This reminds me of a piece of Japanese equipment on a ship many years ago called a
'cargo loading list indicator.' Basically a series of horizontal green and red lights mounted on the mast and indicating the ships list during loading. (Green for Starboard, Red for Port .. easy way to remember this is
'Ruby Red Port.') When loading bulk cargo such as iron ore, which can pour into the hatch at literally thousands of tons per hour, you have to observe the ship's list to be sure you're loading evenly, so as to not unduly stress the ship.
This
listometer went south and I was asked to fix it. I dug out the manual, and then swept immediately to the
'maintenance and trouble shooting page.' The whole thing was driven by a conductive weight hanging in a magnetic field in a small housing on the bridge. In interpreted Japanese the page read as follows:
"This unit, being fastened to the bulkhead, therefore requiring no maintenance or repair."
(A lot of f****** use that was …
)
It got fixed, but I can't deny I was describing Japanese technical manuals with some degree of Ango-Saxon vocabulary at the time.