On Sat, 3 Sep 2005 17:01:35 -0700, Randy Hunt <rhunt960@tco.net>
wrote:

>The 'Old' Dwell meters were usually based on continuity testers. I
>suppose you could measure continuity with it. I have seen articles in
>the electronic trade magazines about using Volt-Ohm (V.O.M.)meters for
>measuring point dwell. This was back in the late sixties and early
>seventies. I know I'm showing my age here.

Young whippersnapper!

My dwell meter scale read in degrees. I never took it apart but my
guess was that it was some sort of RC circuit (or maybe IRC) with a
voltmeter reading the potential across the capacitor. The longer the
dwell, the more charge the capacitor would accumulate, and the higher
the voltage, which would then read as a larger dwell angle.


Elliot Richmond
Freelance Science Writer and Editor