Control/Dimming - Old "telephone" switchboard style lighting patch panels

[echnaret]

My church used to have a patch panel for our stage, I believe it was installed sometime during the 60's. As far as I could tell, the patch cables were just controlled by the circuit breakers to the left. They connect to (ungrounded ) stage pin connectors around and in front of the stage. I later had half of them converted to Edison plugs, so I could control them via a bunch of shoebox dimmers (yay dimming!)

[mstaylor]

I have one building I work in the still has a Kliegl patch board like this, a three scene board and most of the original Kliegl elipsodials.

[cbenjes]

Could have been Hub Electric. See

Look familiar? My first board in high school in the mid-1970's was a Hub, probably built in the 1940's, installed in the school in 1964 where it was kept in meticulous shape until it was replaced in 2002. Finally, the thing just plain wore out, and parts were almost non-existent. Hard to believe we used to light a huge stage with 12 lekos, 6 fresnels and 6 scoops. The board couldn't handle much more than that, as these fixtures each had 1000 watt lamps. I'm really surprised we never had a fire. Sparks? you bet, but never flames.

[echnaret]

I would bet it was a Hub patch bay. I found a Hub sticker on one of the circult panels on the ceiling over the stage.

Do you have any pictures of the Hub light board? I'm curious what kind of stuff they made.

[cbenjes]

I might be able to dig up an old yearbook picture of me at the board. Basically, our Hub Board consisted of 18 2500 watt heavy manual dimmers handles (1A, 1B, 1C through 6A, 6B and 6C) that each could be controlled independently or could act as slaves if electrically tied to the larger "Master" dimmer handles, labeled M1 thru M6 located in the center of the board..

For example, if 1A was set to direct, it acted independently as its own master, but if 1A, 1B and 1C were set in "proportional", the M1 handle became their master (hence M) for those 1A, 1B abd 1C handles and would control their intensity as long as 1A, 1B or 1C were at a non-zero intensity level. Naturally, M2 controlled 2A, 2B and 2C, and so on.

Each M1 thru M6 Master handle could be "clicked-in" so that they all could be moved as a unit for dimming the stage lights in unison.

In addition, each Master handle could be patched to any receptacle[s] in the theater and could act independently if hard-patched via the telephone-type patch panel. Each M handle was capable of 10000 watts of output.

So if I remember correctly, we had M1 through M4 controlling 1A through 4C, M5 and M6 acted independently (M1 through M6 controlled our FOH lekos, fresnels and white cycs and lit the general stage.) 5A, 5B and 5C were Altman follow spots and a stationary spot DSC, and 6A, 6B and 6C were RGB colored cycs that illuminated the stage behind the proscenium arch.

I worked with that board from 1975 through 1978 and last saw it in 1989 when former tech-crew chiefs were asked to return as a guest lighting technician to celebrate the school's 25th year anniversary. It has since been replaced with modern technology, but the fond memories remain.

Chris

[lightcue35go]

In one of my college's theaters we've got an old Kliegl patch board with like 76 dimmers. Kliegl apparently had designed the system specifically for the space, including all of the rigging. We've also got like 150 original Kliegl Ellipsoidels, Kliegl Striplights, and Kliegl fresnels. Interestingly, I was told by the TD for that space that area universities with theater programs, including schools from Maryland and Virginia take students to the space to look at the equipment and learn about kliegl. It definately makes it a challenge to work in though...

[mstaylor]

At one time U of DE had a kliegl system. I don't know if it still exists, haven't been in their theatre in decades.