Electrokinetica - Our team

Meet the team

We are a group of enthusiasts with a shared interest in electrical, electromechanical and electronic things of all kinds, and our combined expertise covers a wide range of disciplines. We are presently forming the charitable trust which will own and operate the Electrokinetica collection and exhibition. Although we are spread around the country we have a nominal base in London. The final location of the physical museum will be decided in the next year or two; the important thing is that we are already collaborating on conserving artefacts whilst the groundwork progresses slowly and steadily. It is an inescapable fact that many of the last examples of interesting things are being discarded every day, therefore the group members have taken the initiative and contributed their personal resources to ensure that these items are not lost forever. Many of us already have collections of our own, and you will see some of the items featured on this site attributed to their respective owners, which will either be donated or loaned to the trust once in operation.

Dave

Educational computer technology and rechargeable batteries are two of Dave's specialist subjects, so amongst other things he has a detailed knowledge of the anatomy of turtles. He also admitted having designed laboratory equipment based on uniselectors, and by so doing lost all hope of escaping Strowger maintenance duties. Hailing from North London, Dave lives dangerously close to the EK workshops so gets dragged in at many inconvenient moments.

Edward

Edward is the chap who gets the call when something needs to be moved, lifted or got out of somewhere awkward. Owner-driver of an articulated lorry with 27 tonne-metre crane, it is no surprise that Edward's interest in mechanical technology tends towards the larger, steam-powered variety. Also knows about precision stuff and cows, and has been heard to say 'This electrical gear grows on you, doesn't it?'

Lucien

Lucien is an electrical engineer in the motion picture industry in London. Previous exploits include theatre and marine electrical systems and live sound. Favourite electrical subjects are wiring and switchgear, automatic telephony, cinema equipment, organs, mercury-arcs and dynamos. Lucien has worked on a number of museum and conservation projects not all of which were electrical, but is now busy twisting wires together ready for the launch of Electrokinetica.

Richard O

Richard's interest in electronics began at a young age, when the early introduction of BBC micro at his primary school and the time willingly given by a science teacher in feeding his seemingly insatiable mind led to a continued interest in computers. As a former IT professional, Richard took on development of this website and pages about the computers in our collection; Whilst no longer working in IT, early home and business computer technology and equipment remain a lifelong interest.

Richard P

An electrical engineer specialising for much of his career in designing theatre electrical systems, Richard has escaped from London to Devon and therefore has an excuse for not turning out at weekend activities but on the upside he has space. Space enough to accommodate at least one trailer-mounted genset while he rebuilds the bodywork. Although very disciplined about not cluttering the house with electrical gear, he has mentioned the possibility of putting up a resistance dimmerboard to feed the kitchen lighting.

Steve

Also a theatre-lighting man and electrician, Steve's interests encompass audio, electro-musical and Landrovers, although curiously the Lightweight visible in the yard behind the searchlight genset isn't Steve's - he wasn't around that day. Steve lives in Lincolnshire where he sometimes causes loud explosions in his capacity as pyrotechnician.

Mugshots coming soon:

Bill, Dan, Derek, Gifford, Malcolm, Martyn...

There are many more who have recently joined in and we look forward to expanding this page; inclusion subject having made the tea at least twice.

The EK website generator - how it works

EKHQ - the nerve centre

You might wonder what sort of technology brings forth these web pages. Does it have valves in? A tape punch must be involved somewhere, surely! A PDP-11 perhaps? No, sorry. It's an assortment of PCs, in the EKHQ in London (a.k.a. Lucien's study) and Richard's office on the opposite side of the globe in Queensland Australia. The two installations are linked by transcontinental pneumatic tubes employing magnetohydrodynamic thrustors. Or perhaps the internet. We would gladly edit the pages on a bunch of uniselectors but they are a bit slow at image file compression. The sharp-eyed viewer will notice just one concession to antiquity that has crept into the pic of EKHQ; the vintage letter opener lurking behind the keyboard. This is dated 1904 and carries an advertisement for Davy's Arc Lamps of London. The green carpet tiles also have a link with electronic technology, having originally been located in the Philips / Mullard offices in Surrey. And incidentally the little badge to the right of the Compaq monitor logo is the ID plate from one of the world's first video recorders. And the computer stuff is plugged in to a bakelite 5A socket outlet fed via open channel porcelain fuses. But we could go on like this for hours...

EKAUS - the server room

Richard designed the Electrokinetica website to be extensively scalable and fast to edit, using php to drive the entire process. The working copy of the site lives in a version-managed repository on a machine in Australia, from which files can be edited in both continents simultaneously without risk of unresolvable version conflicts. At least, until the version management system breaks, in which case we have to get out the backup tapes, snip the crinkly bits off the ends and wait while the reader chomps its way through them. Actually, there are no such fripperies in Richard's computer room. Just proper, serious, data processing power. The VAX is just out of shot to the right.