VVC Instruments

I recently finished repairing and calibrating a Parent "Telegauge", a fuel gauge mounted on the tank of a 1925 Rolls-Royce Phantom I roadster. It came to the owner and then to me disassembled (pic 1), but the owner sent me some pages from the workshop manual to help. The tank float rotates a shaft which has a magnet attached to it in the in-tank unit (pic 2). This rotates the gauge pointer in a separate outer unit. This means there is no physical connection through the tank wall, so no chance of leaks, etc. The in-tank unit had been assembled incorrectly, with the magnet attached the wrong way round. To make up for this, I demagnetised the gauge pointer and then remagnetised it the other way around (pic 3). Having a Smiths Calibrator makes that an easy job. The pointer rotates in glycerine to smooth its movement and prevent rust (pic 5). It's a very classy looking gauge (and roadster).

This is a "humpback" governor tachometer from a 1935 Lagonda M45 Rapide, which had stopped working. It works on a centrifugal system - the weights attached to the main shaft move out as it spins faster. This pulls the collar at the top downwards. This then turns a lever which rotates the needle. Part of the problem in this case was the cast body had warped over time and the dial face was occasionally touching the base of the needle.