1920s Rare Battery Charger [Restoration]
In this tool restoration I focus on a 900-Sterling Rectifier made by The Sterling MFG. Co. of Cleveland, Ohio. The rectifier was most likely used as a battery charger for radios and cars in the 1920s. From my research, I do no think this exact model is a common tool as the pricing suggests it was around 5% the cost of a Model T in 1922. I believe this is a vibratory reed half-wave rectifier, but I am not 100% sure. This technology was used before vacuum tube diodes became popular.
The actually restoration was much more involved than I thought it would be and I was concerned that I would not be able to get this to work once back together. Electrical wiring is not my area of expertise, but a bunch of research helped. I was not able to find an exact patent, but this one was close: patents.google.com/patent/US1...
I chose to replacing the nickel-plating on some of the brass parts, but not all. I had to remake some bakelite pieces, but was able to revive others in plastic restorer cream. I also chose not to do a clear coat on this tool as the original paint seemed to not be that glossy originally. I would have also liked to rewire the main coil, but I just do not feel comfortable yet tackling that. I really do want to have a try at rewinding an electric motor, but I don't want to practice on something so uncommon.
I was VERY surprised that this worked after I wired it back together. It took me about 5 hours of wiring to make sure this was put back together in the exact right way.
Hopefully I can pass this along to someone that can exactly explain how it works!
These are advertisements from 1922: imgur.com/a/7L0uZb6
28:39 Nickel-plating solution
Checking continuity: • HOW TO Test If The Mot...
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If anyone wants to take the time to explain what each electrical part does, and how this whole thing works, I would really appreciate it. There are documents and images in the description that should help you out!
Based on only watching half the video, what I see is a simple electromagnet chops the 6v AC wave pulse coming from the transform down effectively creating crude DC current, the sense line to the meter probably comes right off the larger coil which creates the pulsing magnetic force used to generate the DC current. The buzzing and adjuster are probably there to allow you to control the pulse width of current being sent down the charge lines. Looks really similar to half of an old school Lucus "regulator" for old bikes. But I'm not an EE so I could be way wrong here.
O carregador que marcar?
very simple step down transformer with mechanical rectifier and inductor to smooth out the dc .
@@henriquecasonatto8881 Very simple step down transformer. WTH? Don't even know what that means. lol
27:51 is that a normal alkaline/carbon-zinc battery? I don't recall them being rechargable
I have never appreciated ElectroBoom's eyebrow dexterity until now
He's the master!
Lol 😂 i was like wait what
@electroboom legenary new padawan
Me too hahaha
@@HandToolRescue brother eric is the tiny wrench going to be available soon ?? Also where the hell is my big wing nut screwdriver ? Lol
Making use of the kzhead.infoUgkxcJ22tnHH9l1vjdIdEIG27iOG55P7LXI8 reconditioning plan, I just saved 2 auto batteries from being completely junked. The guides were very simple to follow. I wish I would have found this years ago! You may use the guide to recondition any battery type
I assure you there is absolutely nothing that is going to recondition dead batteries.
It's truly a joy to watch you work. My grandpa restored antiques when he was living and your videos remind me of him. Thank you.
The 80's themed intro is almost as good as the restoration itself! Makes me smile every time.
1920's Factory Worker: "Hey Guys, shouldn't we maybe put a cover over this thing for safety?" 1920's Foreman: "Get out of here you nerd."
What do you think they lighted their smokes on??!!
Originally it had a cover. On the cover was a tag stating no serviceable parts inside, and warranty void if opened.
1920's Foreman: "Nah...after it bites you a time or two, you'll learn to not touch in that spot again. Hey Ernie, I have an idea....tell that new guy to come over here; I wanna show him something" ;-)
1920s Factory Worker: At least I have alcohol!
