For Rescue

A clear out of our laboratory at about the time of my retirement produced a hoard of instruments and bits of equipment that were obsolete and no longer needed. There were some old, attractive and probably quite valuable (museum-piece) objects in the collection, but they needed to be rescued or they would go in a skip. The laboratory acquired much instrumentation when it was hard to come by, just after WW2, so that such pieces must have had a special value and significance when they were used in novel and successful experiments that led to important advances in our scientific understanding.

Here are some examples that have found their way to my workshop at home. Many of these things (at least the ones that can be tested easily) appear to be in working order.

Anyone who would like items like these (not necessarily these particular items) and can offer them a good home and would value them is welcome to ask me to hand them over. Perhaps it's easiest to make first contact through a Comment here. No cost, but transport may be needed.

Some people rescue small animals, I rescue small spectrographs, optical pyrometers, electrical bridges, kathetometers, and so on.

And, in case any viewer does not know what a kathetometer (Eng. maybe Cathetometer) is, there follows a description, the language of which might suggest an origin for our pre- and post-war examples:

Ein Kathetometer ist eine optische Apparatur zur Beobachtung und Vermessung kleiner Positionsänderungen eines Gegenstandes. Es besteht aus einem Fernrohr, welches über Spindelschrauben in der Höhe und Breite verstellbar ist. Der komplette Aufbau steht zweckmäßiger Weise auf einem Stativ um ein Kippen des Kathetometers zu verhindern. Über eine Libelle kann man überprüfen, ob das Gerät genau waagerecht steht. Anhand von Zehntel-Millimeter-Skalen kann eine Positionsänderung abgelesen werden.