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Old 23-10-21, 18:26
David Dunlop David Dunlop is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Winnipeg, MB
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Default CORDS, Microphone and Receivers, Headgear Assemblies No. C1 ZA/CAN 1572

After thinking about the repair process for the damaged Headgear Assemblies Type 10 for a while, the task began to make less and less sense, in regards to salvaging/repairing the cut Receiver Lead. Apart from not having any equivalent terminals for the original brass staple terminals that had been cut off, more importantly, I would have to trim back that lead a good inch or more to get enough free wire from the two conductors with which to work. That whole process would have ended up pulling the entire cord assembly off to one side of the headgear, which would have looked very odd. So I felt a bit bummed for a while until I remembered finding an NOS headgear cord many years ago at a flea market. A half-hour of foraging through boxes and bins and I found it.

And what a nice surprise! It turned out to be a complete replacement cord assembly for the Type 10 Headgear and the loom was a perfect colour match for the two drop cords on the Main Set Supply Unit.

The other Type 10 Headgear Assemblies I have will become my spare. It has a lighter colour loom, very close in appearance to standard wartime 1937 Pattern webbing. So this is starting to work out rather nicely. The service photos I have seen of the 52-Set, wartime and postwar, all show the single Operator’s headgear connected to the right drop cord on the Supply Unit. I suspect the Cypher Clerk took advantage of the speaker in the 52-Set Receiver to monitor traffic for coding purposes. Most photos show the left drop cord connected to a Jumper Cable feeding over to a Wireless Remote Control Unit No. 1 and from there, probably off to a Land Line connection. If the left cord is not in use in this manner, it is sitting empty on its Supply Unit clip.

The first two photos today show the complete NOS CORDS and a close-up of the terminal fittings. The microphone fittings are at the top – the small brass ring terminals. The two receiver leads are below showing the plain brass staple end terminals.

The second photo also nicely details the larger brass crimp that secures the end of the cotton loom from moving, or unravelling. The outer end of this particular crimp has a loop pressed into it and you will see a small S-Ring fitted to each of these loops. This is the Anti-Strain that takes the weight load of the entire headgear assembly off the electrical terminals on the receivers and transfers it to the Bakelite body of the receivers themselves. More on this in a later Post.

The third photo illustrates the Grip & Clamp Assemblies fitted at the main wiring junction of the CORDS. I always assumed this assembly contained all the terminal connections between the Y-Plug, microphone and receivers. Turns out it is merely a two-piece fitting that fits over the pre-existing junction already woven into the CORDS loom.

The two parts of this item are PLATES, Phenolic, Front & Back, Grip & Clamp Assemblies. Front – ZA/CAN 5244, and Back – ZA/CAN 5245. The two parts are held together by four sets of brass hardware (screws, flat washers and internal toothed lock washers). ANC, Brass, RH, 4-40 x ½ inch.

The back of the Grip & Clamp Assemblies has a large spring clip fitted to it. The Operator uses this to attach the CORDS to the front flap of his Battle Blouse in order to take the weight of the entire headgear assembly off his neck.


David
Attached Thumbnails
CORDS, Headgear Assemnlies, No. C1  ZA:CAN 1572 1.JPG   CORDS, Headgear Assemblies, No. C1  ZA:CAN 1572 2.JPG   CORDS, Headgear Assemblies, No. C1  ZA:CAN 1572 3.JPG   CORDS, Headgear Assemblies, No. C1  ZA:CAN 1572 4.JPG  

Last edited by David Dunlop; 23-10-21 at 18:34. Reason: Addendum
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