Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

If you look at the Contents List for the Case, Spares in Post #1050, a couple of items are worth pointing out, particularly if you have not read through the manual for the 52-Set for a while.

The list shows three spares for the 813 Transmitting Tube are packed in the case, but two spares of this valve are normally what are kept on hand. The 813 is a very tall, heavy valve and even though it is clamped in place when installed in the Sender, this valve is not installed in the Sender at the factory to avoid damaging the valve. When the 52-Set arrives at its destination and is unpacked to go into operation, one of the three 813’s packed in the Spares Case is actually the operating valve and must be installed in the Sender, the remaining two becoming the spares. Replacements for those two are drawn from Supply thereafter, as needed.

This makes perfect sense to me now. When my Sender was shipped to me from Montreal, my friend Jacques bench tested the 813 in it and found it in perfect working order. It was left in the Sender when shipped and even though the Sender was surrounded by 4 inches of foam insulating sheet on all sides, the 813 arrived with an internal rattle in the upper crown of the glass envelope. Fortunately, I had a couple of NOS spares on hand so simply swapped one out for the damaged one.

You will notice also, that three different Bulbs are listed. Only two types will be supplied in any given Spares Case. The six WB/C1490’s are the standard bulbs used in all the indicator lamps on the 52-Set, the Lamp, Operator, No. C6 and the Wireless Remote Control Units. These are always part of the spares supplied.

The three WB/C00004’s will only be supplied if the 52-Set to which the Spares Case belongs was equipped with an Eveready Torch in its Tool Box. This is an inline, black adonized brass torch, Model Number as shown on the List.

The last three unmarked Bulbs (WB/C4687’s) will be packed if the related 52-Set was equipped with a green plastic, L-Head Torch, Model TL-122-B made by GITZ.

The one remaining mystery with this list is why the VAOS Stock Numbers were not provided for the last six items. If anyone is trying to identify these items today to complete a Case, Spares of their own, I have noted them below:


WB/C4706. LUGS, SLOTTED, LARGE
WB/C4707. LUGS, SLOTTED, SMALL
ZA/C4694. PLUGS, CONNECTING, No. 2
ZA/C4821. WASHERS, KEYED, No. 1
ZB/C1056. NUTS, WING, NO. 1
ZB/C4399. WASHERS, FLAT, 1/4”



David

[David Dunlop]

It is unfortunate that little of the actual production records from Canadian Marconi Company have survived for the 52-Set. They would probably make our understanding of what took place. lot easier today.

A good example is the presence of the two optional Torches listed in the Tool Box Contents List and the corresponding presence of the two optional sets of Bulbs in the Spares Case. In all likelihood, there was some sort of supply issue with one of the torches that prompted CMC to source an alternate early on, but we have no idea how long this issue persisted.

It would be interesting to find a surviving Eveready Torch to see it it has any markings showing where it was made.


David

[David Dunlop]

Well after a number of weeks of working to replicate this list via a modern spreadsheet equivalent, I decided it was the end of the year and the idea should also end accordingly.

There were just too many variables to sort out and the last straw was realizing that I needed to start the project with a height to width ratio for the spreadsheet replacement that was proportionally equivalent to the original list. if this was not done, scaling the new version to the correct size was next to impossible.

So I starting playing with the original photo Reg sent me of his Contents List since it could be resized without losing the correct proportions. Over the last 24 hours, I figured out how to erase the background and retain just the list image, I then got the image cleaned up as much as possible and finally was able to adjust the colour of the image to get an acceptble match to the other two lists I have.

After that, a little trial and. error with the printer and I was able to match the original list width and height by using a 42.5% sized version of Reg's photograph.

A little cutout work and trimming and I can start 2024 off on a good footing finally. Next challenge will be sorting out waterslide transfer decals for the Supply Unit and Coils, Aerial Tuning front panels.


David

[Bob Carriere]

.... the same trick on a fifty dollar bill?????

Let me know if it works as I could use some........ I keep wishing people "Prosperity for the New Year"..........

[David Dunlop]

No I have not, Bob, but for what it’s worth, way back in 1952-53, there was a printing issue with the very first run of $1.00 Paper Bills under Queen Elizabeth II.

The ink the two printers in Ottawa were using on the reverse side of the bills was the wrong formula. If the reverse side of these bills was washed with HCl Acid, the green ink turned the same blue as the $5.00 Bill of the same new series.

Don’t ask me how I know.

All the Best to You and Yours in 2024!

David

[David Dunlop]

The start of a new year and the start of another segment of this project today; creating a set of Waterslide Transfer Decals for the Supply Unit and Coils, Aerial Tuning front panels of the 52-Set. And to add a little extra excitement to the task, I am working towards having these decals fully functioning Luminous Green as per the factory originals, The postwar rebuild replacements from 1966 were Luminous Yellow on the Supply Unit, using too small a font and installed in a very sloppy manner. The decals used on the Coils, Aerial Tuning were Non-Luminous, with white borders and adhesive in application.

There is an excellent photograph on Page 60 of the Operator’s Manual for the 52-Set, Fig. 17 Supply Unit Front View, that shows what the factory original decals looked like and how they were placed. The problem with this photo is it is too small to work with for establishing the original dimensions of the decals, so the first step was to scan the photo from the manual and then print an enlargement of it with large enough dimensions to work with easily.

The second step was to dust off my High School Math Knowledge from the 1960’s, on the use of and working with ratios. The beauty of ratios is that with three known dimensions, it is easy to determine an unknown fourth. It is also easy to proof all of your known starting dimensions against one another so you know your starting data is correct.

To get things rolling, I needed to determine the actual height and width of the Supply Unit Front Panel in my 52-Set, and then the height and width of the image of the Supply Unit Front Panel from the manual. Hence the need for a clear enlargement of the photo from which to easily obtain measurements. The attached photo shows the end result with the actual panel measurements along the top and left side of the photo in blue ink and the photo measurements of the panel along the right side and bottom in red ink. An interesting discovery at this point was that the two SENDER HEATERS decals on the panel are different. I was expecting them to be the same as per the 1966 remakes, but as per the factory originals, the one at the top of the panel above the Indicator lamp for these heaters is chubbier than the one above the ON/OFF Switch for the heaters (second from left).

The other nice thing to see was the clear image on the left hand drop lead of the red RCA stamp on the rubber plug. I will be able to size a rubber stamp for that detail later on quite easily now.


David

[David Dunlop]

It took a little while to shake loose all the cobwebs in my head related to Ratios, but everything started to come together as the week progressed. I now have a set of measurements for all the decals on the front panel of the Supply Unit.

Interestingly enough, when I compared the values obtained to the surviving postwar decals on my Supply Unit, the overall sizes of each decal were identical, so that felt very good, and was a bit of a surprise in the process.

The font size for the lettering on the postwar decals is definitely smaller than the wartime originals, giving a larger black area on each decal which may be making them look smaller than they actually are to the eye. It is still odd, however, that the chosen postwar luminous colour for the remade decals was yellow. When I was researching phosphor luminous paints for the 52-Set Project a few years ago, I learned that yellow and orange coloured phosphors are very expensive, so the corresponding paints are not typically 'off the shelf' items, but more in the realm of custom orders. On that basis, it is very surprising the Canadian Army went with a yellow phosphor luminous paint colour, rather than the wartime, very common and cheap, green. I wonder if the purchasing department was taken to the cleaners by a decal supplier telling them they could save money with a smaller font in yellow?

Now to see what I can do to replicate correct decal sizes on the computer.


David