The induction-type meter is the oldest type of device for the measurement of alternating current consumption. The author of the concept and the owner of its patent of 1889 was the Hungarian inventor, engineer, and electrician Ottó Titusz Bláthy, who worked for the Ganz electrical engineering enterprise. In an induction-type meter , an aluminium disc rotates in the magnetic field generated by two coils connected to electricity, and the moving disc is connected to a drum mechanism allowing readout of indications of the counter, showing the amount of electricity consumed in proportion to the number of rotations completed by the disc. This principle makes it possible to measure the consumption of both single- and three-phase current. Single-phase current is usually sufficient for powering dwellings where the power consumption is not large enough to require a three-phase system that would deliver more power.
The device presented here was made in the Lviv factory of Towarzystwo Elektryczne Kontakt (TE Kontakt), which was established in 1918. The company produced household electrical appliances. At present, the company that evolved from TE Kontakt manufactures electric vehicles, among other products, in Ukraine.
Interesting fact: from its inception until today, the concept of an induction-type meter has undergone many improvements, allowing the inaccuracy of power consumption measurement to be greatly reduced.

References:
S. Bolkowski, Teoria obwodów elektrycznych, Warsaw 2010.
S. Krakowiak, Podstawy elektrotechniki – zagadnienia wybrane, Warsaw 2006, http://www.elektrycywiejscy.irsep.org/downloads/podstawy-sklad.pdf (Accessed: 9.05.2021).
W. Mędrzecki, Skarb narodowy bez dna, „Pomocnik Historyczny” [insert in:] „Polityka” 2015, issue 2, p. 84.
“Przegląd Elektrotechniczny: organ Stowarzyszenia Elektrotechników Polskich” magazine, R. XIII, Z. 23, 1931, available at: https://delibra.bg.polsl.pl/dlibra/publication/25197/edition/23507/przeglad-elektrotechniczny-r-13-z-23?language=pl (Accessed: 9.05.2021).

The meter presented here is a device used for measuring direct current ampere-hours consumed by a customer. The apparatus is based on a concept developed by Thomas Edison, who used a phenomenon involving the flow of a material with electrostatic properties between electrodes to measure current. The STIA meter is based on a technology patented by Max Gossman in 1922 and uses the hazardous metal mercury. Current flowing through a container of mercury makes it move along a capillary. For a direct current with a fixed voltage, the amount of metal filling the capillary is proportional to the number of ampere-hours consumed by the customer. The design of the device incorporates a base for the counter that is fixed to the dashboard and, mounted on it with a hinge and tilting upwards, a container with a capillary vessel and scale used for reading the meter. At the end of the accounting period, the counter was reset by an employee of the power plant, who turned it over and poured the mercury back into the container which was then put back into the working position so that measurement of electricity consumption could continue. The mercury-based meter presented here was produced in the German company Schott & Genossen, established in 1884 by Otto Schott, Ernst Abbe and Carl and Roderich Zeiss. The establishment exists still and has dealt with diverse applications of glass in different branches of technology from its very beginnings.
Interesting facts: due to the ease with which the measurements could be forged, meters of this type did not remain in production for long. They were replaced with designs that worked in different ways and free of this important defect from the point of view of the power supplier. Another factor that contributed to the discontinued use of this type of device was the growing popularity of alternating current, which this type of meter could not measure.

References:
From a Glass Laboratory to a Technology Group, official website of Schott, https://www.schott.com/english/company/corporate_history/milestones.html (Accessed: 9.05.2021).
P. Olszowiec, Pomiary energii elektrycznej liczą już 140 lat. Najpierw ważono miedź…, „Energia Gigawat” 2010, nr 1, https://rynek-energii-elektrycznej.cire.pl/pliki/2/pom-energ-el-licza-140-lat.pdf (Accessed: 9.05.2021).
A. Przytulski, Od Edisona do Krukowskiego – krótka historia liczników elektrolitycznych, „Elektroonline.pl” website, 9.04.2010,
http://www.elektroonline.pl/a/1573,Od-Edisona-do-Krukowskiego-krotka-historia-licznikow-elektrolitycznych,,Elektrotechnika (Accessed: 9.05.2021).

The purpose of a drainage grate is to receive rainwater from the street and to deliver it to the stormwater drainage system. Before the introduction of water supply and sewerage networks as we know them today, access to water and the ability to remove pollution in cities was very difficult. There were troughs between the street and pavement, called gutters, which drained all kinds of waste poured into them by hand, as well as rain and melt water. Gutters were a source of nasty smells and a reservoir of hazardous pathogens; in the winter they would often freeze over, which made it necessary to clean them by hand. All this had a major impact on the health of city dwellers and their life expectancy. The beginnings of Kraków’s modern water supply network date back to 1901, when a water supply pipeline was commissioned with a water intake at Bielany. Along with its accompanying sewerage system, the network has been grown and modernised, which enables it to be used up until this day.
The item was made in Zjednoczone Fabryki Maszyn i Wagonów L. Zieleniewski, Fitzner-Gamper SA, which is among the oldest companies in the Polish machine building sector. The factory’s history began in 1804 when Antoni Zieleniewski opened a forge in Kraków. Over the following years, his son Ludwik contributed to the company’s development and the opening of new factories in the city. At present, the company operates as Zakłady Budowy Maszyn i Aparatury im. Ludwika Zieleniewskiego w Krakowie SA, but all production is carried out in nearby Niepołomice.
Interesting fact: After the transformation of the political system in Poland there were many thefts of cast iron components of urban infrastructure, such as drainage grates and manhole covers. This was driven by the high prices of scrap metal and resulted in some of the items that were originally made of cast iron being replaced with concrete versions.

