Vintage General Radio Co Type 102J Decade Resistance Box Bakelite 13"

Description

Mid to late 20th century (pre-1975) Decade Resistance Box - Type 102J - Serial No 966 - General Radio Company, Cambridge Mass. Wood case with Bakelite top.

"A decade box is a piece of test equipment that can be used during prototyping of electronic circuits to substitute the interchanging of different values of certain passive components with a single variable output. Decade boxes are made for resistance, capacitance, and inductance, the values of which can be adjusted incrementally by the turning of a knob or switch, with the contacts of the switch moving along a series of the respective components. The interface for these devices usually consists of dials or adjustable tape counters, and they are operated in-circuit and without any external power source." (Source: Wikipedia)

"General Radio Company (later, GenRad) was a broad-line manufacturer of electronic test equipment in Massachusetts, U.S. from 1915 to 2001. During the middle of 20th century, they were a major competitor to Hewlett-Packard and Tektronix. On June 14, 1915, Melville Eastham and a small group of investors started General Radio Company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a few blocks northwest of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. During the 1950s, the company moved to West Concord, Massachusetts, where it became a major player in the automatic test equipment (ATE) business, manufacturing a line of testers for assembled printed circuit boards. It also produced extensive lines of electrical component measuring equipment, sound and vibration measurement and RLC standards. In 1975, the company name was changed to GenRad. In 1991, a startup QuadTech was founded as spinoff of GenRad's Instrumentation division and Precision Product lines, as well as the rights to use the "GenRad" and "General Radio" names. In 2000, IET Labs acquired from QuadTech the GenRad RLC standards, impedance decades, megohmmeters, digibridges, audio lines, stroboscope lines. Then in 2005 IET Labs purchased the Digibridge and Megohmmeter lines, which continue to be manufactured in West Roxbury, Massachusetts. In 2001, Teradyne acquired the GenRad board test system lines, which were relocated to Teradyne's corporate campus in North Reading, Massachusetts. Among General Radio's accomplishments over the years have been: The introduction of one of the world's first portable oscilloscopes. The production of many high-precision standards for inductance, resistance, and capacitance. The production of the stroboscope as the Strobotac. The production of the sound level meter. The Variac variable autotransformer, which was a U.S. trademark of General Radio from 1934 to 2001. Invention of the "five-way" binding post connector. Invention of the GR connector." (Source: Wikipedia)

Condition

Good Overall - Gentle wear

Dimensions

12.75" x 5.25" x 5.75" (Width x Depth x Height)