Simpson Model 260
Being in the electronic test business for over four decades, I often encountered the Simpson Model 260 multimeter (more commonly called a VOM, Volt-Ohm-Milliammeter). This is a classic meter, originally introduced in the 1930s, well before I was born. You can see the original model here.
These meters have evolved through the years and are still manufactured by Simpson Electric in Wisconsin. Newark carries several different versions of the Model 260, starting around $465. Ouch, this is probably not the best-value multimeter on the market today, but they are still available. That is an impressive product life span that is approaching a century.
Anyway, to maintain my cred as an electronic measurement expert, I decided I needed a Model 260. Not to actually use, but to display on my bookshelf as a classic piece of test gear. There were so many of these meters built through the decades that they are easy to find at reasonable prices. I ordered one off Ebay and now proudly display it.
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3 个月My first "job" was fixing Simpson 260 VOMs. I was around 15 years old so it was in 1969. My mother was the bookeeper for Spellman HV and would bring home their broken meters for me to fix. The problem was either the diodes for the AC ranges or the Rx1 range resistor. I earned $25 per meter. I eventually got a real job there.
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3 个月For some reason I have one too. I have an old Archer copy of a Simpson meter, but finally decided I had to have a Simpson. I always kept it on display with my cable TV meter collection.
Ha! That’s the first general purpose meter I used in my first job at Julie Research Labs in New York, almost 20 years before I joined HP. We called it a Simpson meter. Ironically, the project I was working on at that time was a programmable digital multi meter with 1ppm accuracy.
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3 个月I believe the mirror arc was to avoid parallax error and know you were looking straight on. This was my first real VOM in the mid 70s. Also my introduction to the phrase "pegging the needle" if you had the scale set wrong.