References:
Kuźnica Zieleniewskich, Museum of Urban Engineering in Kraków website, https://www.mim.krakow.pl/kuznica-zieleniewskich (Accessed: 9.05.2021).
R. Wierzbicki, Wodociągi Krakowa, Kraków 2011, book available in the Repository of the Kraków Technical University at: https://suw.biblos.pk.edu.pl/viewResource&mId=444027 (Accessed: 9.05.2021).
Z. Wolfram, „L. Zieleniewski” – to brzmi dumnie!, official website of Zakład Budowy Maszyn i Aparatury im. Ludwika Zieleniewskiego w Krakowie 2004, http://www.zieleniewski.com.pl/27,historia,50 (Accessed: 9.05.2021).

The vehicle presented is a light cargo van manufactured in 1959-64 in which Warszawa M20 mechanical components and equipment items were used extensively.
The Nysa N59-F had a body-on-frame design and a body fully made of steel, with a skeleton structure covered with steel panels. An interesting component is the wooden floor (even though the vehicle was made in the second half of the 20th century!). As was typical of communist era Poland, the available components were adopted in ways that were not always consistent with their original purpose: the front suspension components used here were designed for passenger cars. This resulted in premature wear and high failure rates. The engine and braking system were also unsuited to the greater weight, especially of the fully loaded vehicle.
The early Nysa models were built on the initiative of the Zakład Budowy Nadwozi Samochodowych in Nysa, which meant that the first units were produced using basic production technologies and hand tools. Due to the lack of appropriate premises, components were painted outdoors, dependent on the weather conditions. Up to 450 hours of labour were needed to produce a single van.
The N59 model was the first to be offered on foreign markets. The vans were particularly popular in Hungary.
Despite its shortcomings, the Nysa, improved with the help of the Fabryka Samochodów Ciężarowych in Lublin, proved better than the minibus developed at FSO at the same time, and it was chosen for mass production. In general, 1350 vans in three versions were built in 1959, 200 of which were sold abroad.
The unit presented here underwent a comprehensive renovation in 2014-2016 that restored its original appearance and original technical solutions. It is one of a mere few original vans remaining in Poland.

Motoring in Poland after World War II involved mostly motorcycles and mopeds. In a country ravaged by war, few could afford to buy hard-to-find cars. For this reason, motorcycles remained as substitutes for cars for a long time and the “Junak” was a particular object of desire.
The design of the Junak M 07 motorcycle was developed in 1952 at the Automotive Industry Design Bureau in Warsaw. The chief designer was inż. Jan Ignatowicz. The chassis was designed by Stefan Poraziński, and the engine by Krzysztof Wójcicki. The motorcycle copied technical solutions proven in foreign machines of a similar calibre. It also made references to pre-war Sokół 600 motorcycles, which can be seen especially clearly in the construction of the engine.
However, the Junak was the largest and only civilian motorcycle powered by a four-stroke engine produced in Poland after WWII. It was praised for its good performance and handling. Unfortunately, the shortcoming of these vehicles throughout the time of their production was the low quality of components. Riders also complained about high levels of engine vibration and noise.
The “Polish Harley” made a mark in the history of Polish motor sports thanks to its successes in off-road rallies. In 1959, the Polish motorcycle speed record of 149.3 km/h was established on a redesigned Junak: a record that remained unbeated until the end of communist Poland.
Throughout the period of their production, the Junaks were considered luxury items and demand for them decreased from the 1960s when production of passenger cars increased. Up until 1965, some 90,000 units were built, including 10,000 of the model M 07.

This three-tube radio receiver originates from the early period of the development of radio broadcasting in the territory of Poland, when the network of radio stations was only beginning to form. Polish Radio began regular broadcasting on April 18, 1926, which provided the conditions for launching mass production of radio receivers. Starting from the mid-1920s, radios were assembled by amateurs from purchased parts, using instructions distributed in the form of pamphlets, manuals in the radio-related press, ephemeral print devoted to this subject, or information sections of sales catalogues. The first receivers were also assembled in small factories and workshops. It was only at the beginning of the 1930s that specialist radio equipment manufacturers began to grow, such as the Towarzystwo Radiotechniczne Elektrit or Państwowe Zakłady Tele i Radiotechniczne (PZT) in Polan. Some companies in the sector, such as Telefunken, Philips or Marconi, had access to foreign capital, as well as access to their own patterns and ready-made production solutions, which afforded them a privileged position vis-à-vis the competition on the nascent radio receiver market.
The radio receiver presented here was produced in the watchmaker/jeweller workshop of Antoni Kresopolski in Zakopane, located at 65 Krupówki street. The workshop operated in the 1920s and 1930s, mostly dealing with goldsmith and engraving work. The advertising published in “Echo Zdrojowe” of 1934 informs readers that the workshop also offered “electrification and sales of radio devices, gramophones and records”, and that the offering also includes sales of rechargeable batteries, as well as repair of watches, radios, and gramophones. From at least 1935, Kresopolski’s firm operated as an authorised sales outlet of radio receivers made by Philips. Other small workshops operated in a similar fashion in Poland, also dealing with the assembly and repair of simple radios in their back offices. Over time, some of the repair workshops transformed into larger establishments producing their own radio devices. A typical radio receiver of the 1920s looked like a cuboid box with vacuum tubes inside. In the initial period of radiophony, a radio receiver did not have its own speakers so it had to be equipped with an external sound emitter. Radios were battery-powered, and earphones or a conical speaker, a ground wire, and an antenna were connected to the receiver. The antenna had to be turned towards the selected radio station when tuning the radio.

Authors: Piotr Turowski, Filip Wróblewski