it's probably one of my favourite parts of my job. Here are a couple of pictures of it from google:

From the front.
https://www.wethementors.com/images/orig/SakichiToyoda2.jpg

From the rear.
https://www.toyota-industries.com/csr/environment/hot/images/hot_pic04_4.jpg

At the back is a huge reel, a couple of kilometres long, which has a couple of hundred individual threads called the weave these are the threads that go from the back to the front, each weave thread runs through an eye in a pin then through the machine to the front. They are split so that alternative threads are lifted up and down.

On the right hand side when viewed from the front is a cartridge full of shuttles, these contain the bobbins which lay the weft thread (the one that moves from weft to wight Laughing

), as the weave is lifted up the shuttle is shot through in an instant, and as the weave goes down it shoots through the other way. It all happens in the blink of an eye and will do about a foot of material in 2 minutes at the speed we run it. It is "automatic" because as the thread on the bobbin runs low the machine mechanically detects it (no flashy electronic sensors here!) and changes the bobbin over. The machine also detects broken threads. The pins that I mentioned the weave running through are supported by the tension of the thread, if a thread snaps the pin drops and stops the machine. There is a similar system in place for the weft. These machines were a real game changer for making cloth, one person could run 10 or more machines as they only needed tending to when the cartridge ran low or a thread snapped.

Ours is a genuine one from Japan, it is bloody loud so for health and safety reasons each person can only run it for 15 minutes. The factory workers must have been deaf as posts as in some factories they would be run 24 hours a day.

Anyway below is my video of it running, my phone struggled a bit to focus so sorry for the poor quality. Click the picture.

https://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee81/paddy2007dug/th_WP_20130227_111656Z_zps5cb0f94d.jpg

I think I'm down to run it on Thursday so I will get some better pictures showing the working mechanisms and the fail-safes, I will try and get a better video too.
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dodgydog · World Chat Champion Joined: 10 Sep 2009 Karma :

Nope. · World Chat Champion Joined: 16 Feb 2011 Karma :

Have you managed to make it over to their storage hangers at Wroughton yet? Theres some seriously impressive stuff in there.

If you get a chance to go over to Blythe House I'd really appreciate a picture of the Elliott 803 thats stored there. Since the Ferranti Pegasus caught fire none of their machines (including the 803) have been allowed to be serviced or powered on which is a great shame. This is an old picture of it if you happen to go over there:

https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/images/object_images/535x535/10303580.jpg

and yes I know Blythe House is massive but if you happen to see it I really would like to know what state its in (And so would my colleagues who restored it to full working order many years ago).

Theres also one other space I'd kill to get a picture of, I've only heard it talked about and never actually seen it so it may or may not still exist but in the computing gallery as you walk in on your left I think are some large display boards, behind there is a model of an ICL 1900. I'd love to get some pictures of that if its still there. I would have mentioned it to Tilly but I think she's moved on to other areas now outside of computing.
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Walloper · Super Spammer Joined: 24 Feb 2005 Karma :

The stove
https://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=https://www.spiritburner.com/fusion/gallery/82/1248283108-RM-Picnic.-St.299-1.jpg&imgrefurl=https://www.spiritburner.com/fusion/showtopic.php%3Ftid/13727/post/new/&usg=__tABLyG__vguZCMdi_Eto6mur5_Q=&h=373&w=640&sz=67&hl=en&start=65&zoom=1&tbnid=F135NaaF_7C2XM:&tbnh=80&tbnw=137&ei=FYdQUby0OYGE8ASvp4CQCA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dparaffin%2Bstove%26start%3D60%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26gbv%3D2%26tbm%3Disch&itbs=1&sa=X&ved=0CDQQrQMwBDg8

Dangerous bastirt things. Many children (and adults) were mutilated by those.
The oil/paraffin had to be hot enough to vapourise and light, it also needed to be pressurised using an air pump to push the fuel through the heating coil inside the black cup thing on the RH. If the paraffin had any shit in ot it could block the tiny jet in the centre of the cup the flame woud die down so more pressure would be pumped in.
Enough pressure may clear the blockage and it would explosively spray out in a whoosh.

The 'measuring' thing Embosser

The gear things are for torture. Maybe wood working tools though the open gear would be full of kack soon.

The glass bowl/ball is an oil lamp Crude one.

The Mangle (Eng.) is called a wringer in Scotland. For wringing water out of wet clothes etc. (I would not like to Mangle my clothes Smile

)

Most of the other stuff was put away so no-one got electrocuted, maimed de-capitated lost a finger or an eye.

Interesting alladin's cave that. Fuck the wages... I'd spend all day raking about in there.

The first one was a no brainer for me.
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c_dug · Super Spammer Joined: 04 Sep 2007 Karma :

Carl_steveo · World Chat Champion Joined: 23 Jun 2008 Karma :

flamy · Scooby Slapper Joined: 27 Aug 2006 Karma :

Very interesting stuff Thumbs Up

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Walloper · Super Spammer Joined: 24 Feb 2005 Karma :

Carl_steveo · World Chat Champion Joined: 23 Jun 2008 Karma :

metalangel · World Chat Champion Joined: 27 Feb 2009 Karma :

The 'thingy for drinks' is a seltzer bottle (or soda syphon), you see them a lot in old comedy movies and cartoons, usually to produce an extremely powerful jet of water into someone's face or as a means of propulsion. My grandparents had one, and I never saw it used. It's like the Sodastream's grandfather, it was used to spray carbonated water into a drink to make it fizzy.

I'm pretty sure what you think is a heater, is a heater, specifically an electric fire. The shape of the white (ceramic?) part is very similar to the one my grandmother had in her old terraced house in East London.

Aren't those apple/potato peelers also intended to remove the apple core?
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c_dug · Super Spammer Joined: 04 Sep 2007 Karma :

The talk of the computer gallery had me curious so I had a little look this morning. I have a few photo's but I was working so didn't take many.

These are some old babbage mechanical calculators/computers:
https://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee81/paddy2007dug/WP_000224_zps03687bc1.jpg

This is a fully functioning difference engine built in house, I believe Google (or maybe microsoft) also paid us to build them one too.
https://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee81/paddy2007dug/WP_000225_zps4d2dfdf6.jpg

This is our pegasus valve computer, it is though to be one of the worlds last fully functioning valve computers, there is/was a team from Manchester who run it once or twice a year. As mentioned above there was a fire and it hasn't been run since, as also mentioned I have a feeling they may be running this one again.
https://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee81/paddy2007dug/WP_000228_zpsd2548fc1.jpg

As for anything hidden behind a wall, from what I can see this is the only wall that extrudes from what I believe is the external wall:
https://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee81/paddy2007dug/WP_000227_zpsa732c793.jpg
Which I wouldn't have thought was big enough to be hiding something, that said I am not entirely certain that the main black wall behind it is actually the external wall, it is a bit hard to tell because of the lay out of the galleries. I shall investigate further.

While we're on the subject of hidden bits and pieces, we have James Watts workshop in the museum, I am told that for a long time it was on the ground mezzanine level. When they extended the museum offices and built some new meeting rooms instead of moving the workshop they literally walled it in on all sides and it remained there until the next director of the museum took over and had it moved to it's current location on the ground floor.
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Nope. · World Chat Champion Joined: 16 Feb 2011 Karma :

Furrybiker · Trackday Trickster Joined: 07 Mar 2010 Karma :

The object behind your stove in a tin, is a butter churn.