History A question for old, old mechanics

In this vintage photo, the old phaeton sits on a raised rack and is tied down over what seems to be some sort of ch***is dyno. ***ume it was used to "road test" and tune cars in place? Test brakes? Any thoughts?

Does anyone know of other photos of similar stands? Thanx, Gary

 

Wonder if it is a leakage test for the pistons ,Can says that ,Also notice the havoline in the back of the car left ,Id say thats a fancy compression guage .........

 

Did you read the comments after the picture was posted on Shorpy?

 

California smog check

 

It does look like some early form of a dyno. That is a pretty high resolution photo so maybe someone who has a large screen can blow it up enough to read what is on the base of what looks like a gauge or meter on that stand sitting there in the middle of those gents.

 

The Shorpy blowup is about 4 times bigger than my 17" screen.
You;re not going to get much better than that

 

All service stations/garages of the era had outside drive-on ramps to allow under car access for service. The "dyno" if that's what it is, may be a driveability problem solver of sorts.....

 

An he came runnin around the grease rack there. Didn't have nothin on but his Texaco cap.
Grnddad had on just like it on the farm

 

I think everyone in the picture except the fellow right next to the drivers door has a tie on. Even the kid with the greasy white shirt standing up on the platform.

 

Its an old lift. The **** you see underneath was what raised it.

 

Ho! Ho! You children sure have some humorous guesses!

As any old timer can tell you, this contraption was used by early Hambers when, by following their fellows' bad advice, they just couldn't fix a car.
The lever in the one fellows' hand activates a trap-door underneath the ramp. The unfixable car then falls into a pit filled with acid and....voila! Problem solved!

The poor ******* seated in the car, of course, gets eaten by the acid too. But it's okay. He's what we nowadays call a lawyer.

 

Here's some lifts and Dynos from a copy of ****s Automotive Encyclopedia (1920)

 

probably some sort of sales meeting to sell the car powered ramp to farmers to run a belt off of the wide drum on the right side of the contraption...most accessories were powered by those flat wide belts...just my guess?...

 

a fellow who comes here to my shop offered to sell me a dyno you drive up onto, it was more to do with checking out vibrations or something, only went up to 300 hp, this rig looks like it might be along those lines.

 

I was thinking that, ala the Model-T poor man's PTO to run farm equipment. They used to make a hub that ran those wide leather belts.

Bob

 

Well the heavy equipment under the car is stationary and the ramps on both ends are for sure drive on and off . With the guy in the car I would say its an early dyno for tuning the car and also used for grease jobs and engine work because of the width being wide enough for the guy to stand next to the engine.

 

Cylinder leakage tester is what it is.

 

Sorry, no. I liberated it elsewhere. Gary

Further: Two Shorpy comments also thought it was a ch***is dyno of some sort.

 

I have to agree it is a type of ch***is dynamometer.

You can see that the rear wheels both rest on those large drums althought the left side drum is obscurred. There is also a turnbuckle hanging off the underside of the car to secure it to the rig.

As to the cylinder leakage tester sitting to the side , that has me intigued as to how that is utilised.

All cylinder leakage tests I have ever done were static tests performed on individual cylinders , one at a time. This was done simply by removing the spark plug turning engine to TDC on firing stroke and inserting an airline fitting and connecting the gauge and air supply. No need for a dyno.

So, back to the question. How did the leakage tester operate here?

 

Guy standing with the mufler in hand which he already took off or is ready to put on.
It's a ramp to work on the cars with. The contraption underneath has a drum on it with a strap with which pulls the car up onto the platform.
Sort of a winch (has a handcrank not shown) . I remember seeing one of these at a gas station in Middle Grove NY about 50 years ago.

Notice that there is a strap fastened to the rear of the car to hold her in place. Probably one on the front too.

i think that the average Joe's dyno of the day was a thumb over the spark plug hole..............

 

Thanx for all your replies. I'm guessing its a ch***is dyno of some sorts used for tuning engines, testing ******s and clutches or perhaps speedo calibration. If it could read brake hp some how, perhaps used to calculate hp for tax / tags? Gary