CASTELCO CALIPRE BATTERY CHECKER, 1940's

Device for testing batteries, just by lighting a bulb, a good indication of a useful battery because it will test it under load, a bright light would indicate good. Not suitable for chargeable types.

Your comments:

• I have one from about 1963-65 it was part of a children's kit of electrical experiments containing a light bulb, bulb holder, bell, buzzer, push button switch and some coiled wire. It also had a spanner and a screwdriver formed of bent wire. I would have been 5 but perhaps 7 when I was given the kit.
  
  I could not say who made the kit or any of the components. But I still have some of the parts including the calliper battery tester.
  
  
  .......... Andrew Lohmann, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, UK, 21st of July 2021
  
  
• A1457 - CASTELCO CALIBRE BATTERY CHECKER
  
  ..... I have owned and used one of these battery checkers since I acquired it second-hand in the late 1950s. It has been extremely useful, simply to check if a battery is flat or not. Contrary to your description, it makes no difference whether you are testing a zinc carbon cell (1.5 Volts) or a rechargeable cell (1.2 volts) and it is not necessary to change the bulb when testing different types of single cell batteries.
  ..... Owning and using this tool has saved me from throwing out hundreds (perhaps thousands) of functional battery cells over the years. (Good for the environment AND my pocket!)
  ..... In use, the bulbs do work loose, so it is always useful to have a good cell to hand, as well as the test cell. The good cell can be checked to prove that the tester IS working, when you get no illumination when checking the test cell.
  ..... Regards, Adrian.
  
  .......... Adrian Hanwell, Scarborough, England., 24th of November 2015
  
  

A1457