Shain Andrews quite many 20s-50s radios in the US had no transformer so if you plug it the wrong way you had a live chassis. Originally they came with polarized plug that can't be flipped but since those were breaking and sockets of that type became rare people were replacing them with common NEMA plugs. Plug it... ouch, I need to flip the plug, top mark on the plug and that's it. Here most radios had transformers since 30s because 220+ volts are more likely to kill you. But also... 19th-early 20th century industrial equipment had huge open moving parts and yet people didn't get hurt that often because it was a common sense that you shouldn't get your nose near a huge flywheel at 1200rpm. Just like washing machine manuals didn't have warning about washing animals because everyone understood that an animal will get drown in a washing machine.
Those two round coils are there to provide a magnetic reference for the switching element. (The patent has a permanent magnet instead.) The small coil around the switching element causes the element to move according to the magnetic reference. The big coil is just a step-down transformer. The design is very ingenious. It uses the voltage from the battery to make sure the magnetic reference is biased the correct way. So you can hook up the battery either way and it will still charge it. (The advertisement says that you can connect it “without regard to which is positive or negative.”) The patent doesn't have that feature since it has a permanent magnet instead. This also means that you can't charge a fully dead battery without risk of charging it backwards. This is the reason the ammeter goes both directions. If you hook it up one way it swings to the right, the other way it swings to the left. Since you grounded the case, you may need to be wary of using it on a battery that is also connected to ground. Because it may be possible that one of the charge cables is connected to the case. The patent also has two half-wave rectifiers, but the one you have only has one. This was probably to make it easier to adjust, as you only have one adjustment instead of two. Also with two there is the possibility to short it out. Don't rewire the main core unless there is actual damage. It would be difficult to get as nice of a wind without a lot of effort.
Great info! Thanks!
Did you sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night?
I'm a 57 year old multi-disciplinary engineer, mostly EE work, and I had to read your explanation three times to understand what you are trying to say. Please don't take up teaching. >_
@@railgap It is a magnetic-mechanical design. Both of which are difficult to describe without visual aids. Also I was going for a short description that gives the gist of how it functions to nontechnical people. For technical people the patent, and advertisement should be enough to figure it out. Which means they should have figured it out before reading my comment. Someone who watches a channel named Hand Tool Rescue probably isn't going to understand a technical description. So I probably shouldn't say that the two small round coils combined with the coil around the switching element creates a magnetically selective half wave rectifier. Since the two magnetic reference coils are initially energized by the battery, the selection of which half of the waveform is determined by which way the battery was connected. This is different to the patent which has a permanent magnet, so it was not ambivalent to the direction of current. Oh by the way, I am entirely self taught in the areas of electronics, magnetism, mechanisms, and programming; I have had very little interactions with people knowledgeable enough in those areas to describe things in that manner. So instead I tend to describe things in a more newbie understandable fashion. Well there is one exception. I regularly interact with newbie and expert programmers, so I know just how big a divide there can be between the two groups. Trying to describe something for both audiences simultaneously is a frustrating experience.
@@railgap There is no reason to insult this person for sharing their knowledge, especially if its correct. This is the type of attitude that keeps people from sharing their thoughts and ideas, which is a terrible attitude to have in the engineering industry.
1920's safety was: "hey don't stick your fingers in there"
"So. If I touch that I will die." "Yes. So don't touch it."
Lot less law suits back then. Now we get stupid stuff like "don't take propaxis if you are allergic to it or any if it's ingredients" cause people are stupid and sue because of it
Rule #1. Dont stick your fingers where u wouldnt stick ur dick.
@@LeglessWonder people back then didn't survive to sue...
And then hippies were born. And common sense went in the toilet.
Your attention to detail is awe-inspiring. I can't even imagine putting this non-working item back together so that it functions -- without actually knowing how it works! Kudos to you.
