[David Dunlop]

Now that the original paint work and stencilling of the three boxes/cases for the 52-Set has been done, I am left with one lingering mystery with this part of the project; why there is no trace at all of a Contents List having been glued somewhere inside of either of the two Spare Parts cases I have on hand. The minty case came out of Quebec and the one with a hard working life came out of Alberta. For the Tool Box and Remote Receiver Operating case, both have the List glued directly to the wooden surface inside the lid so they are readily visible and readable when the case is opened.

The entire inner lid of the Spare Parts Case is lined with KimPak padding. There may be something about the presence of this padding that did not allow Canadian Marconi to glue a Contents list to it. But logic says there must have been a list included with the equipment when it was packed at the factory. How else would the operators know they had all the equipment they were supposed to, and in the correct quantities? I have started to take a closer look at the two Contents Lists that have survived to try and understand them better.

The Box, Tools Contents List is beyond any shadow of a doubt, paper. Light reflecting off it screams paper. It smells of musty paper. It is torn and missing pieces, just like 80 year old acid content paper behaves. You can see where it was pressed down into the slather of glue applied to the inside of the lid and where the glue has run a bit around the edges and up onto the paper before setting. You can also see where the paper picked up enough moisture from the glue to swell and pucker in places when it dried. The items on the list are not in alphabetical order, but for the most part, the list is arranged in rising numerical order based on the CMC Part Numbers. In the lower right corner, the Part Number for the list is located, 114-424. When you compare this Content List to the list of items provided in the Operators Manual, both lists are in the same order. It is a lot easier to read the list in the box, however.

At first glance, and for the last two years of looking at it, for that matter, the Contents List in the Remote Receiver Case appeared to be paper as well, laid out in the same style and format as the list found in the tool box. For it, however, the CMC Parts Numbers have been abandoned for the sequence of the parts listed. Instead, a mix of VAOS Numbers and ‘Interim VAOS’ Numbers has been used, in roughly ascending order. The part number for this list is still in the lower right corner, ‘CMC. 114-553’. Once again, the sequence in which the parts are listed is identical to the listing found in the operators manual.

It is only just recently, while I have been taking a closer look at these two Contents Lists, that I suddenly noticed a fundamental difference between them. The Remote Receiver Case list is dead flat smooth and shiny under light. There is not a flaw on the printing anywhere and no trace of any of the damage you would expect on a paper product over 80 years a good portion of which was spent in military service. The upper left corner of this list has pulled away from the surface of the about a half inch, curling upward from the lid enough you can feel the material is thick. About half the thickness of a classic high gloss manila file folder. I stuck my neck out and applied a small drop of water to this edge. 15 minutes later, the bead of water was still sitting there with no sign of absorption by the material. If it is not paper, it must be some form of 1940’s ‘plastic sheet’.

For a current reference, these two lists are shown in the photos in Post # 1023.


David