The Heliograph MkV is a fascinating piece of historical surveying and communications equipment. It was primarily used for visual signaling by reflecting sunlight with a mirror to send coded messages over long distances. This method was primarily useful in remote areas where other forms of communication were not available. The MkV model, specifically, was widely used by the British Army and other military forces from around 1906 until the mid 1960s. It remained in use with the Australian Army Survey Corps until the mid 1980s. The device typically included a 5 - inch mirror and was often mounted on a tripod for stability. Initially the instrument was used to communicate between survey stations using Morse code to coordinate their activities. Later when better forms of communication were available they were used for precise angle alignment where the sunlight reflection from the mirror was targeted between the survey stations to give very accurate results. The MkV was relatively light weight and portable, making it ideal for use in the field. It could be setup and adjusted quickly. The heliograph had an adjustable mirror that could be tilted to reflect sunlight towards a distant receiver. Surveyors could align the mirror using a sighting device. Whilst it was primarily used by the Military it was also used in civil surveying particularly in the remote areas of Australia. This instrument was used as a training aid to help teach surveyors at the Royal Australian Survey Corps School of Military Survey. Catalog item No 2009 is a tripod that was used to mount the Heliograph whilst being used for surveying.A Heliograph containing two mirrors with brass surrounds mounted on a wooden board as a Training Aid. Item has additional parts attached to the base board."Heliograph Mk V Training Aid"royal australian survey corps, rasvy, fortuna, army survey regiment, army svy regt, asr

Digital Memory module, or Portable Memory Key, equivalent in type to a USB stick, black plastic with sliding mechanism to protect 8 copper contact strips with a digital memory area at one end. Stamped into the memory area part number "109 13858 512K KDM", indicating it had a memory storage of 512Kb. Above the number are the remains of a white bar-code label. Has as key type appearance. .1 - Numbered in white numerals "08330705" .2 - ditto "120703350" Advised by Adam Chandler 20-11-2017: They were used by tram and bus drivers. The PM (portable memory) key was issued to each driver. At the start of a shift, the driver would put it into a cream-coloured terminal at the sign-on point (starter's office in the depot) and transfer their shift information onto the key. Once the driver reached the vehicle, they put the key into the black-coloured terminal (tram driver's keypad - TDKP or bus driver's keypad) to upload the shift data to the vehicle. This was also the method used to transfer the 'blacklist' of periodical passes that had been stolen or misappropriated to each vehicle. IE if an annual Metcard had been stolen, once the holder reported it to Metcard they would blacklist the ticket number and this would be sent out to every depot and piece of equipment. From memory there were 100 slots in the blacklist. When a tram driver was finishing their shift (either being taken or running in) they would transfer all of the validations and ticket sale information to the PM key by inserting it a few minutes before the end of shift and downloading all of this data from the vehicle. They would then be required, on arriving back at the starter's office, to insert the key in the cream coloured terminal once more and copy all of the information across to the main system. Bus drivers also issued tickets from their BDKPs so the black PM key was also used for ensuring the accounting information was copied across to the main system. My memory might be faulty but I recall using them at railway stations with the Booking Office Machines (for starting and finishing shifts). No transfer of ticket issuance data however, as there was a computer equipment cabinet at each railway station with a DSL or cable link back to the OneLink central computers (in the revenue clearing house) I don't know what happened with the MTH cars on the Stony Point rail line but I could presume that there was a cabinet with a TDKP equivalent in it and a similar procedure for start and finish of shift.trams, tramways, ticket machines, metcard