Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

Time to back track a little.

Back on Page 37, in Post #1097, I hd commented on finding numbers stamped onto the two phenolic resin side plates and bottom plate of the coil chassis: four digit numbers in blue ink. This was present on nothing coil chassis I have on hand and the three numbers on each chassis were matched sets. I hd assumed at that time these were possibly production control numbers, but looked rather sophisticated compared to the large hand written similar numbers found on the main component chassis of the 52-Set.

Well, when looking at the rear of the front panel from my parts coil assembly today, I noticed another faint four digit number, hand stamped in blue ink, in the upper right rear corner of the front panel, just beside a small circular Canadian Marconi Company inspection stamp with the number ‘686’ inside the circle. These markings bracket the two mounting holes in the front panel for the Plates, Phenolic, Calibration. When I checked this number ‘8798’ with those found earlier on the three coil chassis plates, they all matched. Interestingly, the assigned Serial Number for this coil assembly on its Data plate happens to be ‘8963’.

The dilemma is that the other coil assembly I have bears the stamped number ‘3978’ and that coil assembly is missing its data plate, and adding more mud to the waters is the fact serial numbering for the 52-Set started at ‘5001’. And the rear side of that coil front panel has been wiped clean at some point, probably during a workshop rebuild.



David

[David Dunlop]

A little diversion.

A couple of these Supply Units have recently shown up on the UK eBay site. They do, from time to time, but these two were useful as they had a lot of photos to examine and they were still in worn, but original factory paint and markings. A rare thing on this side of the Atlantic.

What struck me on both was that directly above their data plates, which are centred on the back of the chassis plate, was a stamped, four digit number which had been carefully varnished over to protect it. Finding one such arrangement would have been nicely odd, but two of them strongly suggests these numbers were important. My thinking went straight to them being yet another version of a Production Control Number for these supplys used until the final data plates were attached to the units.

Unlike the other components of the 52-Set where these 4-digit numbering system show up, neither of these were close to the final assigned serial numbers on their data plates, but both were very close to being 4,800 numbers lower. That is getting remarkably close to the possible total production run of 52-Sets, of around 5,000.

Close to 90% of the design of the ZE-11 Supply used with the Wireless Set No. 9 Mk I Cdn was carried over into the ZE-12 Supply that formed part of the 52-Set. Over the years of this project, I have heard a few independent stories that CMC encountered some production delays in getting the ZE-12 built. I am sure whatever those delays were, they could not have shut things down for the bulk of the 52-Set production run.

Some of these stories further related that Canadian Marconi Company was able to maintain full production flow by simply producing an extended run of ZE-11 Supply Units short term, to fill the gap. Chatting with Jacques Fortin about this earlier today, he confirmed that when he bought three surplussed fully equipped Cases, Operating Remote for the 52-Set back in the 1970’s, two came equipped with ZE-12 Supply Units but the third one contained a ZE-11. So perhaps, any Production Control Number system that was up and running for the ZE-11 Supply Unit was simply continued while ZE-11’s were built for the 52-Set and nobody bothered resetting it once the ZE-12 came on line.

Be nice to find more of these paired up numbers to see what they have to say. I also now have to take another closer look at my own ZE-11 Supply Unit. It came with my Remote Receiver for the 52-Set and these receivers used the same connector cable in both the 52-Set Remote and No. 9 Mk I Remote configurations.


David

[David Dunlop]

This little gem arrived in todays Post, much to my great relief.

I discovered it for sale in England back in November and purchased it one week before Canada Post went on strike. The vender was wonderful enough to get it all ready to go but put it on the back shelf until the strike ran its course. He was able to get it in the overseas mail finally two weeks ago.

Typically, this is a nice accessory to a wartime wireless set to have, but not essential. There were a lot of them surplussed out in the 1970’s, but they tended not to fair well in civilian life.

If one back tracks on this thread to around Page 30, Post #873, this will take you roughly to May/June of 2022 when I was trying to sort out a missing metal bracket in the Tool Box for the 52-Set. Via a process of examining the traces in the box and the tools that were in the box, the only logical use for the missing bracket would have been to help support the box the hydrometer came in, so I rolled the dice and based the final length of the bracket on being just large enough to hold the wooden box. The only way to prove the concept was to now find the needed hydrometer, and the correct one finally turned up last Fall.

The Parts List label was originally glued to the right side of the lid, you can see the trace of it there, and it should be easy enough to carefully steam press the label flat and re-glue it in its proper place. My guess at the size of the bracket was perfect. The box sits on it with just enough room for the small brass hinge on the right rear side to clear the back of the lid of the box, when the Tool Box is closed. The hydrometer box slides back and forth from side to side in the box as expected and is prevented from falling down into the interior of the tool box by the bracket on the right and the handle of the ball pean hammer resting on top of the partition on the left, as expected.

It has taken nearly three years to finally prove the concept of the recreation of the missing support bracket, but it has been worth the wait. I cannot stop grinning this afternoon.


David

[James D Teel II]

Oh that's a very nice hydrometer!

[David Dunlop]

It did take a while, James, and I wonder sometimes passing on items that show up at the wrong time, price or condition. I did pass up another one in the UK a week earlier because it had a badly stained case. I guess I chose the right wine to toast the Gods with this time.


David

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

It did take a while, James, and I wonder sometimes passing on items that show up at the wrong time, price or condition. I did pass up another one in the UK a week earlier because it had a badly stained case.

Not just stained: there was severe acid damage to one end of the lid.

I guess I chose the right wine to toast the Gods with this time.

David

Definitely.

Chris.

[David Dunlop]

I first posted on this back in 2022, on Page 27, Post #782, when I first got enough useful information sorted out.

Since that time, this project has been plodding along and as I found situations anywhere in the 52-Set where none original washers had been installed, made notes of the locations so they could all be replaced once I had sourced the required correct washers.

For the most part North American Standard Shakeproof Washers (usually called Internal Tooth Lock Washers) are easy to find but in the modern, prepackaged hardware world, are rediculous in price, often working out to a dollar or more each. While reaching the web again recently, I discovered Graingers, here in Canada, carry many of these washers in Lots of 100, for typically less that $4.00 per Lot, and they have a store just 10 minutes from home. Bonus!

I have been ordering these washers over the last few weeks and my wife donated a surplus crafting supplies box to my cause to store them in. The box was a great choice because the dividers are fully molded into the case so the smaller washers cannot slide between the compartments. And rather than labeling each compartment I simply did a single ID Sheet on the computer to pop into the lid, which can be easily changed out if and when needed.


David