Thank you again it is always a pleasure to watch you work. Im 60 years old and have personaly watched the rapid evolution of tools and technology. The craftsmanship and design and skill and beauty of so many products of the past were discarded with little thought of their value to history. And in some cases their superior quality of materials and design. In my own case I found it impossible to buy a simple toaster that had a life expectancy of more than a few months. I began to look for the old American made stuff and found that yard sales and estate sales have a few. And many other things that are so much better made than the new stuff. We need to revive the manufactor of these older bullet proof products. Buy 10, twenty dollars toasters or 1, 100 or so toaster with nearly 100 times the life expectency. Not only that the beauty of a much better quality product. Polished stainless or cast aluminum with real wood acsents. Many young people have never even seen or used the quality products of the past. Every thing today is disposable and its pileing up in the form of plastic waste. We can and need to get away from our dependence on chinese made junk. Combining the best technologys of old and new we can improve on what our Grandfathers lovingly crafted. And create manufactureing jobs and small foundrys. Sure everything can be cnc machined out of a block of whatever or 3d printed but its just not the same.
I am grateful to you for your beliefs. Over the years, I bought a lot of tools from the 60s and 40s and brought them into working condition. Modern tools will never match them.
Great work! The device itself looks like a top 10 winner in "most likely to burn your house down" tools.
Watching him restore stuff is pure magic! Incredible!
No excessive noise ,just pure mechanical discoveries,,,,,I'm hooked
I have watched all of your videos, beyond the best restoration videos I’ve seen. Thanks for the inspiration! I have started restoring things myself because of these videos, you helped me discover what I really enjoy doing!
Great video! I love seeing old tools being taken care of and restored.
I love how this thing just puts all the energized bits out in the open and right near all the likely places you'd put your hands. Housing? We don't need no stinking housings!
Wow! One of the most fascinating rebuilds in a while! thank you!
As always, beautiful work. This is the first 20's charger I've seen ... it was a cool design. Thanks for always finding something rare and interesting. Cheers!
Your overall knowledge and attention to details is amazing.
Now that is something I truly appreciate. I might have been tempted to rewind but anyway it works. I hope you do more electrical things, older the better. Thanks.
This man is always up for a challenge and always does phenomenal work.
I've never been disappointed buy a video of yours! keep up the excellent work.
Through the whole video, I was wondering what is doing the rectifying. Never seen a vibrating rectifier before. So simple and elegant. Super cool!
I wondered exactly the same thing! As soon as I saw the carbon block, that's when I realized, that this uses a synchronous vibrating contact as a "mechanical rectifier". Noisy, but effective. I like the idea of the thumb screw, to be able to adjust it. It might even serve as a Silicon Controlled Rectifier, allowing you to adjust the charge current, although, most would set for maximum amperage. It's a very clever way to convert AC into DC to charge a battery, without any kind of thermionic or solid state rectification.
Interesting kind of rectifier.
😄😄😄vibrating rectifier😄😄😄 .............I'm sorry 😞 I'm a child😁😁😁
@@vincentrobinette1507 it is very interesting as the only DC conversion I knew of for this era other than tubes was the heavy iron stuff, That is the big rotary units often used in things like the NYC subway.
I remember them in car radios. :)
Very well done. Attention to every minor detail is simply amazing.
I personally love this way you do the videos. Those details of your personality like the intro or the best sound in the world give the video a special touch. Keep it up!! : D
The manufacturers of this item: "Doesn't this need a case?" "Nah, waste of sheet metal" I still like it though 😜
When electrical equipment was still intended for use by "competent persons", and where you were expected to know that things were not meant to be touched or adjusted by any person.
That is from the era when men tested how tough they were by grabbing a couple of live electrical wires and seeing if they were wimps or tough guys, now we test our selves by not being charged with anger management issues LOL
How about old cars using the steel body as a common ground? A professor of mine was burned while fixing a loose tail light bulb. It was one of those cars with the gas tank under the license plate too. The metal socket of the bulb sparked against the car body and there was enough fumes built up in the trunk for them to ignite. Burned all the hair off his arms.
