Wire-3 Fitted For Wireless Box details

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by Jordan Baker

Some more photos of the basic layout.

Another mystery is figuring out what the seat bases looked like. As you can see in the these two pictures the seats were mounted to the floor using three bolts. However these mounting points are outside of the normal CMP seat base. The manufactures part number is B340056

There were two battery trays on the truck with the following manufactures description and part numbers.

Stand Batteries Assy, RH #C38272
Stand Batteries Assy, LH #C38273

As you can see there is a couple mounting holes on the floor. Highlighted via the red arrows. On the left side is a larger oval hole. This was for the power cable from the Chorehorse to come up to the C5 charging board. It is highlighted with the green arrow.

Hmmm...

Are the 3-hole seat mountings the tubular variety as used in the Wire-5 truck? (See other thread in the Restoration forum.)

The tray under the table may well be intended for 4 x 6V 85AH batteries since the aerial base 'cage' on the roof is for Aerial Base No.1 which was used with Wireless Set No.11 and that used 4 x 6V 85AH batteries for the vehicle fit. The tray may have been left in place when a WS19 was fitted.

I think the long bolt sticking out of the RHS of the table frame is definitely a mounting for a drum of telephone cable. The rectangular plate probably goes against the table frame to space the drum away from the flat bar (and any irregularity of the weld) and keep any rolled edge of the drum from fouling it. What is the spindle diameter and available length of the bar? It might take Reel, Cable, No.2 as used with the early control units, or the rather later split drum (Reel, Cable, No.4?) used with assault cable No.2 and later with D10. (It's also possibly a much later addition to the table.)

Chris.

[Grant Bowker]

Originally Posted by Chris Suslowicz

Are the 3-hole seat mountings the tubular variety as used in the Wire-5 truck? (See other thread in the Restoration forum.)

I don't think so. I just looked at the tube mount used to raise the seats in the Wire-5 box. They use 4 bolts in a pattern approximately 4" (wide) x 11" (front-back of seat) for mounting to the floor.

[Jordan Baker]

A big thank you goes out to another MLU'er for unearthing the following original documents dealing with the Wire-3. These were a packing slip/inventory of one of the boxes being shipped from Brantford Coach and Body.

It is believed that most of these part numbers were Brantford Coach and Body numbers and hence don't match up to any GM #'s

Obviously I would love to positively identify all of these parts. Some in particular are the seat mounting brackets and the type of hurricane lamp and its mounting bracket.

[Jordan Baker]

There were also two sheets on the tools shipped with the truck.

[Jordan Baker]

Barry, thanks for the info on how the seats were mounted in the C15Ta. Im not sure this is how the Wire-3 had them though. When I tried out my seats in the box the other night, they seemed to match up to the wheel well height pretty closely while mounted on the original seat sliders. I have been told the seat mounts appeared similar to the 8cwt wireless truck seat mounts.

refF85.jpg

Chris, your point about the tray under the table possibly being for another wireless set is very good. The table tops have a variety of different mounting holes and I believe it was intended that this truck could carry the WS9, WS11 and WS19 radios.


I tried out the two cable reels I have and they both fit perfectly on the threaded rod. The rod is 1/2" diameter carriage bolt. Im not sure if this was added by the end user or came from the factory. You can see that the smaller diameter reel does slid around on the rod. If this was in fact what it was for, Im wondering if a compression spring was on the rod between the mounting bar and the square plate. This would keep it away from hitting the bar.

[Jordan Baker]

The two right ups in the AEDB Design records books.

[Grant Bowker]

Looking around the Hammond barn today I found a seat riser similar to the one in the photo above. Bob states it came from David Moore following his F8 project. As shown it fits neatly under the cab 11/12 style seats. A photo of the seat (but not the riser) in Bob's C15A cab11 is included for comparison.

[Jordan Baker]

Hi Grant

Thanks for the photos. If possible could you provide the distance between the front and back holes for the surface that would be against the floor? I'm curious to see if this design would be close.

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by Jordan Baker

Chris, your point about the tray under the table possibly being for another wireless set is very good. The table tops have a variety of different mounting holes and I believe it was intended that this truck could carry the WS9, WS11 and WS19 radios.


I tried out the two cable reels I have and they both fit perfectly on the threaded rod. The rod is 1/2" diameter carriage bolt. Im not sure if this was added by the end user or came from the factory. You can see that the smaller diameter reel does slid around on the rod. If this was in fact what it was for, Im wondering if a compression spring was on the rod between the mounting bar and the square plate. This would keep it away from hitting the bar.

I was thinking it would be very handy for the remote control units, and make things much simpler when reeling the wire in later. It may well be factory fitted (or a common user modification) because in a photograph further up the thread (discussing battery mounting) there is a what appears to be either the metal plate or a reel cheek and the shadow it's casting on the wall behind the table. (It's too tall to be a battery clamping bolt, I think.)

The WS19 'truck and ground station' kit list shows cable reels and (I think) a wooden drum of telephone cable, but no sign of cable reeling equipment, so either it was intended to be scrounged from the infantry signallers when required or there was something fitted to the vehicle that would do the job.

On batteries....

I have a fair selection of the later steel-cased batteries (6V, 40, 85 and 170 AH, and 12V 22 and 75 AH), plus wooden cased 16AH units in 6V and 10V, and will run a ruler over them so you can see if any of them will fit the tray under the table. The steel-cased batteries will be the same dimensions as the earlier wooden-cased ones to avoid having to modify the mounting trays.

(The individual cell inserts will also be identical, for manufacturing reasons!)

Chris.

[Chris Suslowicz]

Okay, as mentioned earlier, these are some reasonably accurate sizes for the batterias I can find (or have measurements of), for the purpose of deciding what was likely to go in the trays in a wireless truck:

6-volt

16 Amp Hour - I can't find this at present.
40 Amp Hour - 9.5" long, 5.5" wide, 10.5" high. 2-pin Niphan socket to front.
72 Amp Hour - 9.5" long, 7.25" wide, 10.5" high, wing-nut terminals.
85 Amp Hour - 12" long, 7" wide, 9.25" high, 2-pin Niphan socket to one end.
100/125 Amp Hour - 15.5 long, 7.5" wide, 12" high, wing-nut terminals
170 Amp Hour - 15.5" long, 7.5" wide, 13" high, wing-nut terminals

10-volt (Used with early wavemeters and Lamp, Daylight Signalling, Long Range.)

16 Amp Hour - 11.5" long, 5.5" wide, 9.25" high (missing) sockets for 4V and 10V on end.

12-volt

14 Amp Hour - not got, but for WS62 with 2 rubber sockets on front face.
22 Amp Hour - 12.5" long, 5.5" wide, 9.75" high. 2-pin Niphan socket on front.
75 Amp Hour - 15" long, 7.5" wide, 11" high. 2-pin Niphan socket on end.

The 16 AH batteries are made up of individual "Cell, Secondary, Portable, 2V 16AH" connected together with 10 SWG copper wire links. (Not the usual poured lead permanent connections) The 6V unit has a Niphan socket and the much older 'pair of brass socket contacts' in the end wall of the case - that system started in WW1 or before. The 10 volt unit only has the old type sockets, which are unfortunately missing from my box. (Pin diameters and spacings varied to protect equipment from mis-connection to the wrong voltage - unlike the WW2 "one niphan conector fits both 6 and 12V batteries"!)

Chris. (G8KGS)