A great guy that I work with retired from southwestern bell after 30+ years and picked this thing up along the way. Date on the manual says April 1960! If anyone has any info let me know... Works pretty good as a compressor... Anyone know how hard it would be to add a larger tank? On to the pics... motor and compressor the guages here's all the stuff under the lid... Even has its own evap and electric fan with controller and a moisture sensor/alarm. Cover page of the manual Cool thing is that it also came with spare parts new in box for the pump!
I have a huge Western Electric collection - mostly telephones, but some other stuff, too. : That's absolutely killer! ~Jason
bump, this place is a thread killer! Still looking for info on this, and possibly adding an external tank...
I believe in cetain applications, the phone companies used to pump nitorgen into the big cables to keep moisture out. I this may have been hooked up to a source and used as pump. Might also just be a dehumidifier thing for the same purpose. Keeping a section of trunk cable free of moisture.
It's a refrigerated air dryer. The units are usually used in conjunction with pneumatic operated equipment. It was probably used with air operated switches somewhere.
So, can I use it as a "cheap" compressor to run air tools? Seems to me that all the moisture removal equipment is a plus for a paint gun. Plus it pumps up to 150psi pretty quick. He said that he has used it to run nail guns for fencing and what not... would plumbing it to an external tank be easy?
I agree with 48 chev, its an air dryer for pneumatic systems. normaly put in line with a compresor to keep the air dry.
Just plumb it in to a big tank and your in buisness! I bet the phone co. bought top notch gear, I bet it will last forever!
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