22 Set on Handcart
 

I found a manual online for the 22 set on handcart. It's quite an interesting looking setup. Imagine dragging that up the beach in Normandy or where ever.

Yes but far better than carrying it and it's all contained in one hit. Not like the film for setting up the 11 set ground station where one bloke was running back and forth with different bits of kit.
I go back to my observation of us now, with a mobile phone, smaller than a fag packet with which we can talk to anyone around the world. How technology has moved in 75 years. Ron :thup2:

Going to "Heck" in a handcart?
 

I wonder if they ever used this cart or one similar for the 19 set? I presently have the Bags, Aerial and Case, F rod along with all the other ancillary kit for the 19 set and it doesn't look to be too difficult a build to put together a replica handcart.

CHIMO! Derek

Yes, it was developed for Operation Rutter, the prelude to the actual Dieppe landing. RCCS modified a "baby carriage" cable layer to provide a portable ws19 HF station. 2nd Div RCCS ran these up and down hill and dale in southern England practising setup, netting, etc. During Operation Jubilee Brigadier Southam, C.O. of 6th Brigade, complained that a tank had run over his "baby carriage" and he had no wireless.

Probably used on D-Day as well.

There was also a WS22 sled station for arctic use (it may have used the "animal pack" carriers with a standard issue sled). The annoying part of this is that there were some mysterious items stuck on the roof of the outbuildings at a local surplus store (long gone) that I didn't recognise as the sleds until long after the place had closed.

I've seen the straw-lined battery jackets for cold weather operations. There was also an insulating jacket to fit the WS18 series sets; this required the hoop and belt supports to be cut off, and the instructions noted that after performing this modification "the set could no longer be worn". Presumably intended for sled or vehicle applications?

Chris.

That observation omits the small matter of the fixed infrastructure required, especially the cell towers at quite small intervals. (grin)

When I see pictures of an 11 set in the Western Desert with no high output power supply and 3 to 5 miles range, I wonder who the hell they're talking to!

I don't know about y'all, but if reliable information could be had for those 'baby carriages' sufficient to reproduce one or two, I'm in. Have 22 set ready to install...

Bruce, it seems I stirred up some interest here. One of those units would be neat to have. Here's the whole manual and there's even a few dimensions. Note on one page that you could operate it on the beach while submerged!

Next pages

Now you gone and done it. There's a project in the works.

Last pages. Have fun with the project!

Here's the link to the handcarts manual
It looks to me like they used copper plumbing 1/2" tees and elbows and soldered everything together. There's no way to screw it together.

I have no proof of the following but....rather than plumbing, think bicycle frame assembly - thin wall steel tube brazed using stamped or cast fitting lugs. It would look similar to the suggested plumbing assembly but be stonger per unit weight and stiffer, more abuse resistant, probably cheaper too.

I was thinking the same thing for those days. A copper hand card would be an easier way to reproduce one now. But it would have had to be a tough cart for hauling through the sand or rough terrain. Ron

I blew up the picture and you can tell it's soldered copper pipes (probably 3/4")
The tires would be 16" OD.
The text and cart pictures are off a D-Day site.
The manual is for a No1 MkIII and these pics are NoI MKIV.

I've seen a real one, and I think it's 1" or larger steel tube.

(If they were copper the scrap dealers would have ensured that every single one would have been traced and melted down by now.)

I'm fairly sure the museum of technology in Milton Keynes (UK) has got an original.
Must have a visit some time.

(Apparently the tyres are an odd size and "difficult"; you have been warned.)

:-)>

Chris, in that closeup it's definitely soldered together and by someone who wasn't very good at it. You wouldn't even try to use solder with steel pipes. And where would you get those fittings in steel?
I blew up another of those pics and that plug for the microphone has a 1" diameter end. It's the same size as the outside of the fittings and 3/4" copper fittings are 1" outside diameter.

I have no intention of building one of these carts, but I am intrigued now as to how they were built. Did they actually have our everyday copper plumbing fittings back then? My personal guess is that the fittings were cast or forged in steel and the whole thing brazed together with steel tube, as per a motorcycle frame. No need to clean up the braze splatter on such a utilitarian item. We won't know for sure of course until one of us sees a real one.
Likewise I'd like to no the tyre size. I'd guess they are 19" wheels and maybe the same size tyres as a Flea which are hard to find 2.75 x 19????

Ron

Measurements
 

I used Photoshop and cropped the picture to the size of the image. Then I made it 10 inches long and printed it. The cart is now 1/8" to the inch.
I took front and rear measurements and averaged them to allow for perspective.
The wheels are 12" diameter.
The tire OD is 15"
From the ground to the equipment tray is 21"
The handles stick out 16 1/2 inches and are 7 1/2" deep.
The pipes are just over 3/4"

Ah yes. Silly me. I can clearly see that the wheels are much smaller than 19".
I did some scaling myself from this picture and came up with just over 15" for the tyre. Ron

Unless it's a prototype I cannot imagine them using copper tube. It would be too soft and also copper was in short supply.

My guess is that it's 3/4" or 1" steel conduit, which has fittings that look very much like the ones pictured, and they may have soldered the joints later to prevent things working loose.

It could also be brazed or even gas welded.

We need to find an original and test it with a magnet. :-)>

Chris.

In that picture of the joints it's definitely solder.
Brazing will never look like that.
In 4 feet you've got 4 uprights so strength wouldn't be an issue.
That could be a prototype or maybe they wanted copper's corrosion resistance.
12" x 1 1/2" or 12" x 2" are common bike sizes.

Grounded copper to minimize radio interference that a steel cage might cause?

Bruce, stopping interference makes sense. So when does the project get underway? I see 3/4" copper tees on ebay for under a buck apiece.

Have you looked at the brazing on BSA airborne bicycles? There is plenty of evidence of sloppy brazing on the two bicycles I have. Maybe these frames were produced in a similar fashion.

[QUOTE=cletrac;
12" x 1 1/2" or 12" x 2" are common bike sizes.[/QUOTE]

The tyre size on my Welbike is 12 1/2" x 2 1/4" but the wheel is only 8" diam.
These cycle tyres seem to quote the outer diam of the tyre. So you are probably looking for 15" tyres on 12" wheels? Ron

Here's another one that was listed for sale on Milweb.

http://www.milweb.net/webverts/54385/f.jpg

Looking at the T joints they appear to have ribbing on the ends and rivets like you get with steel, not copper. I agree with Chris in that I think copper would be too soft. Consider the weight of the set, accessories and batteries and having that bounce up and down.

Tyres are different so I wonder if these were made by a manufacturer or local REME which could account for differences.

That's the newer mark unit and there's quite a few differences. I think the 'rivets' are gobs of solder or braze. No two are the same. The tires are the same diameter as on the other pics of this model but the wheels aren't wire.
Notice on the connectors that they have long and short appendages. It's my guess that the pipes go straight on through the short ones and end in the long ones. This would make it quite a bit stronger. The lengthwise pipes would go all the way in one piece as would the U-shaped ends.
The whole thing with the radio and batteries weighs 380 pounds. This one even has the equipment tray spring mounted on springs.

I found a few more pictures of the MK IV. With no paint it sure looks like it's made of steel. They were asking 650 pounds for the one on Milweb.