Accession No

6059

Brief Description

Hubbard electropsychometer, or ‘E-meter’, Mark VI, for the Church of Scientology, by L. Ron Hubbard and Zero Halliburton, U.S.A., 1980s

Origin

U.S.A

Maker

Hubbard, L. Ron [object] Zero Halliburton [case]

Class

electrical

Earliest Date

1980

Latest Date

1988

Inscription Date

1987

Material

plastic; metal (chrome, unknown); glass; cloth (velvet)

Dimensions

[Meter] length 300mm; width 210mm; height 150mm (with stand raised) [Case] length 460; width; 340mm; height 120mm

Special Collection

Provenance

Donated on or before 22/09/2005. The donor bought the E-meter from a pawnbrokers in London in mid-2000 for £50.

Inscription

‘HUBBARD
PROFESSIONAL
MARK VI’ [stamped into plastic on front]

‘By itself, this meter does nothing. It is solely for the guide of Ministers in the Church in Confessionals and pastoral counselling. The Electrometer is not medically or scientifically useful for the diagnosis, treatments of prevention of any disease. It is not medically or scientifically capable of improving the health or bodily function of anyone and is for religious use by students and Ministers of the Church of Scientology only.’ [written on silver and red label on underside of object]

‘BRIDGE PUBLICATIONS, INC.
HUBBARD ELECTOMETER [sic]
MANUFACTURING
DIVISION

E-METER OK TO AUDIT
SERIAL# VI 17015
DATE OKED TO AUDIT 9.10.87
DATE OF NEXT CHECK REQUIRED 9.10.88’
[written on metallic silver label on underside. Dates are stamped in.]

‘MARK VI’ [on cover for e-meter]

Description Notes

Hubbard electropsychometer or ‘E-meter’ Mark VI; 1980s
The e-meter is a type of skin galvanometer, measuring the resistance of the skin. It is used by the Church of Scientology in sessions of spiritual counselling, known as ‘auditing’.

Patent no. 3,290,589 (6th Dec 1966) available online

The E-meter consists of a black plastic casing, with a glass window showing the analogue needle, with various dials and two LCD readouts.

Two metal cylinders act as electrodes, which are connected by crocodile clips to the E-meter. One electrode is held in each hand, but for ‘solo auditing’ both are joined together and held in one hand.

Meter has black fitted cover, with ‘Mark VI’ on the front. Comes with power lead, crocodile clips for attaching the cans and US to UK mains adaptor (adaptor presumed not part of original set?). E-meter and accessories are contained in a velvet-lined black hard plastic briefcase, with three digit combination lock (combination is 000) made by Halliburton.

Description of the various dials:
(using information taken from ‘Secrets of the E-Meter’ web site http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Secrets/E-Meter/index.html accessed 16/12/2005)

Tone Arm (TA) Knob: the primary range control. At a TA setting of 2, the needle will be at the setpoint when the resistance across the cans is 5,000 ohms. At a TA setting of 3, the needle will be at setpoint at 12,500 ohms. The meter comes with a pair of reference resistors so that its calibration can be checked at these two values. At the start of an auditing session the TA should be between 2 and 3.

Trim Knob: the secondary range control. Used to fine-tune the range setting by adjusting the needle slightly to get it to the setpoint. (The digital display of TA value does not change when the trim knob is moved.)

Sensitivity Knob: fine tunes the gain on the amplifier to control the amount of resistance change necessary to obtain a full scale needle deflection. With too low a sensitivity setting, the needle will just sit at the setpoint. With too high a setting, every little twitch sends the needle offscale. A normal sensitivity value is around 5.

Sensitivity Booster Switch: coarse control of amplifier gain. Values are 32 [low], 64 and 128 [high].

Mode Switch: values are Off, On, and Test. In Test mode the needle should swing rightward and indicate in the ``Test'' region of the scale. If it fails to reach this region, the batteries are low.

Needle: analogue needle displaying current flow across the electrodes: the inverse of resistance. A leftward movement of the needle is called a ‘rise’ (increased resistance); a rightward movement a ‘fall’.

Clock: a digital clock/calendar. This is a separate circuit board, mounted underneath the main board.

TA Counter: Cumulative measure of ‘downward’ TA motion (counter-clockwise movement of the knob), displayed digitally. For example, if the TA setting is moved from 2.5 to 2.2 the TA Counter will increase by 0.3. Only decreases in TA are counted; increases in the TA setting are ignored by the counter.

Meter Check Button: A push button that temporarily disconnects the electrodes from the meter. A tiny amber LED located just above the button lights up when the electrodes are disconnected. This arrangement allows the auditor to quickly check the meter's calibration, or to check for a malfunction. Pushing the button again reconnects the electrodes and extinguishes the LED.

Condition good. Tone Arm knob has an 18mm crack across the centre, stretching down to the edge of the hemispherical base. Metallic silver label on underside is peeling at edges. One can has a noticeable dent in the side.

References

Events