[ARC5] BC-454-B Dymamotor Question

[J. Forster]

I wouldn't bet on that assumption.

In the 1920s and 1930s, Americans were not infected with afluenza. Also,
technology was a lot simpler, and much more repairable.

When a radio or toaster or table lamp broke, they fixed it or had it
fixed. Also, many more grew up on farms, where machinery had to be
repaired. Kids bought old cars, like Model Ts and As.

The point is that skills to fix machinery were far more widespread than
today.

If your latest iToy breaks, it instantly becomes iPoo. If your car stops
running, do you have any idea how to fix it, other than filling the gas
tank? Can you even gat a wiring diagram or the 'puter diagnostic codes.

Anyone who can strip and fix an engine, could probaly be trained in a few
weeks to reliably refurbish dynos.

Also, there were plenty of radio repair shops in civilian life pre-war.
I'm certain some of those guys went into the services. Fixing a table
radio was not very different than an ARC-5 receiver.

There are pretty comprehensive TMs from the era on most things electronic.
They would certainly give any reasonably intelligent person a fair
grounding in the theory. You don't need to be a design engineer to
understand most circuits. Analysis is far easier than synthesis.

YMMV,

-John

===================



> I would have assumed most of the "techs" were none too savvy in that era.
> Ball bearings in general would have been quite novel in those days, and
> even
> now, most people don't know how to handle, install, clean, lubricate, or
> pre-load them properly.  Radio specialists during the great war were
> processed through signal corps school in a not too effective fashion, and
> even if they did retain most of what they were taught, they had precious
> little experience when they hit their duty station, and not too much time
> to
> hone those skill afterward.  They probably did the best they could by
> swapping parts.  I would assume the "tough dog" problems were relegated to
> the junk pile.  The great logistics monster that was created during WWII
> eventually made deep troubleshooting and repair unnecessary (Witness the
> huge amount of surplus now in our hands that causes us to ponder these
> things now, some seventy years on.
>
>
> Scott W7SVJ
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: arc5-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:arc5-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
> On
> Behalf Of Kenneth G. Gordon
> Sent: Friday, January 18, 2013 5:33 PM
> To: ARC5 at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [ARC5] BC-454-B Dymamotor Question
>
> On 18 Jan 2013 at 16:22, WA5CAB at cs.com wrote:
>
>> Probably because the field installation of the bearings was done with
>> a hammer and something like a 1/2" socket.  And they bent the outer
>> shield and/or brinnelled the races.
>
> Well, I had thought of that too, but I figured that not every radio tech
> in
> those days was a dolt. ;-)
>
> Ken W7EKB
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