Interesting(?) Trivia

Let's see how many of you knew this........I learned this nonsense because of my interest in Lionel trains.

Lionel uses AC to power their trains (instead of DC as most other model train makers). Because of this they had to develop a way to reverse the motors and came up with a rotating relay that they named the E-Coil.

This had a drum with contacts similar to a PC board, wipers that pressed against the drum completed the circuit when the drum was in a certain position, in effect rewiring the motor and it's direction.

This drum was rotated in steps from a plunger relay.

Any of this sounding familiar yet?

Turns out that Lionel was a major vendor of special variations of these mechanisms for most of the American TV makers for their remote control systems (to turn the tuner knob)

Wouldn't Paul Harvey be proud of this drivel?

So, do I win the trivia award?

Anthony