@@ObiTrev Cars still use the chassis as a common ground
@Billy White Jr. What the hell it is only 115 volts AC. I think he is having one of those "relationships" with the pixies. LOL
That's some awesome vintage equipment! Love it! I would recommend rewinding both coil as it looks like one of the coil insulation was damage. This should be simple to do. Count the number of turn on each coil and redo the exact same with new wire of same gauge. Awesome restoration! Cheers!
That was impressive. You have quite the eye to spot things that can be restored. I would have brought home a scrap of rust thinking I could produce what you just did. Great job. Love the nickel plating. Very nice touch.
I was uncorking some old seized screws earlier too, love that sound!!!
The 1990s tv show intro parody gets me every time!
Every time i see it i want to rewatch Magnum PI. I can´t help.
Wow and my husband and I were just saying it sounds like Full House or the facts of life lol
That really is the best sound on earth, but only to a very specific sub-set of people. Is it absolutely soul wrenching when the flat head screw driver slips out of the screw and you put a big scratch in a fresh paint job? Good work as always.
Dude, you never disappoint. OUTSTANDING work!!!!!
100 years old and working once again
Oh, spoiler!
@@mm9773 HTR will never be defeated. It might take the parts of 3 tools to make one work, but that's one working tool instead of 3 broken ones.
sometimes you think, when you are removing all the parts, how many times do you have to watch your own video's to get it back together … Respect man, always some interesting video's to see from you.
All the time!
I take picture when I work on my car so I have photos to show steps
I watched this on a cell phone,but I believe you reversed the shoulder on the gauge isolator washers. Shoulder should go to inside of gauge to center post. Hope I am mistaken
so many parts.....
I'm pretty sure that's how this all started. Him filming himself so he could get his project back together and then thinking "well... I have all this footage anyway...".
I used to pride myself for remembering how to reassemble equipment I dismantled. Now that I am much older, I use my Sony mini camera to remember things. Great job.
The fact that you stamped the letters to match is why I watch your channel. It’s that extra touch 👌🏽 and the fact that you slam your face into the sandblaster shield.
That half-wave rectifier reference got me in the end hahahah even the monobrow XD
I sprayed coffee on my monitor when I saw that!
same here, i laughed for almost a minute, not sure why it hit me so hard lol
Nice! Soldering skills have levelled up since last time!
Haha of course!
I am always fascinated by this man's abilities. 28 minutes of essentially silence and I was entranced the whole time.
Always a treat to watch your work.
best sound on earth. i was expecting the "pinnnn" sound when a spring flies to the alternate reality
I'm still waiting for you to emerge from the drum of Evapo-Rust wearing a snorkeling mask during "sponsored by: Evapo-Rust" in the intro. 😂😂
It's 100% going to happen.
That, would be freaking hilarious.
@@HandToolRescue has this happened yet I need links -_-
@@HandToolRescue I think you originally came out of that tank. lol.
Mind blown! I was trying to figure out that circuit the whole time till the end. Amazing!
Superb restoration as always, thanks for sharing !🇨🇦
28:18 is this an ElectroBoom reference?
You you really have to ask?
No, it's a Jojo reference.
@@aserta Nani!?
I thought this was a rare image of AvE
Half, didn’t Boom.
Pretty neat battery charger! Awesome job Eric!
Almost too neat...
His name is Eric? 🧐
@@DJmachine1O1 cartman?
Stephen Cox the big shill
I realy don't get into many KZhead video fads but i find these to be the best ADMR videos in the tubes. Love calling asleep to the sounds here
Loved the Electro boom ending, he's great. Very cool item to restore.
Wow, what a nice restoration. I didn't know they had battery chargers back then but you'll never stop to learn I guess xD Loved the ElectroBOOM reference near the end. And the intro, of course :D
1920's; "You are the ground wire."
I love how it starts off like an 80s show, but absolutely no talking happens... im subscribed to like 13 other restoration channels.
