Can you figure out what technology is in this 1929 photograph?

boing
22

I was going to guess it was an early example of a hair-parting machine.

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23

Clearly it is Earth technology, puny human.

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24

My guess it is early guided bomb/missile telemetry tech or early radar. The bomb in the corner looks like a “prop” because not far from it is an ash can. They must be at some military place.

25

In the next frame, both Professor Dunstable and the time machine have vanished.

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26

This is a photo of the first Zune.

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27

No, Yes, Yes, Yes. 8/10, would believe.

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28

my bet or guess would be that the array of jars to the left is for phase shifting rather than power ?? planar array df ( direction finding ) ?? primitive radar ?? interesting , that is for sure !!

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29

I see at least four radio sets, at least one incandescent dump load, another possible dump load of very large resistors mounted on asbestos heatshields, at least two battery banks containing six units of 12 cells in series, a manual switch & fuse block, a possible overhead selenium photocell array and/or large horn antenna, a small aerial bomb or torpedo, and a lot of Brilliantine.

Therefore I’m guessing this is the communications shack for the Astrographic Refractor. The radios are for talking to the other 19 sites participating in the photographic mappings of the sky.

Edit: my amazing powers of observation failed to encompass the caption that says the photo’s from Washington DC. In 1929 the A.R. was in Siam, so it’s an unlikely connection. D’OH.

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30

Yes - that puts me in the mind or a bomb or some kind of Zeppelin accessory. Could this be atop the Empire State Building when the dirigible mast was in use?

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31

Around the same time: http://blog.modernmechanix.com/huge-wireless-station-receives-messages-of-zeppelin-on-world-tour/

33

YES This is it. You’ve solved the puzzle. This is not Washington DC, but northern Sumatra. Thank you.

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34

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that it appears to be a man sitting in front of some type of antique electronic equipment.

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35

I think I may detect a hint of sarcasm. (Probably based on the fact that an expedition did travel to Sumatra to physically view and observe the eclipse. The guy here clearly isn’t doing that.) I know that photo took place in D.C. (it’s a Harris & Ewing, and was next to another H&E). I was just building on @jthiem 's comment that the apparatus pictured could be a collector for radio waves, and providing one option that might not otherwise occur - after all we didn’t even have NASA yet.

Solar eclipses were being studied at that time for various reasons, including the study of relativity. In 1919, Arthur Eddington travelled to Africa to watch and photograph the slight light shift of stars near the sun. (You have to dim the sun to see the stars around it.) Solar eclipses do effect radio communication.

I think it’s equally likely that this was early radar or receipt of zeppelin news.

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36

I believe those are in series, not parallel.

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37

The absence of headphones troubles me. It would seem to rule out a great many radio applications.

38

I suspect that it has something to do with this photo:

I assume that it had something to do with figuring out how many Tusken Raiders had passed by.

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39

It is an attempt to create a mnemonic memory circuit using stone knives and bear skins.

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40

But the real question is, “WHAT is he sitting on?!”

41

ZEPPELIN NEWS! All the daily dirigible data that is fit to transmit! Now containing Blimp Bulletin!

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42

The NASA solar eclipse archive indicates the zones of totallity, in this case, the eclipse was only visible from the indian ocean and western pacific (including Sumatra, the Malay peninsula, and the Philippines)-- not DC, which was enjoying the night.