Does anybody recognize this part?

thartsell · Nov 5, 2012

A friend got this at an auction... couldn't figure out what it was... but it looks cool... and old.

Looks like some kind of relay but it's in a wood box with dovetail corners.
It has 3 contacts on the outside and a relay of some kind on the top.

Anybody recognize it?

Thanks for looking.

Barry 1 · Nov 5, 2012

Google "Model T Coil"

oliver28472 · Nov 5, 2012

That would be my guess as well.

wwbragg · Nov 6, 2012

No doubt about it. This is an early proto-type of a flux-capacitor (from the movie "Back to the Future). Just kidding. The other descriptions are probably right. But that reminds me of something I read in my son-in-law's family history. His grandfather (or great grandfather - - one of them) had to drive into town in his Model-T (or Model-A - - - -one of them) but the car wouldn't start. He discovered that the coil had burned out. Living miles from town, he had to drive to town to get the coil to start the car. So he put a burlap sack in a metal bucket, wired one end of the coil to the bucket and the other wire to the burlab sack. That lasted long enough to get to town to buy a new coil. Go figure.