For the first pic, figure out why it needs electricity and you'll know what it is. For the rest of us, start with Jim BEAN and try variations of the first name. The other ones were to easy.

 

That's my guess, since Bean is still around, and still makes them. Headlight alignment device? What does he win?

 

Old enough to be a light bulb tester. What ever it is it produces heat, hence the venting. The clamp on the bottom is a clue.

 

Although I have never seen anything exactly like the 1st pic,I've got to think it is a headlight aimer of some sort that might attach to the front bumper. The bubble balancers are easy as I've balanced a zillion tires with them.Tire & rim set down over the tapered stem. A circle about 1 1/2 " is in the middle of the fluid filled bubble in the very top. You add weights on the rim until a little bubble centers exactly in the middle of the 1 1/2 circle. The same as a building level only with a round viewing ummm.... thingy. They WERE very accurate but with a problem tire the spin balancers coming onto the scene truly cured those toughies. I'm a sucker for old books and my neighbor has tried many times to sell me 8 older Motors manuals for $25 apiece! Ebay has tons of them with zero bids for $8-10 bucks last time I looked. They are STILL wicked nice! Love 'em. Hio's tool I read earlier so I know that baby... I like it and my shop is full of one time use homemade tools. Good score! Gary

 

By the way, once you have centered the bubble with wheel weights on the rim of the tire,you push the LEVER down to lock everything solid to tippy-tap the wheel weight on. Release it,recheck for level,mount on vehicle,there done. Just in case you are wondering what the heck the lever is for.

Balancer on left had adapters that fit over the stem for different rim holes. The one on the right was a fit all stem.

 

Found this old pic...I believe it is Bean's first alignment tool. Sorry so small but it pixelated big time when saved it and blew it up.

 

Got my tow truck home today. Looks like someone put a 150 cab on a 350 frame and then threw in a 390 4 speed which has all of the power take off parts to run the big winch in back.

 

Next quiz item: I dont know what it is but it was inside the tow truck cab. It has a glad hand on a short hose which I'm assuming runs the jaws back and forth.

What is it?

 

Back to Bean I" talked to the guy who had the auction today and you placed some sort of chart inside the cabinets which reflected the light onto it allowing you to make suspension adjustments to align the vehicle.

The cabinets did not sell and I'm going back to try to aquire them before they get scrapped.

 

That's easy now you really owe me a prize. That is a EOT or End of train device. It's what gives the locomotive a air pressure reading on the rear and allows the engineer to dump the train if need be. I use almost everyday when I go to work. I'm kinda surprised you found one for sale it. Those things I hear cost somehwere between 6-8k. That one still is currently used.

 

End of Train device! Wow! You could hold a gun to my head for the next 50 years and I wouldn't have identified that item. Interesting tho'!

 

Yea most wouldnt guess it unless they were train buffs. The jaws clamp on the side of the knuckles in slots that are on them. There's actually 2 styles and that's the style I don't like. They are coo though they have a little air powered generator inside that charges the batter in it and a GPS. The little red screen gives the info and flashes red for the marker. Those things are super tough very weatherproof and take being thrown to the ground every day. I see that one has Norfolk Southern tag on it yet.

 

Noticed it had what looks like a calibration sticker, and a serial #. Had no idea either but it did look expensive. Might even want to see if they want it back. Somebody probably sweated bullets over that thing.

 

Maybe someone sweated but I'll bet it was a while ago. The tow yard is right along the tracks in town so I'll bet someone picked it up there and threw in the cab. It has been there for 3 years that I know of.

Auctioneer gave me the cabinets today but if anything else is missing I wouldn't know what else came with the alignment tool. They look just like the pic but with no shelves they seem kinda useless. I'm getting them none the less. Ya never know.

Nice job PA on the ID on the EOT tool....now....wonder where I can find someone to give me 6K for it.

That would make that auction really,really worthwhile.

 

Had to laugh at the bubble balancers... before we got one of them new-fangled deals, we had a rotational balancer - you clamped the wheel onto a small axle, put a bearing at either end of the axle, then lifted the whole assembly up and set the bearings on two posts, so the axle was suspended above the base on the posts and the wheel could rotate. You let the wheel rotate, and settle to a stop - you put the weight on the rim at the high top of the wheel to balance the heavy spot that had settled to the bottom. Kind of a judgement thing - if the wheel had a spot that settled fast, you needed to attach a heavier weight. Amazingly enough, we did OK with that. Our first spin balancer was a few years later - it had a big metal disk you clamped onto the car wheel. Then when you ran the wheel up to speed and slowed it down again, it told where to put the weight. If that disk came off the wheel while you had it spinning... things got interesting in a hell of a hurry.

Too, we busted tires with a lever-type bead breaker, worked the bead over the rims with tire irons, and if a tire had been paper-wrapped so tight that the beads were too close for the beads to seat out on the rim, we used an inflatable bead rope to squeeze the tire. On wire wheels, you had to make sure when you were working the tire on the second bead, not to pinch the tube or you'd have to pull it out to patch it. Guess this kind of dates me, huh....