Unknown device

[Heimatschuss]

Hello SES,

The soldiers cap looks German, but the boots?

I think the fellow is wearing gaiters that were issued in the last years of the war to save boot leather. The cap does also indicate that time. Three buckles per gaiter would be o.k, I think. but I've never seen any shiny like that.

But it looks somewhat monsterous to be a piece of test equipment.

Well, if it's the mirror is from a 200 cm searchlight anything else will necessarily look a bit bigger than usual.

My question is why can the mirror and "The Thing" elevate independently.

I'm not totally convinced that both wheels would turn the "mirror" and the "thing" around the horizontal axis. The big wheel could also be for turning around the vertical axis. Power transmission from the big wheel to that axis should be a simple task for a mechanic. (Admittedly there seems to be another hardly recognizable wheel on vertical axis.)

Best regards
Torsten

[Dan Mouritzsen]

Hi

I have read somewhere that they were experimenting with a ”Warmpeilgerät” like the Kriegsmarine “Donau Geräte” just for anti aircraft defences instead in 1944. Could that be it?

Regards

Dan Mouritzsen

[SES]

Hi

I have read somewhere that they were experimenting with a ”Warmpeilgerät” like the Kriegsmarine “Donau Geräte” just for anti aircraft defences instead in 1944. Could that be it?

Regards

Dan Mouritzsen

Hi Dan,
Where are the cables and the display equipment? It could be some sort of IR device, but not of the type you mention. Please see:
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... hlight=wpg
bregds
SES

[SES]

Hello SES,

I'm not totally convinced that both wheels would turn the "mirror" and the "thing" around the horizontal axis. The big wheel could also be for turning around the vertical axis. Power transmission from the big wheel to that axis should be a simple task for a mechanic. (Admittedly there seems to be another hardly recognizable wheel on vertical axis.)

Best regards
Torsten

Hi,
I think I can see a wheel to turn it horizontally.
bregds
SES

[cliftonra]

I seem to recall seeing this photo on Ebay and if I am not mistaken, the seller listed it as a captured French listening device.
I collect German listening device and searchlight photos so it was of some interest to me (though not enough to bid on it).

I hope this helps or at least points people in the right direction.
cliftonra

[Panzerjager228]

I would imagine that the dish is too shallow to be used as a search light. It would just scatter the light in a broad pattern instead of focusing it in to a tight beam. (I work with stage lighting.)

But I don't know. They could have needed to light a broad area.

[SES]

Hi,
Agree 100%, I have the same problem, I just expressed it diffrently. The focal point is way out in front , of the reflector.
bregds
SES

[witcher]

That is weird, no wires... and the focal point has a large platform.

[SES]

Hi,
I think I got it . It's a heliograph. It needs no cables or wires, no presentation equipment, but a refelctor and a device to interrupt the focuced light. That is why the thing in the center can turn. Heliographs were used extensivly by the German forces in WW I.
bregds
SES

[jopaerya]

Hi Ses

Thanks for your for sharing use your bright
light , I think that you are right .

Regards Jos

[SES]

[ChrisMAg2]

Michel,
would you please enlight us further and tell us what a "heliograph" of that size might be good for? All heliographs I know of are far smaller...

Regards
Christian M. Aguilar

[SES]

Hi Chis,
Let me first please emphasise that I said "I think", not "I know". But when all other possibilities have been eliminated the last possible, however improbable, is a distinct possibility. A heliograph of that size would be useful for communication over long distances, the only prerequisite was line of sight and a reasonable clear sky. Unless of course it is a secret weapon that belongs in an Indiana Jones movie
bregds
SES

[T. A. Gardner]

It is very unlikely it is a heliograph. All of the ones I've seen are much smaller and man portable. They also have two lenses; one to collect the sun and reflect it onto a second lense with each being able to rotate independently (usually they are stacked one above the other). There is also a shutter of some type that allows the operator to blink the light sending morse code.

[SES]

Hi TA,
Thank you, yes I was concerned over the second mirror as well, but it could be a bi-static configuration. Do you have a theory as to what it could be?
bregds
SES