Wireless Truck Furniture

[David Dunlop]

Nicholas.

You are very much on the right track. The Charging Boards were a multifunctional item, meant to fill in the gaps and shortcomings on many of the different wireless vehicles in service throughout the war, and at the same time, fill the need for properly float charging wireless batteries when a wireless set was being operated in a 'remote' location. I use quotes around the word remote because the term covers a broad spectrum of locations outside of the wireless truck.

Many wireless vehicles in service completely lacked a built in means of properly charging wireless batteries but may have had built in lighting systems. Many lacked even built in lighting and you would most definitely not get built in lighting if you were operating out of a tent in some 'remote' location. So the Charging Board was created.

Take the 2K1 and 2K2 15-cwt Wireless Boxes for example. They were the last of the line in the wartime 15-cwt series wireless boxes. By the time they came into production, all the mistakes and shortcomings of the earlier iterations of the 15-cwt wireless box had been taken into consideration. It had it's own interior lighting built in with auto blackout capability. It had a built in float charging system for the wireless batteries. To operate any of this equipment, the Charging Boards were totally, absolutely, positively, redundant. If the wireless equipment has to relocate from the truck to a 'remote' location, then the Charging Board comes into play.

As is written on page 45 of the Wireless Set No. 52 manual, when talking about the Charging Board, if it is found that the wireless vehicle in use is already fully equipped for lighting and charging batteries, the Charging Board is stored under the central part of the wireless table. If the wireless vehicle was an older model lacking in either proper battery charging capability and/or interior lighting, the Charging Board was mounted on the wall of the vehicle in a convenient location and became an active part of the working of that vehicle, only being removed if the equipment went 'remote'.

The factory wireless table from Wilson that was installed in the 2K1 and 2K2, wireless boxes came equipped with a deep drawer on the left side of the desk. The central and right side belly of the desk was bare. Yes. Absolutely. I have seen a handful of these desks over the years with a long shallow drawer installed under the central part of the desk. Not one of these drawers I have seen matched any of the others. They were all very likely field mods, built locally for whatever reasons.

Robert has suggested the Charging Board would be mounted under the rear right side window of the 2K1 and 2K2 Wireless Box. I have never seen signs of one being mounted there after close examination of over four dozen of these boxes. Consider the fact that in that location, two Enfield Rifles are stored along the side wall of the Generator Box for the Wireless Operation and Cypher Clerk. Not a practical place for the Charging Board to be placed with four horking great knobs sticking out from the front of it.


David

[Robert Bergeron]

Hello David,

Just a note to show where i temporarily installed the charging panel in my box.

Let's continue the research on this interesting subject because there are many that will benefit from the results.

Tell us more on the 2K2 version of the box. Never heard of it. Picture ?

I think i have the 2K1 version . My box is made of alumunium. 4 windows, one rear door. three ventilators , one powered two passive.

Cheers.

Robert

[Robert Bergeron]

Friends,

Here is a picture of the inside of my box before restoration.

In the center between the two windows we see the shadow of the metal control panel box . The wood panels were painted white around it.

At the right below the window i see the shadow of the c-5 charging panel that was there for a long while . The wood panel was painted white behind it but the light , air and humidity changed the colour behind the C-5 charging panel over the years.

At least , that is what i see.

Any other constructive opinions out there ?

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

It's been a long time since I worked on my 2K1 body but that was my informed idea based on the evidence I saw at the time.

Originally Posted by Robert Bergeron

Friends,

Here is a picture of the inside of my box before restoration.

In the center between the two windows we see the shadow of the metal control panel box . The wood panels were painted white around it.

At the right below the window i see the shadow of the c-5 charging panel that was there for a long while . The wood panel was painted white behind it but the light , air and humidity changed the colour behind the C-5 charging panel over the years.

At least , that is what i see.

Any other constructive opinions out there ?

[Robert Bergeron]

Rodger Bruce.. Thanks.

[Joe C]

Here is a period picture of the radio table and a 19 Set, Mk III I believe, in a 15cwt wireless van. c1943.

Joe

[Robert Bergeron]

Giving life again to this tread as i am nearing completion of the inside of my radio box.

[David Dunlop]

Joe. That is an interesting photo. Thanks for posting it.