Ah, the old "need a battery charger to restore a battery charger" conundrum.
Oh, some memories! My mother's older brother described how something like this charger was used to charge the batteries used in the radio sometime in mid 1920's. Somebody in the same village had the charger, so the batteries were carried there every few days for charging. The vibrator based inverters were used still in late 1940's and indeed even early 1950's in the early car radios to convert the 6 V car battery up to somewhere between 100 and 250 V needed by the tube amplifiers anodes. Transistors came a bit later, along with the car batteries changing to 12 V. But the big memory is from the high voltage laboratory of the university. One of the lab demonstrations (yes, we students were not trusted to run that by ourselves) was how a synchronized mechanical rectifier worked. There was a 3 or 4 ft diameter wheel with some wires between copper contacts at the rim. A synchronous motor was rotating the disk -- once we it started. That start required several attempts of jerking it and immediately engaging the motor power switch. If the jerk was not good enough, the motor did not "catch in". Once the motor was spinning, the high voltage AC was turned on and the copper contacts started sparking and obviously generating lots of ozone. But the mechanical rectification did produce growing DC charge to the big metal spheres, until at some 30 to 40 kilovolts there was the great flash and bang from the spheres. I do recall that we measured the gap and used some graph to report the achieved spark voltage. As a side note, at another lab soon after I saw how really high voltage resistors were constructed of long plastic (acrylic) pipes filled with with distilled water. They worked as current limiters at 200 to 500 kilovolts.
I\'m not sure but ,if anyone else wants to uncover how to recondition old batteries at home try t.co/uUSuy6Yk5g ? Ive heard some decent things about it and my mate got excellent results with it.
HTR pulls out the charger John Coffey: I's ready, boss. HTR: ROLL ON ONE!
David Varnes Walkin the mile walkin the mile 😂
2:02 I was expecting one of those loud screeching screws that groans with protest the entire way. You're right, that crack is super satisfying. Great video, Subscribed.
The faceplant scene in the media cabinet was well done. I could almost hear the terrified scream from the poor bewildered parts... 👍💪
I'd never even heard of vibratory rectifiers. I'd love to see the output from this on a scope. Great video!
I agree that it would be interesting. It would seem that it would be necessary, to make sure the resonance of the vibrator is right at line frequency, so the contact is made right at the crest of the AC wave form. With a new carbon block, it would be heavier, and would tend to lag in phase just a little. As it lightens up from normal consumption, the resonant frequency would rise, which would tend to make contact before the crest. a dual trace oscilloscope would tell the tale!
Wow! You plug that thing in for long, and every ham radio operator in the states and the FCC will be banging on your door. Hehe. Crazy!
Intro still makes me chuckle. Even though ove seen it a million times. Keep the awesome content comin bud. Great job.
Dude that's champion bro. Old school stuff like that is awesome. That thing will out last the new ones 100 to one.
lmao! I was not expecting the Electroboom reference, nor was I ready for it XD
Hahaha, I like the ElectroBOOM reference. Good job as always
Very impressive. Looks like a serious challenge. Nicely done.
Beautiful resto you did exactly what need to be done without ruining it's age , ie. you painted what needed painting you replaced what needed to be replaced what needed to be replaced but kept it to the age it was brought out in.
Wooo Cleveland! Back when we actually used to make stuff.
When you plugged it in at the beginning my first thought was "well this is how he dies".
Amazing transformation. Well done 👍
As usual, an excellent restoration!
You don't need a ground wire where we're going! Lol that reminds me of this 8"grain auger had a 220 single phase 10hp motor on it and the ground was messed up there for a while me and the other guy would rock paper scissors to figure out who would turn it on and off when there was heavy dew or after a rain.... It sucked
Best sound on earth is when my notification pops up with your new upload
An excellent restoration... WELL DONE!!! 10/10
Seeing the complexity of these hand tools makes me feel like humans are definitely something special.
