Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

I recently ran across a small stash of boxed, NOS Canadian Marconi valves for the Wireless Set No. 52 and at a price of $5.00 each (Cdn) could not walk away empty handed. When received, they turned out to be 5 ARP-3's and 1 12Y4.

Over 70 years of sitting, the cardboard packaging has suffered somewhat from moisture. I discovered this by reading the outer red sleeves, which are generic in design it turns out. They state that the relevant patent information can be found inside, but I could not see/find any such paperwork at all in the ARP-3 boxes.

When I finally got to the 12Y4, I discovered the outer sleeve was indeed a sleeve. The valve slide neatly out of it, contained in an inner retainer. The outside of this retainer had the patent information printed on one side stating that the valves were "Licenced under Patents owned and/or controlled by Thermonics Limited." Patented 1925-1943 inclusive." I can find nothing at all on line now about Thermonics Limited so assume it has long since vanished from the business scene.

On the side directly opposite on the inner retainer from the Patent information was the warranty information that referred the customer to a number of Radiotron offices across Canada for exchange/service. Interestingly, they had an office in Winnipeg at 356 Main Street. That was on the West side of Main Street, midway between Graham Avenue and Portage Avenue. That entire block was levelled in the 1970's and a major office tower complex constructed. At the time the Radiotron office existed, however, it would have been right next door to the CN/CP Telecommunications Centre in Winnipeg, the local hub of Telegraph activity in Manitoba.

These inner retainers are generic in design as well, capable of holding any capped or uncapped valve of the appropriate size. a white strip on the cap end of the retainer bears a black stamped ID for the valve inside.

I am guessing that Radiotron was a valve manufacturing division of the Canadian Marconi Company. Three of the ARP-3 valves are stamped with a manufacturing date of "10'41". The other two were 1943 dates I cannot recall and did not write down. When cleaning the valves in the Remote Receiver, I noted a number were dated "9/43" and some 1944 dates showed up as well. Note to self to document that data.

No sign at all of any dating on the 12Y4's so far.

David

[David Dunlop]

A few things have puzzled me this morning about Radiotron, so I did a little digging. It became something of a 'Long Story Short…' sort of investigation.

Between the two World Wars last century, Radiotron was, indeed, a division of the Marconi Company in the United States. In the early 1920's, a massive merger of a number of electronics companies in the USA took place, key among them RCA, Westinghouse and Marconi. What came out the other side was a monster in the industry that thrived until anti-trust legislation in the 1930's forced it's breakup.

During this time, Radiotron became the prime producer of valves for RCA, Marconi and Westinghouse. Interestingly, if one finds vintage valves in original packaging made prior to the 1950's from these three companies, they will be in the same red/orange and black colours, with variations in logo for each company and all showing the same Patent time frames.

I dug out my spare valves for my 19-Sets and sure enough, a few RCA and Westinghouse valves showed up bearing the 'Radiotron' name.

Thought I would share.

David

[David Dunlop]

I took a closer look at the Slow Motion Drive on the Remote Receiver this weekend and in the process noticed that the front, fine tuning knob seemed to be set too far back on the control shaft assembly. I compared this to my backup 52-Set receiver and my Mk III 19-Set and both confirmed the shaft should be set back into the fine control knob about 1/32-inch. I also noted there is a considerable space between the fine and course knobs. Time for a closer look.

The set screw in the fine tuning knob came out quite easily but when examining the shaft assembly I found the set screw was no where even close to the keyway in the shaft it is supposed to lock into. It was actually gripping the shaft an eighth of an inch back of the keyway.

When I started on the course control knob, I discovered the set screw was located well into the knob and covered by years of dirt accumulation. Once I could reach it, it came out easily. This time as well, the set screw was not even close to its keyway. It had actually been tightened on the very leading edge of the course control shaft. Down the front face of it in fact. Only about half of the diameter of the course control knob was supported by its shaft and the set screw, when run home, acted like a lever, cocking the knob onto an angle.

