I then saved two things from the dumpster (for one I literally dumpster dove as it had already been tossed - we have one guy there who's inclined to toss anything that isn't nailed down, and when gear on the swap meet table doesn't sell, he's ruthless. I rescue more of it than I probably should...)
The first, simply fished from the trash can prior to its walking the green mile is a Robinair temperature tester. I think it's a piece of HVAC test gear; it has three temperature sensors and a meter that can be switched to read each of them. Could be interesting to use for measuring inlet and outlet temps of instrumentation or my heating system.
It was of course immediately subjected to a rigorous inspection by the QA department.
The second was an old, ratty looking GenRad 1231B Amplifier/Null Detector. This one was already in the dumpster, but I figured even if it's beyond repair, it could be parted out and has some good knobs, a meter movement and other things. (Yeah, I know, I'm pathetic.)
-Pat