Posted 3 years ago
dav2no1
(839 items)
1920s Westinghouse Portable Watthour Meter type OB
Anyone who's seen more than one of my posts, know I have a diverse collection. I find and buy some unusual items. Here's another great example.
This is a 1920s portable watthour meter. This meter would be used to check the accuracy of a house's electric meter. As the power grid was expanding, companies were looking for ways to accurately bill customers. Electric meters were fairly new and they needed to be calibrated regularly.
From my research, I found that the Westinghouse OB meter was introduced in 1924.
Inside the box lid, there is a clip that holds the paperwork. There's a manual, showing how to connect the box with calibration paperwork and other information. There's also a double sided chart with different calibration numbers for testing meters. Additionally someone included a hand drawn schematic and some other information.
Under the paper work on the box lid is a date of 11-17-27. And in the calibration paperwork there's a date of 1931. The bottom of the paperwork is signed, but the pencil is faded. It can be seen with a uv light, but hard to read.
WESTINGHOUSE
In 1886, George Westinghouse founded Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company. (This name can be seen on the serial number badge on my box)
The company started developing electric infrastructure throughout the United States. Amongst other things, they made turbines, generators, motors, and switch gear for the generation, transmission, and use of electricity.
In the early days, Westinghouse was a rival to Thomas Edison's electric company. In 1892, Edison merged with Westinghouse's main AC rival, the Thomson-Houston Electric Company. The merger created an even bigger rival to Westinghouse... General Electric.
In 1945, Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company changed its name to Westinghouse Electric Corporation.
***Links to Westinghouse and Meter history***
https://www.mainememory.net/sitebuilder/site/2134/slideshow/1265/display?format=list&prev_object_id=3535&prev_object=page
https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/artifact/64863/#slide=gs-366593
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westinghouse_Electric_Corporation
Nice one Dave!! I love old meters like this one. This is the first of it's kind I've ever seen.
Thanks Scott! It is a very early one. There seems to be a couple on ebay for a bunch of money...
The box and craftsmanship is amazing..all stainless trim. Cleaned up easy. After posting, I used some mineral spirits to clean it and applied a light coat of new stain. I like to find items and then learn the history of it.
I agree Dave. Finding the history on an item can be even more gratifying than the find itself!
I got lucky because I was there buying a set of vintage nesting tables for my sister.
I remember seeing the meter on his offerup page, but it was gone. So I asked if he sold it..he had a big price on it..like $80 if I remember correctly. He was getting ready for a garage sale, and had a $25 price on it..I bought it for $20. He buys storage units, so he just wanted to move it. There's a few on ebay and etsy, with sellers asking $150-250+. He even mentioned some on ebay, but said he doesn't like ebay.
Wow!! Talk about being in the right place at the right time!!!
dav2no1, Cool. :-)
Here are all of the patents listed on that label. They range from 1911 to 1919 (the first two have to do with methods of mounting jewels, but the rest clearly have to do with meters and electrical instruments):
https://patents.google.com/patent/US1007372
https://patents.google.com/patent/US1049354
https://patents.google.com/patent/US1116472
https://patents.google.com/patent/US1194129
https://patents.google.com/patent/US1289102
https://patents.google.com/patent/US1290500
Keramikos..Thank you! Great work as always...and helps solidify the dating.
So happy to have found this page and it was just 9 months ago written! So I have one of these Meters and had no idea it had this history. Mine has a hand ledger dated 11/16/1920 and looks very similar mine may be older? Anyway thnk you for such a great history on Westinghouse!
Thanks for your comments. We'd love to see your meter.
I just posted it on my new profile. Thank you for asking. You have inspired me to share for 1st time ever on any site!