Carl Zeiss Jena - Mysterious Bundle

[ivan2116]

I've never seen something like this before and 'google search by image' not helped at all except for the cable with M49 connectors which seems to be also for Neumann microphones.
This suitcase seems to be perfectly tailored to fit all the equipment that is inside, but at least to my knowledge the equipment is totally unrelated.

The top part contains the following:
1. Carl Zeiss Jena Werra camera (nothing special about it)
2. 2x UV or similar filters (nothing special about it)
3. One huge and solid lens hood
4. 2x RF/Antenna splitters
5. A set of 5 connectors which can perfectly be plugged into those splitters from point 4.

Bottom part contains the following:
1. Unknown Carl Zeiss Jena device in green color (there is some sort of plastic string and two pulleys inside - probably for some sort of measurement)
2. M49/M50 cable with connectors (gray color)
3. High-voltage cable 7.5KV (yellow color)
4. Spare thin rubber membrane (it gets attached to the bottom of the green device)

Anybody know what the heck this is and why is it put together?

 

[WoodallP]

Every Werra is special, especially the green ones 😊 Doubly so if you still have the lens cap and hood.

No idea about the rest though; as a mild Werraholic I would love to know.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

It looks like the custom unit is designed to advance the film on the Werra. Can you post an image of the bottom of the camera?

Looks like it is some automatic system used in a Lab.

 

[ivan2116]

It looks like the custom unit is designed to advance the film on the Werra. Can you post an image of the bottom of the camera?

Looks like it is some automatic system used in a Lab.

My first thought was also that it is some sort of motorized winding mechanism, but unfortunately it is not. The bottom plate of the camera is just the orinary one like on any other Werra.

According to some local unconfirmed information, this set was somehow used for 'weld-penetration measurement' back in those days. But still it doesn't explain how all these parts are related and what does the camera has to do with all that.

 

[boojum]

Microphones which I have used have what are called XLR connectors which are the industry standard. (XLR connector - Wikipedia) They range from what I used, three pin, up to seven pin. They have been replaced with other connectors for digital although when I was in the game IIRC the digital mics would still use the three pin XLR. Anyway, what you have is likely not used for mics but for some other purpose, control no doubt from a remote place. Quite a find.

 

[Muggins]

My first thought was also that it is some sort of motorized winding mechanism, but unfortunately it is not. The bottom plate of the camera is just the ordinary one like on any other Werra.

Werras are wound by that collar round the lens, and the turning of the collar is translated to cocking the shutter and winding the film by a rack under the top cover, IIRC. That doesn't help you, because your top cover is a standard one, but microscope Werras do turn up on ebay reasonably often, so I wonder whether at some point in its history somebody needed the camera for something else, and somehow it was replaced with an ordinary Werra. I'm not sure that makes a lot of sense but then neither does having an ordinary camera in a box of scientific apparatus.

 

[Retro-Grouch]

Looks like some kind of goofy Cold War spy kit. The Boris and Natasha Limited Edition Werra, perhaps?

 

[EarlJam]

Looks like some kind of goofy Cold War spy kit. The Boris and Natasha Limited Edition Werra, perhaps?

Retro is onto something here. I think the non-photo bits are parts of a spark transmitter for radio signals and crystals for various frequencies. It seems outside of the realm of what Zeiss Jena would normally have been doing, but under Cold War conditions anything would have been possible, I suppose, using an optics factory as a cover.

 

[raydm6]

I think @Retro-Grouch and @EarlJam may be on a plausible track.

After seeing the connectors, I was thinking maybe industrial x-Ray recording but this 4 MHz gizmo with maybe signal in/out connectors could be related to radio signal capture? 4 MHz is at the top of the 80-meter band which is sometimes referred to as the 75-meter band* where phone/voice modes are allocated. CW (or Morse code) would typically fall in the lower edge of the band spectrum (and not at 4 MHz) so this is puzzling.

*By the way, Joe Walsh (of rock/Eagles fame) is a very experienced ham (Call sign WB6ACU) and can be found on the 75-meter band AM (which he favors).

http://danandsherree.com/upload/wb6acu.pdf

 

[Retro-Grouch]

I think @Retro-Grouch and @EarlJam may be on a plausible track.

After seeing the connectors, I was thinking maybe industrial x-Ray recording but this 4 MHz gizmo with maybe signal in/out connectors could be related to radio signal capture? 4 MHz is at the top of the 80-meter band which is sometimes referred to as the 75-meter band* where phone/voice modes are allocated. CW (or Morse code) would typically fall in the lower edge of the band spectrum (and not at 4 MHz) so this is puzzling.

*By the way, Joe Walsh (of rock/Eagles fame) is a very experienced ham (Call sign WB6ACU) and can be found on the 75-meter band AM (which he favors).

http://danandsherree.com/upload/wb6acu.pdf