Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

As Chris mentioned, the two power cable terminals inside the Bakelite Socket Assembly are a press fit into the Bakelite. They should press out relatively easily. The positive terminal I removed did not.

I first tried sliding a 4-inch piece of wooden dowel into the socket and pressing the assembly back with my thumbs, and then by putting the end of the dowel on the desktop and carefully pressing down on the Bakelite Socket assembly, nothing budged.

Next attempt was to hold the assembly in my left hand and tap the end of the dowel with a hammer. The terminal moved about 2 mm and stopped. A careful study of the terminal finally revealed what was going on. Decades of exposure to humidity had produced a build-up of salts on the surface of the terminal both inside the socket assembly and between the socket and the Bakelite tube the terminal was pressed into. Inside the Bakelite this was producing a lot of resistance. On the outside surface of the terminal, these salts had reduced the gap between the terminal, and what looks like a large brass flat washer in the photographs.

This ‘washer’ is, in fact, the ring portion of an intricate brass connector stamping. A pair of these, mirror images of each other, is used to connect the two Operator’s Lamp sockets to the main +/- 12 Volts DC Power Terminals to provide the power feed for the lamp. The ring portion of the connector was sticking to the salt build-up on the sides of the terminal and riding up with the terminal as it moved out of the Bakelite. It could only go so far before being stopped by the rest of the brass connector assembly, and it then jammed the terminal from moving any more. Once I realized what was happening, I could use the dowel to press the brass ring back down and then tap the terminal out a little further. Repeating the process several times eventually ended with the terminal popping free. I could then tap the brass ring back down in place.

The first photo shows the inside of the Bakelite Socket assembly with the positive terminal removed. Note again the dirt. The second photo shows the terminal assembly soldered in place on the end of the positive cable, Note the shoulder just below the soldered connection. It is this shoulder that makes contact with the brass ring portion of the Operator’s Lamp connector and holds it flush against the Bakelite when pressed carefully home. With the terminal out, I took advantage of the chance to clean all the excess salt build-up from the outside of it and also inside the hole it presses into in the Bakelite. Hopefully, it will press back in a lot more easily than it came out.

The last photo shows the interior of the Bakelite Socket assembly after cleaning. I was going to leave the Negative Cable in place in the socket assembly, but am now thinking I should also carefully remove it for cleaning as well.


David