OK, well, some clarification is called for here.
This electrical enclosure is part of a newspaper press drive control system, and is circa 1975 <?>, originally built by a drive manufacturer specifically for a press manufacturer.
Contained within the picture you see is a 60HP DC drive, and the master controls for the entire press.
Those are NOT spare parts in the bottom...they are small sub-panels that the original OEM did not have room for anywhere else.
This specific site is no longer in service, but plenty just like it are still out there, running, and printing newspapers daily around the world.
My involvement with this was to retrofit the press with digital DC drives.
Now, unlike almost any other equipment we've collectively worked on, newspaper printing presses cannot simply be turned off for a few days of rewiring....this retrofit had to happen on a running press, with power-down periods available only one day a week, for ~18 hours. So, its a little like getting your tires changed while waiting for a red light.
My retrofit, however, was not the first retrofit. If you look carefully, you'll see a bundle of yellow wires coming into the top-right corner. THEY are a set of parallel control wires to what was called a 'BACKUP master' panel, which is out of frame.
And, I wasn't there when this photo was taken, so I'll have to ask those present what they were thinking, but the previous quotes are likely accurate.
Happy Holidays.
jeff
