The following was submitted by the staff of the Orillia Museum of Art & History (OMAH):
In the days before houses had built-in electrical systems, a voltmeter would have been a common household item. These days, the people who are familiar with this item most likely work in the electrical field, or are very familiar with some variant of batteries and electricity.
This model of voltmeter was most likely manufactured in the U.S.A., sometime between 1920 and 1940. The owner, Mr. Herbert Vick, would have purchased this voltmeter to monitor the health of the battery attached to his radio.
Seeing as though many houses continued to have limited access to electricity, if you wanted to enjoy the privilege of a radio, you’d need to power it using a battery. This voltmeter was produced by the Dominion Battery Company, under the trademark “Reliable”. As you may be able to tell from the company name, they also produced the batteries with which the voltmeter could be used.
Unless you were willing to settle for a crystal set, which at most provided quiet headphone reception of the local station, your radio required electricity to function. Most people couldn't just plug into a convenient wall socket because most dwellings lacked access to a public electrical source.
The alternative was to rely on batteries, but since the transistor had not yet been invented, people were using valve (tube) radios, which require large, expensive batteries. These batteries resemble a smaller version of a car battery, nothing like the AA batteries we are used to.
The box that this voltmeter was donated with includes the instructions on the back. Using these directions, we know that the cord at the top would be touched to the battery, as well as the pointy end of the voltmeter.
Connecting these two metal parts to the meter would feed an electrical current through the meter, raising the arm to indicate how much power was stored in the battery. If you were planning to listen to a radio show on the weekend, you’d want to keep track of the battery level of your radio, ensuring that you wouldn’t miss your favourite radio program.
