IIEST stumbles upon WW II aircraft cam, Benioff seismograph, bench vise

KOLKATA: Almost a century-old bench vise, an aircraft camera used in the Second World War, a wooden model of Piston assembly, an original Benioff horizontal seismograph and other rare historical artefacts were recovered from the junk, restored and displayed at a newly inaugurated micromuseum in one of the country’s oldest engineering colleges - The Indian Institute of Engineering, Science and Technology (IIEST), Shibpur, formerly BE College, Shibpur.

The micromuseum is housed at the historic Slater Hall, adjacent to the institute archive. The archive was inaugurated last year to preserve the institutional memory and trace the institute’s journey. Director VMSR Murthy said, “Micromuseum will act as a bridge between legacy and innovation. The students will learn about the institute’s contribution as well as how engineering science transformed over the decades.”

Assistant registrar Bivore Das, who curated the micromuseum, said, “The bench vise is an antique and one of the oldest equipment displayed at the museum. It was made by J Parkinson’s & Sons and was famously known as the ‘Perfect Vise’. The Public Works Department at Shibpur workshop was handed over to the education department in April 1897.

The bench vise probably belonged during that time. The aircraft camera belonged to the US Army during the Second World War. It was made in the US by Eastman Kodak Company. These cameras were used during the bombings from the aircraft to capture the image of the exact spot where the bomb was dropped to ascertain whether the bomb blasted or not.”

According to Das, during the Second World War, a large number of technicians for the Munition Factories, Armed Services and the Technical Wing of the Air Force were trained in our college workshops, which served as a combined centre under a special technical scheme. “Dr. Pandya, the college’s first Indian principal of the college, piloted the scheme throughout the entire eastern region and then joined Munition Production as the in-charge.

Temporary barracks and classrooms were built in Nov 1940, and training started in Feb 1941. Probably, when they left, they did not take these things with them. This camera was found from the carpenter shop during a clean-up drive and was restored to be displayed,” he added.

Among the other old and unique artefacts is a 20th-century wooden model of Piston assembly made by Manchester-based company G Cussons, different scientific and engineering instruments like leveling instrument, old typewriter machine, talking machine, old telephone receiver and franking machine. The earthquake measuring instrument, an original Benioff horizontal seismograph, built by Victor Hugo Benioff of California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1932, was also displayed at the micromuseum.

TOI had earlier written about India’s oldest seismograph, which was recovered from the wood godown and restored. “All these equipment belonged to BE College, Shibpur. It was Caltech that had gifted the seismograph to the geophysical laboratory of the institute, then known as BE College, Shibpur, marking India’s entry into the global network of seismic observatories,” said Das.

Board of governors chairperson Tejaswini Ananth Kumar feels, “The displayed items should become inspiration for students for innovation, to do something bigger for the country and for the field of technology.”