Tag Archives: thrifting

Another weird old computer from the Bins – Crown TEF-12

Posted on by
Reply

Saw this weird box with the Crown logo on it in the reject bin right by the checkout as I was leaving and turned right on around to check it out more closely. Once I figured out how to open the front (push the two ‘top’ feet inwards!) I saw it was an old luggable in an interesting format. Bought it without hesitation for the perfunctory price asked, and took it home to dig in further…

IMG_1355
IMG_1356

The front is pretty familiar as far as early 80s luggable computers go.

IMG_1364
IMG_1366

The back gets interesting. Bunch of audio I/O that very unusual.

IMG_1358
IMG_1363

And inside we find this built like a tank modular machine with all kinds of extra audio handling functionality.

IMG_1359
IMG_1361
IMG_1360

I haven’t researched it thoroughly yet, but it looks like it was capable of pretty groundbreaking acoustic data collection and visualization for its time. I’ll leave the specifics to another post by someone who used one of these things to great effect back when it was new: https://www.tvtechnology.com/opinions/audio-breakthroughs-with-tef-analysis

Find of the Week – 1890s Württemberg Uhrenfabrik clock

Posted on by
2

I’m always thrilled to find truly old things at thrift stores. This clock was instantly recognizable as being a true antique when I found it on a shelf with a motley assortment of quartz wall clocks and electric clock-radios at the Goodwill on SE Grand. It was priced at $8, ‘as is’. I greedily snatched it up and took it home, feeling like a thief after I checked out and paid the token price.

2013-04-01_21-57-05_335
2013-04-01_21-58-01_129
2013-04-01_21-57-48_107

The only writing on the case is a fragment of a label on the back, with some handwriting in pencil. It looks like…

Ba(l|b)(y|g|s)
Shar(p|f)(unk.)(u w/ umlaut|i)(d|2)
June 22, 189(7|9)
E?&(l|b)(unk.)

2013-04-01_21-58-14_153
2013-04-01_22-10-53_595

On first glance I was worried the movement was incomplete because of all of the vacant screw holes. I think the frame is actually provisioned for a few different variations of the mechanism though, maybe some kind of date display thing because of the ‘window’ in the front plate?

2013-04-01_22-10-47_469
2013-04-01_22-11-44_813

The movement has a few makers markings. ‘Württemberg Uhrenfabrik’ and a stylized ‘WUS’ logo with the text ‘Bürk’ beneath. Based on similar logos found in Mikrolisk’s [1] database I think this movement was made by Württembergische Uhrenfabrik Bürk Söhne [2].

2013-04-01_22-20-47_697

Output shaft and the geartrain for setting the clock.

2013-04-01_22-20-58_258

Backside of the dust cover. Hand formed and soldered modification to make the ‘sealed’ area smaller.

2013-04-01_22-21-11_718

Also interesting is a bit of text visible on the piece used in modifying the dust cover.

2013-04-01_22-37-49_299

The hands are two pieces soldered together as well.

2013-04-01_22-35-40_737

Another dust cover strip on the side removed reveals the rest of the movement.

2013-04-01_22-29-55_683
2013-04-01_22-36-15_78

The spring was wound absurdly tightly already, I gave it a bit of a crank not knowing this and am probably lucky I didn’t break it. I gave the balance wheel a bit of a shove and it actually started right up… It’s been running for two days now. Kinda want it to stop so I can leave it be and avoid putting any more wear on the parts.

I have a feeling the case is not original, though it’s clearly quite old. Not sure how I’d go about further tracing that aspect of it.

[1]: http://www.mikrolisk.de/show.php?site=280&suchwort=W%C3%BCrttembergische&searchWhere=all#sucheMarker

[2]: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%C3%BCrttembergische_Uhrenfabrik_B%C3%BCrk