If you look closely, there are two sets of Mountings, Carriers No. 1 installed on that Wireless Table. The inner set are the active ones currently supporting the 19-Set and it's Carriers No. 23. The outermost set of Mountings are not in use, but must have been there to support an earlier Wireless Set installation.

The outer edges of the Carriers No. 23 are approx 37 inches apart. With a 1.5 inch width to the Mountings, the outer set must have been supporting a Wireless and related Carrier of about 40 inches in length. Does that match up with any other set we might know of being in use up to and around 1943? No. 9, 11 or 52 perhaps.

Also seems a bit odd if a set of Mounts were already in use on the Wireless Table, that they were not simply moved to accommodate the installation of the 19-Set. It doesn't make sense to keep both as the inner set for the 19 would interfere with installing the larger Carrier in the future.

I wonder if this was a test vehicle of some sort?

David

[David Dunlop]

The other interesting thing about that photo Joe posted is that the B Set is connected to the Variometer, not the A Set.

David

[Chris Suslowicz]

WS52 is far too big and heavy for those mountings (as is the WS9 that preceded it). I seem to remember helping to load a WS52 into someone's car after an auction that they won - it took 6 of us to lift the beast!

The mis-connected co-ax is on a par with the aerial lead that goes to the left hand side of the carrier instead of to the variometer mounting plate and the socket on that. I assume the photographer was using his artistic licence.
(More likely that there was nobody present with knowledge of the set.)

Chris.

[David Dunlop]

Hi Chris. I just noticed the 120 V terminal to the right of the table is not the standard issue one, which is much chunkier looking with one round terminal in the middle. Also a couple of odd looking brackets stuck on the front wall.

I am beginning to wonder if this photo perhaps originated at Wilson, the maker of these Wireless boxes.

Ford kept an extensive photo documentation file of all sorts of installations, mods, etc related to their UC production. Could be that Wilson ddi a similar thing with their wireless boxes, documenting new equipment, changes, mods etc as production evolved.

David

[David Dunlop]

Not sure where my brain is hiding today.

Just realized this same photo shows the battery trays Robert was asking about in his Restoration Thread. And therein is yet another oddity. Only two batteries in the system and no hold down assemblies for either tray. Seems very unlikely this vehicle was an active Wireless Truck. Too many things just don't add up.


David

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

Hi Chris. I just noticed the 120 V terminal to the right of the table is not the standard issue one, which is much chunkier looking with one round terminal in the middle. Also a couple of odd looking brackets stuck on the front wall.

I am beginning to wonder if this photo perhaps originated at Wilson, the maker of these Wireless boxes.

Ford kept an extensive photo documentation file of all sorts of installations, mods, etc related to their UC production. Could be that Wilson ddi a similar thing with their wireless boxes, documenting new equipment, changes, mods etc as production evolved.

David

It may well be a demonstration/training or test vehicle. It's certainly not complete in the photograph.

I'm beginning to reconsider my "Not a WS52" statement in the light of those "brackets" on the wall. They're "Shock absorbers, Bridge" as used on the WS19 carrier mounts, and are there to prevent a taller radio from tearing the carrier mounts off during acceleration and braking. The British WS19HP had an 'L' shaped bracket that fitted the top of the RF Amplifier No.2 and then attached to a shock mount on the rear wall. This pair look to be the correct spacing for a single large set and I'm wondering if it was the WS9 or WS52.
If so, the wider clamps take the set carrier - which is different to the WS19 type and has shock absorbers built into it - and it would clear the WS19 clamps fairly easily, I think.

I would NOT like to be the person installing a WS52, unless you were allowed to remove all the units from the case, install the carrier and case as a starting point and then populate it with the electronics. Otherwise you'd need an engine crane to lift the beast.

So, combination WS19 or WS52 depending on requirements.

The clamps for the battery trays are 'J' shaped threaded rods with steel angle strips (with the last inch or so of angle removed to give clearance for the wing nuts). Lower the batteries into place and connect up, place the hold-down strips (with threaded rods) on top, hook the rods into the tray 'nubs' and tighten the wingnuts to clamp the batteries in place. The two trays would take four batteries between them for the WS19, I don't know about the WS52 requirements - may have been one much bigger battery each for that?

Chris.