Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

As mentioned in Post #543, there are three main parts to this Sub-Project. The first part, now completed, was to fabricate the Receiver end of the LEADS, as it was the most complex.

The second part will be to add an Identification Sleeve to the LEADS.

From what I have seen from available photographs, this sleeve is between one and two inches in length (closer to the two end) and in most instances is yellow in colour with black lettering. A few photos suggest there might also be a version out there with a brown resin impregnated sleeve. The yellow one, I think, is early production as the illustrations in the manuals show it with “ No. C7” just legible. The 1948 Update to the Master Parts List shows this illustration but notes the wording on it is early production and should be ignored.

The challenge I have encountered with this ID Sleeve is getting the right size of sleeve in yellow. A 9/32-inch Inside Diameter just slides nicely over the 7mm HT cable for the LEADS. I have been able to source thin wall heat shrink tubing locally in that size, but only in black.

David

Um, not wishing to rain on your parade but heat-shrink tubing is a fairly recent invention and definitely post-WW2. (From the patents it looks like a mid-1950s development at the earliest.)

The WS19 (etc.) connectors I've seen have used printed & varnished cambric sleeving, metal tab-fastened ID labels, and printed rubber tubing (usually yellow or pink), plus pasted-on paper labels for fairly early stuff not expected to be exposed to the elements. Printed (shrink-on?) plastic sleeving is mainly seen on later Larkspur and Clansman cabling.

The expandable rubber sleeving is Hellerman/Tyton and there are various hand tools for applying it (as labels or number sleeves) to cables. I bought some of the yellow variety but am not sure it's small enough for the P11 cable used for aerial leads.

I'll see if I can get a photograph of the leads included with the "Dummy Aerial No.2 & No.3" set I have, which I think will use the same construction as the WS52 aerial lead. (The pin connectors on the ends are nickel-plated turned brass and uninsulated apart from a black rubber sleeve covering the cable joint to the connector.)

Best regards (and probably apologies for not posting this earlier),
Chris.

(The 'salmon pink' rubber sleeving tended to be used on internal equipment wiring and connecting cables for test equipment - the latter probably as a distinguishing mark to prevent it leaving the workshop with the repaired kit.)

[David Dunlop]

Good Evening, Chris, and thanks for your comments. No rain felt here at all actually. We do have showers forecast for the day and a high of 8 degrees, but with 80% of our snow gone yesterday, I am not complaining at all!

I think I looked into that Hellerman/Tyton product a year or so back, though I am not sure why. I believe it was to do with some C42 Set cables I was considering making at the time. I ended up solving that problem by selling the set. Won’t be happening THIS time round, however.

If I am correct in my recollections, there were some rather colourful nicknames floating about for the tool required to apply those H/T rubber sleeves and the tools were a tad pricy for the very limited use I would get from one.

For this particular 52-Set cable, my first priority was to find the right cable type and get the finished length correct. Next, get as close to the original look as I could, based on the current availability of required parts. If I still smoked, I would say I would like to get close AND have the cigar! If I can figure out the length of required sleeve and a colour of yellow reasonably close to the rubber originals, I will be a happy camper.

Lettering to go on the sleeve is another matter at the moment. I have yet to see close up details of any surviving such Leads and the images to date only show one small line “NO. C7” out of an as yet unknown number of lines.

You are spot on with the number of versions of identification for cables during the war. I can also add to that list you posted with the 19-Set cable included in the last photo I posted. It is simply stamped with silver paint on the black rubber sleeve on each end lug with the cable ZA Number. Nothing else at all. Very cryptic and without a VAOS Reference at hand, quite a challenge to identify.

Enjoy you evening, Chris, and thanks again!

David

[David Dunlop]

I took some measurements off the Illustration in the Parts Manual and a photo of the complete set in the Operators Manual and dusted off my Proportional Algebra from High School this morning.

From the Illustration, I got a length for the ID Sleeve tucked up against the Pin Terminal Sleeve of 1.20 inches.

From the Photo of the ID Sleeve a bit way up the Leads from the Pin Terminal, I get a measurement of 2.0 inches long for the ID Sleeve. The more I look at these two options, the more I think the differences reflect two, distinct types of ID Sleeves.

Chris.

Based on the typical tool used to apply the H/T style rubber sleeves on electrical wiring, is there a limit as to where on a piece of wire the tool can actually apply it? Most, if not all I have ever seen, have been at, or very close to the end of a wire, overlapping an end fitting, or butted directly against the end of same. So, if these rubber sleeve hand tools have a limited reach, I am thinking this might be the type of ID Sleeve that was on the Leads in the Illustration. In turn, the ID Sleeve in the Photo, is more likely a free moving type of sleeve of a differing type.

Be nice to find some original surviving Leads to study.

David

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

1-5/8". There is one in captivity...

[Chris Suslowicz]

Hi David,

Well, I've fished out the bag(s) of yellow sleeving - one continuous 5-metre length and a bag of "umpteen" (100) by 25mm sleeves, the set of 'bodkin' sleeving tools, a Larkspur aerial pigtail and the bottle of "Hellerine" lube.

