original ELECTRO-MATIC TRAFFIC CONTROL cabinet

This item is destined to ultimately become one of the crown jewels of my 'traffic control collection', as much as it currently exists in the form of a **huge** project-in-the-rough. :-)

It is a heavy cast aluminum cabinet with hinged and locking door, that once held an electromechanical traffic signal control timer unit (and its peripheral hardware) to operate the traffic light cycles at an intersection somewhere. Its backside still has the remains of the steel straps which held it to a pole, and it has numerous layers of mostly yellow paint on its exterior in wonderfully faded patina. ;-) Its classic tombstone shape measures about 23" high, 15" wide, and 11" deep. Its door is emblazoned with the patented "Electro-Matic" name and logo along with that of "Automatic Signal Division" of "Eastern Industries Inc. - Norwalk, Conn.", its makers.

Inside it gets more interesting, with the original stamped nameplate giving its exact model and serial numbers, and the handwritten notation "ORI. INSTALL 1947-49". The shadow of the original controller unit remains inside on the back, and most importantly -- it still has its original inner wiring, terminal strips, connector harnesses, and other stuff *including* an original-equipment "disc flasher" unit -- the small box now unplugged seen here in the bottom with the other old parts. I consider that flasher a huge prize all to itself -- I have never seen another Electro-Matic example of one, and it is complete and certainly restorable, like in fact nearly all the rest of the inner parts even though they all look rather terrible at the moment. It is my conjecture (only, there is literally no way to know, now) that date was written in there when this cabinet was *removed* from service and thus that it has since sat in storage someplace (in a damp environment, for awhile) until somehow finding its way into the collector market and ultimately to me.

I recently traded another collector a completely empty cabinet just like it (which I bought years ago) for this one 'even-up' -- he had wanted to re-purpose his and didn't need the inner stuff at all. I, on the other hand, really really *wanted* all that inner stuff -- finding empty cabinets isn't that difficult but it is nearly impossible to find much of anything with the parts still inside in any condition, if nothing else because most of that stuff often got removed from original cabinets routinely when the intersections were 'updated' over the decades and the control boxes themselves were replaced. The sharp eyed reader might notice in my recent "road trip acquisitions" showing that my empty box rode along away from here, and this one followed me back home. :-)

https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/300821-oops--that-pickup-truck-thing-happene

My goal (dream?) for this cabinet is to restore it to 'traffic control duty', albeit as a part of my collection instead of back on the street. I already own at least one Electro-Matic controller that will fit in it, though it is guesswork whether any of mine (or any more I might get) are the exact same model that came in this box. Electro-Matic seems to have had a habit of building lots of their cabinets as custom equipped systems for each particular application, and remaining reference and technical info is scarce, so I'll have my work cut out for me in deciphering (replacing, if I havta, hope not) the wiring in any case.

It will get somewhat cleaned on its interior first, so I can further inspect wiring and individual components to determine what needs done to get things functioning safely again. The cabinet exterior will remain exactly as-is with possible exception of the straps, they might end up needing to go away just to make it practical to have in the house. <LOL> I also already own (at least) a pair of Automatic Signal made/branded traffic lights themselves which will ultimately get hooked up to it.