[Boatanchors] WWII headphone pads

[Richard Knoppow]

    FWIW the filling is kapok. I have not seen replacements for 
years but there was a later version with plastic covers, not sure 
what the inside padding was. I have tried in the past to recover 
the pads but don't have the skill to do it. I am drawing a blank 
on the name of the very soft leather the pads are made of, they 
made gloves of the stuff. Probably available but  you would need 
a pattern. You could probably make a pattern from an old pad.
    I have seen two kinds: one is symetrical, i.e. left and right 
the same, the other is cut from a flying helmet with slight 
difference in the two sides. The idea being to tilt the phone 
slightly into the ear. These can be used on headbands.   I have 
seen two styles of headbands, one is adjustable with leather 
covering. In a later version with plastic covering. The other is 
a one piece over the head part made of canvas with a leather 
liner. I think these were very early and I have only ever seen a 
couple of them. I think both kinds are designed to fit over a 
standard billed officer's hat.
     There is a lot of history to the receivers. The original 
ones used in aircraft were magnetic phones which did not have 
very good articulation. Then there were a couple of later 
versions, that last being the ANBH 1 A designed by Leo Barenek at 
Harvard. ANBH means Army Navy British Headphone.  The A version 
has a phenolic diaphragm while the plain version is aluminum. 
Both being moving coil types, essentially miniature loudspeakers. 
A commercial version was made by Permoflux but I have forgotten 
the commercial type number. Those came in mono and binaural 
versions with full length cords. The "bail out" was used on many 
different headphones designed for military aircraft for the 
reason described in the previous post.
     FWIW, the frequency response of the ANBH-1A is about 100Hz 
to about 6Khz, pretty flat. A version of this phone is still used 
for audiometry made by Telex.

On 10/18/2021 3:11 PM, hwhall at compuserve.com wrote:
> I've seen some appear on Ebay off & on. Some look like NOS. I didn't bid on any so I'm not sure what the prices ended up as. It'd be nice if someone was still making those!
> 
> That short cable was for the "bailout plug". They had a shortened version of the PL-55 that plugged into an extension cord to reach the radio/control panel. The idea was that if you had to exit the plane in a hurry, the plug would be pulling out easily in a straight line & not try to keep you, or your head anyway. in the plane. Hams usually bugger up the short cord with a badly spliced-on addition (Hey, it works).
> 
> WayneWB4OGM
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tom Osborne Sr. <w7why1 at gmail.com>
> To: Boatanchors at mailman.qth.net
> Sent: Mon, Oct 18, 2021 1:30 pm
> Subject: [Boatanchors] WWII headphone pads
> 
> Hi All.
> 
> I have some of those headphones from WWII that came out of a B-17 bomber.
> They have been really good 'phones, but the pads have completely worn out.
> 
> They are the ones that had the short cable and plug - about 3 feet long.
> 
> Are the pads for these available anywhere on the 'net??  Thanks and 73
> Tom W7WHY
> ______________________________________________________________
> Boatanchors mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/boatanchors
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:Boatanchors at mailman.qth.net
> 
> List Administrator: Gary Harmon, K5JWK
> ** For Assistance: gharmon at idworld.net **
> 
> 
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
> Message delivered to hwhall at compuserve.com
> ______________________________________________________________
> Boatanchors mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/boatanchors
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:Boatanchors at mailman.qth.net
> 
> List Administrator: Gary Harmon, K5JWK
> ** For Assistance: gharmon at idworld.net **
> 
> 
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
> Message delivered to 1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com
> 

-- 
Richard Knoppow
1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com
WB6KBL