Damn wish I could get my hands on one of those
Doesn't anyone else appreciate the irony that he needed a battery charger to fix the battery charger?
Does that make it a battery charger charger?
Or the fact the battery is a non-rechargeable battery?
I very much appreciated the irony lol
The first 10 seconds earned my like and subscription. Fantastic work, keep at it!
the best restauration channel ... and the best worker!
Шикарно , если есть прошлое тем более сохранёное значит и будет будущее.
Man, this thing was made in the wild west days of electrical safety. Scary!
That's a really beautiful piece of hardware. Great ElectroBOOM reference!
Glad to see your back . Cheers from AUSTRALIA
100 years ago when we were told not to put our hands on something, this is how we thinned out the herd.
Lmao! Unfortunately now it’s done by viral epidemic while an imbecile is your president.
Ray Romano back at it again
Your videos with no bullshit big noting commentary through them are so informative and helpful Please DON'T change your way of presentation it is refreshing Cheers to you ++++++
Watching some older videos over again and still enjoy them. You were wrong about the best sound on earth because that is actually the sound of my notification to say you posted a video.
That work bench has been know by the state of California to cause cancer lol
If it ever caught on fire.. I would burn for 9 days
Nah, it's known by the state of cancer to cause California.
Waiting for it to spontaneously combust...
The centre of that coil reminds me of a bundle of fuel rods from a nuclear reactor.
I would think it puts out a helluva magnetic field at those ends. Looks like it would be electromagnetic.
I assume they used rods instead of stacked plates to reduce the eddy currents...?
I had an audible “oh my god, this guy is good” moment with the disk with staggered holes drilled. bravo, hope to buy one of your wrenches sometime.
Excellent work Eric!
This looks rather like a forgotten KGB "tell us true" machine...
ахаха, мы используем паяльник
a mistake, perhaps this device was used by simple kind American guys in Vietnam
@@bigmacintoshishe видишь, а их током били
@@bigmacintoshishe не открывай им тайны терморектального криптоанализа
Бабушкин утюг КРУЧЕ
We didn't have ground wires when we were kids. We survived just fine! 😂😂 Most of us!
Well the ones that didn't aren't here anymore, haha.
[Me eating crayons] I'm fine as long as I wear my helmet.
So that why my dad always made us kids plug things in for him.
Its 120v the risk of serious injuries in the event of malfunction is pretty low other then you get a hell of a shock especially if it's the hot wire not the neutral wire. Small appliances today (usually) have at least two layers of insulation between the conductive components of the device and any part of the device you can touch. To achieve this cheaply, often the outer casing of these devices are made entirely of plastic or some other non-conductive material back, in the days when law suits were rare they didn't worry about this at all. The grounded plug outlet wasn't even common until the 1960s and today it's only seen on items that are either used in damp areas or some times have relatively High amperage requirements.
@@AtomicReverend Yes sir it will buzz you pretty good. It's important that it not pass through an important part of your body like the heart so just try not to ground one hand while grabbing hot wires with the other! I see this charger has little rubber triangles for feet. That probably helped.
A restoration channel with someone who is actually adept at soldering!!? Now ive seen everything. :') Good job dude!
That´s a great job, very impresive. I want to see you restoring an old sewing machine
10:11 Never gets old! LOL
Should have a sticker “CAUTION - User serviceable parts inside.”
Built in an era when people was not expected to be total lowdonks.
Hand Tool Rescue: Perfect Restoration especially in this video you have done amazing
I get a freaking charge out of watching your videos! Great job, once again!
10:11 What my food sees through the door of the microwave.
You don't need that whole contraption to charge batteries. You just run towards them really fast with murderous intent
We're trying to charge the battery not vibe check it
Por que no los dos
Just don't get arrested for assaultin' battery
Paint it red and put it in front of a bull.
Some much knowledge in one videos! Just crazy and mesmerizing.
Love the fact you left your rubber gloves when turning the adjustment knob!!!