Vintage Wallington Instruments Waveform Synthesizer

via this auction

"This has been used as a student lab unit for education of students in basic physics. The experiment you do with it is called "Harmonic analysis".

The tutor chooses one the offered basic waveshapes (dial above Sample Wave). You put both the Sample Wave Out and the Summation Out to a 2 beam oscilloscope, which you trigger with the sync pulse to get a stable view.

Then the students have to approximate that wave by setting amplitudes and phases of the first 10 Harmonics (no phase for the first Harmonic). In parallel the theory of fourier series is explained to the students."

vintage wallington waveform synthesizer

via this auction

Update via swissdoc: I know this little box. It is a student lab unit for education of students in basic physics. The experiment you do with it is called "Harmonic analysis".

The tutor chooses one the offered basic waveshapes (dial above Sample Wave). You put both the Sample Wave Out and the Summation Out to a 2 beam oscilloscope, which you trigger with the sync pulse to get a stable view.

Then the students have to approximate that wave by setting amplitudes and phases of the first 10 Harmonics (no phase for the first Harmonic). In parallel the theory of fourier series is explained to the students.

We have had exactly this machine at University of Darmstadt where I got my grade and PHD in physics."