The "MJ8" bodkin takes the pigtail (which I assume is P11 cable) and I can slide a 25mm sleeve over it well enough - 50mm might be harder work to get it off the bodkin - probably needs a polish as there's a bit of surface spotting, and more Hellerine might help. I'm not sure the prongs on the pliers are long enough for much more than 25mm, and they're not immediately to hand anyway. (Also, the tool itself may not be strong enough to expand a 2-inch length of the sleeve unless it was softened by heating first.)

Printing on the sleeve is going to need some suitable ink (craft shop or a company that prints on rubber) and probably metal type - though I've seen one-off cables with handwritten labels and a protective layer of varnish (probably applied later).

Wording will probably be "CONN. SINGLE No. C7" or similar followed by the stores code. I've got "Leads, Aerial No.9" somewhere, spelled in full!

I'll see what I can dig up, it might be an interesting project.

Best regards,
Chris.

[David Dunlop]

Hello Bruce.

Now that is nicely in the middle isn’t it. Good to know one has survived. If you get a chance, can you post some photos? It will give me something to think about during the next phase in the Reno.

Chris.

If you are pulling night shifts again, don’t stay up too late with this stuff.

David

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Here you go...

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by Bruce Parker

Here you go...

Ah, what do the ends look like, please?

The exact length would help (for possible forgery purposes) too.

(Not that I have a WS52 nor am I likely to get one!)



Best regards,
Chris.

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Chris Suslowicz

Ah, what do the ends look like, please?

The exact length would help (for possible forgery purposes) too.

(Not that I have a WS52 nor am I likely to get one!)



Best regards,
Chris.

Metal ends are 1/2" at 5/16" diameter and 9/16" at 1/8" diameter (1-1/16" total, and both ends are the same). Cable is 1/4" diameter 23-3/8" long between the backs of the metal end plugs, so overall cable length tip to metal tip is 23-3/8" plus 1-1/16" plus the other 1-1/16" or 25-1/2" tip to tip.

[Chris Suslowicz]

Bah! Didn't find the aerial lead; I must have moved it to a different box in the 3-D Chinese sliding tile puzzle. Though I did find a box of surprisingly chunky cables, which it turns out are battery cables for the Switchboard, Charging, No.5 (presumably useless because they live in the Stowage unless you need to remove the set from the vehicle for use as a ground station with charging set).

Oh well... might get an early night for a change.

Chris.

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Chris Suslowicz

Bah! Didn't find the aerial lead; I must have moved it to a different box in the 3-D Chinese sliding tile puzzle. Though I did find a box of surprisingly chunky cables, which it turns out are battery cables for the Switchboard, Charging, No.5 (presumably useless because they live in the Stowage unless you need to remove the set from the vehicle for use as a ground station with charging set).

Oh well... might get an early night for a change.

Chris.

Ah, but that is precisely what happens in a Chev HUW wireless van. Everything is quick release. When in the van the chorehorse runs through a permanently mounted switch box with a knife switch that, thrown one way, charges battery pair one, leaving battery pair two to power the 19 set. Throw the other way and the reverse occurs. A Switchboard, Charging No.5 is mounted to the underside of the wireless table. When the table, batteries and chorehorse are removed to work remotely those cables would then attach the switchboard to the batteries and chorehorse.

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Chris Suslowicz

Though I did find a box of surprisingly chunky cables, which it turns out are battery cables for the Switchboard, Charging, No.5 (presumably useless because they live in the Stowage unless you need to remove the set from the vehicle for use as a ground station with charging set).

Oh well... might get an early night for a change.

Chris.

Chris. could you post a picture of those battery cables for the Switchboard, Charging, No.5? They would most certainly be part of my HUW's kit. and I'd like to see what they entail. That is after a good night's sleep of course....

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by Bruce Parker

Chris. could you post a picture of those battery cables for the Switchboard, Charging, No.5? They would most certainly be part of my HUW's kit. and I'd like to see what they entail. That is after a good night's sleep of course....

They are _extremely_ heavy, with a slotted lug at the battery end and a ring lug at the switchboard. I have a mix of UK and Canadian types, and also the battery linking cables (Connector, Single, No.3).

Cables are thick rubber (about 0.75 inch diameter) or fabric-jacketed (about 0.5 inch) and Connector, Single, Nos. 24 and 24A-D. (Without going to look.)

I will need one set for my charging switchboard, but the others will be available at a reasonable cost - shipping is likely to be the killer, they are definitely not lightweight.

Best regards,
Chris. (So much for getting a early night for a change.)

[David Dunlop]

Hello again, Chris.

I understand completely regarding the mails. Best the items in question stay put with you for the time being where they are safe and sound. There is little, if any, international air mail going anywhere these days. It is a service totally dependant on available space on commercial airline flights and with that service almost curtailed, it has dragged air mail down with it. We just received notification 10 days ago about an air mail parcel finally arriving at the Canada Customs Depot in Toronto. It was mailed from Barnsley, Yorkshire first week of December. I have another parcel mailed from Perth Australia mid November that has yet to get here.

Thanks again for all your assistance.

Now get some sleep!

David