Page not found, so yes, it is a mystery.
c&paste addy from “quote post” into new tab. then it’ll work. did the same for me first up.
I know what it is!
kii said:
I know what it is!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s an intervention machine for people who post too many photos on this forum.
Dry run for al-foil hat testing apparatus?
Don’t expect the answer from me, I have no idea what’s going on in that picture. But I don’t like the look of that dark, dripping stain on the wall….
Not much progress here it seems.
Should I post it?
;)
Michael V said:
Should I post it?;)
You looked it up? Well no, wait until this evening.
Fred Wong. Sorry.
Ah :)
I would have thought there’d be at least a few serious stabs at it.
Plethysmograph.
Bubblecar said:
I would have thought there’d be at least a few serious stabs at it.
Probably something to do with electricity and lightning. I can see little bits of wire hanging all over the frame.
OK, here’s another clue:
Nah, it’s something like contraption on Dr Who last night for directing psychic energy. Although as Bubblecar doesn’t watch Dr Who, that is probably not the answer.
Did anyone else notice they don’t know how to pronounce Metabelis (sp?) any more. He said met-arr-bill-iss (emphasis on arr). Took me a while to work it out. Used to be meta-bee-liss (emphasis on bee)
And another clue: his body is locked in the cabinet so that what he’s doing in there doesn’t interfere with what’s being studied outside the cabinet….
Naughty corner.
‘Naughty’ corner.
If he’s doing anything naughty in there, it’s not in the script.
I had a proper guess, so tell us.
OK I might as well reveal all. The fellow is V.L.Chrisler, of the Bureau of Standards, and the room is a sound laboratory. The cabinet is to shield the room from the acoustic effects of his clothes etc. Modern Mechanix takes up the story:
SITS IN A CABINET FOR SOUNDPROOF TESTS
Because his clothing might deaden the sounds of voices just a little, an engineer at the United States Bureau of Standards’ new sound laboratory sits in a box.
The laboratory is a miniature theater, where the acoustics of “talking movie” installations may be tested. The audience is made up of technicians of the Bureau. They hope to discover means of reducing the “echo effects” which many theater managers have had to combat since the advent of the talkies. It has already been found that not only the construction and the material of a theater’s walls, but even the upholstery of the seats and the clothing of the audience have an influence on the reception of sound. So would the clothing of the experimenter if he were not inclosed in his self-imposed prison.
Most of the existing motion picture theaters cannot be readily and inexpensively altered to give them the sound-absorbing qualities demanded by the talkies. Hence, correcting echo effects through the use of upholstered seats may be one of the methods adopted. The Bureau workers have discovered a certain lime plaster which shows promise of being an effectual absorber of sound.
That’s nearly as daft as an al-foil helmet testing facility.
And why’s he looking so miserable?
The Rev Dodgson said:
That’s nearly as daft as an al-foil helmet testing facility.And why’s he looking so miserable?
In the Shorpy photo he looks as though he’s trying hard not to laugh.
Are his clothes especially noisy?
IF not, why is he the only one of the crowd that needs to be damped?
Supplemenatry mystery – what’s that thing hanging from a cord behind him, that looks like a tin can? I’m thinking it’s probably a microphone.
dv said:
Are his clothes especially noisy?IF not, why is he the only one of the crowd that needs to be damped?
Because the others are part of the experiment, playing the role of audience.
It’s possible they got it all wrong and the real reason for the cabinet has something to do with soundproofing the instrumentation he’s fiddling with or suchlike. But I don’t pretend to be an expert.