After taking the time to clean the Slow Motion Drive and knobs, I reattached the two knobs, taking care to get both set screws into their proper positions. End result, the Slow Motion Drive on my Remote Receiver now looks and operates like it should.

Before and after photos are attached.

David

[David Dunlop]

Thought I would refer back to Post #65 in this thread for a moment, dealing with the tool box for the 52-Set.

I am still looking for any details regarding the missing metal bracket mounted on the rear wall of the tool box, more or less opposite to the one on the front wall on the right side. Gauge of steel, dimensions and how held in place. I think it forms the right side support for the wooden hydrometer case.

David

[David Dunlop]

Got some more time in on the Remote Receiver after lunch today. I was able to remove the dead R58A pair of HT Meter Circuit resistors and swap in a new pair. And then the big test.

Really nice to see that circuit come to life on the meter once more. It has been running for about one half hour now and has maintained a steady 157 Volts DC.

Replacing the R58A resistor set requires turning the chassis upside down to gain full access to the required panel board, To anyone doing similar work on one of these receivers, I would highly recommend you either remove the upper front panel assembly, or place the chassis upside down on a pair of 1.5 inch wood strips.

When the upper panel assembly is in place, the upper lip of the panel actually sits above the top of the receiver chassis, If in place when upside down, the full weight of the receiver (some 40 pounds) will shove the upper panel down flush with the chassis. In doing so, it exerts all that load directly onto the two thin spring steel retainers for the two pins that fasten the upper panel in place. It is a load they were not designed to handle. Just a word of caution.

David

[David Dunlop]

Time for a little break from actual work on the Remote Receiver as the next phase of that work will involve going through all the available valves to ensure all said items are fully working. Once I know that, a more detailed bit of testing can be done to determine what, if any, other issues might be present that will need tweaking.

So actual work will shift temporarily, with this project to completion of the required British Valve Adapter, as well as me getting comfortable with learning how to use an oscilloscope that has been gathering dust on my work shelf for the last dozen years or so.

But as far as the 52-Set Project overall goes, the topic of the Boxes, Tools for this set is very much worth revisiting. I covered it initially back in the 60's range of posts in this thread, with one of the photos in Post # 69 being the List of Tools for the box, glued to the inside of the lid. If you refer back to it, you will notice all the tools have a Canadian Marconi Company (CMC) based part number. Personally, I did not pay that much attention to that point at the time, however, upon reading through the 52-Set manual, I came across a photograph of all the tools for the 52-Set laid out with their corresponding descriptions and something about this photo jumped out at me and has been reinforced somewhat in light of some recent bits of information I have gleaned about the 52-Set tool box.

I have posted the photo of the tools on this thread for the moment, but I will also be starting another new thread for the 52-Set Boxes, Tools in the "WW2 Military History & Equipment" thread on this forum. I will explain more with the start of that new thread shortly.

David

[David Dunlop]

This is the largest of the three wooden Boxes/Cases of equipment issued with the 52-Set Canadian. These photos are of one of these boxes courtesy of Chris Bisaillion.

The inside is divided into three sections. The centre section holds the Remote Supply Unit for the Remote Receiver. It is a heavy little sucker and this central location in the wooden case places it directly under the carry handle on the lid of the case, thereby keeping things nice and balanced for the lucky Private who has to lug it about.

The left section stores the two headsets and the cables and remote aerial needed to operate the Remote Receiver. The right side section held the spare valves and other delicates for the receiver. You can see on the lid above this section, a square of KimPac padding to protect the valves. The rest of this section of the case was likewise padded.

Originally, a square paper label would have been glued to the inside of the lid, listing all the contents of the case. This has been replaced, as of July, 1962 by an envelope with a new List of Contents utilizing the newly introduced NATO Stock Numbers. Hence the large wash of tan paint across the front of the case covering the original wartime stencilled ID and the new NATO Stock Number Data applied there.

It is possible that 1962 saw the end of the WS. No. 52 Tool Box as a separate entity in the Canadian Army supply system.

David