German Nightvision equipment?

Hi,
Hello to all you WW2 enthusiasts.I hope I can be enlightened by your collective knowledge base, I have inherited a pair of what I think is a set of night vision equipment from my Dad . He recieved them from a parish priest in Northern Ireland , who in turn recieved them from a parishoner who found them in the eaves of his hay shed . Theyt have a British ministry of supply tag attached with a date of 12 may 1944. on the tag there is a model number of GK50 -ZA23001 .there is a german power unit with them ,alas the coil is missing . I have attached a couple of images that will hopefully aid their Identification .
I suspect they a re night vision as within the twin barrels are 2 cathode tubes . I can supply further photos of said tubes if needed . Hopefully someone can aid me in my Quest .
Enda

 

Enda

Welcome aboard and congratulations on starting with a mystery object for the forum.

Ron

 

Hi Ron ,
thanks ,Yeah mystery object is the right word .I have shown it to a couple of militaria Dealers and they were stumped as to what they might be also .

 

Hi Enda and welcome to the forum...There's a member on here that has a fetish for optics who may be able to help.

You may also wish to use the search engine as there was a discussion on NVG's not that long ago.

Good luck
Andy

 

Might be wrong but this looks like british kit to me , for night driving although I would wonder how reliable it was . (Tabby).

http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/weapons-technology-equipment/18966-night-binoculars.html

I think this is the one you have Enda , could you put on a jpeg of the power unit ?

 

Hi James ,
I think you are right on it being a Tabby with a German power unit supplemented .here are further images
Enda

 

Enda , I check with a Belgian friend the power pack is a demolition unit.

I quote.

 

Hi James ,
I think you are right on it being a Tabby with a German power unit supplemented .here are further images
Enda

Enda, sorry I'm coming into this a bit late!

Yes your binoculars are indeed Tabby Type E, but they are missing the face mask that not only shades the eyes but gives the face some support. I once did some off road driving wearing mine & you need all the facial cushioning you can get. The rubber tends to perish & then discarded when it collapses. Sadly most Tabby sets around now are like yours missing the face mask piece.



You are also missing a double cable that supplies low voltage to the eye pieces to discourage misting up. One side also provides the earth as the HT cable is just single.

I don't know what the German power unit is, it looks almost like an exploder generator. I'm afraid I cannot see that it has a role with Tabby. There are no inherently well insulated terminals especially when you consider that the German IR converter tubes needed voltages in the order of 14kv as opposed to the British tubes that only needed 3kv or so.

You've taken the tubes out, is anything loose inside them? The cathode screen is prone to detach itself internally if the equipment has been dropped.

I've only ever seen two power units & quite dangerous things they are. I built my own power unit from a few transistors & a scrap transformer.