[CW] Vibroplex Original Damper Wheel

[Richard Knoppow via CW]

    In fact there was a sort of ham radio allowed during the 
war. It was called the War Emergency Radio Service or WERS. 
There is a very short piece on it at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Emergency_Radio_Service

    Somehow my tricky memory came up with this.

    Now, I must blushingly admit I never saw the clamping 
screw on the side of the main lever. I have two Vibroplex 
keys that have it, a gray base standard from sometime in the 
late 1950s and a Vibro Keyer with jeweled movement. It was 
missing the top red plug, I got a replacement from 
Vibroplex, but don't remember what was under it.
    My other standard Vibroplex keys are much older and do 
not have the clamp screw. The clamp should make initial 
alignment a lot easier than juggling the two trunion 
adjustments. I am just astonished I never noticed it.
    I think I wrote about my first Standard Vibroplex, maybe 
not. Its a puzzler. My mom found it in a thrift shop 
complete with case.  It looked brand new but the serial 
number dates it to war time (I have misplaced my notes but I 
think 1945).  The key looks good at first glance but I found 
the lower trunion bearing was not quite true and the hinge 
of the damper was out of alignment. The "hammer" on the 
damper lever should just meet the base of the damper square 
but this one was off set. I poked the pin out with a drift 
and found a second hole in the lever. I had to drill a third 
one to get it aligned.  All in all I suspect this was a 
re-worked key, sold on the civilian market because it was a 
"second".  The original owner had written his name on the 
case in white ink but its long since worn off. There was 
something else there too, perhaps a serial number or 
something indicating the military or perhaps merchant 
marine. Keep in mind that I've had this thing for about 
fifty year. Despite the slightly leaning trunion it works 
very well after I worked it over a little.  In any case its 
rather odd. I have to look at the serial number list again 
to see when my various keys were made.


--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles
WB6KBL
dickburk at ix.netcom.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "stan levandowski" <sjl219 at optonline.net>
To: <cw at mailman.qth.net>; "Richard Knoppow" 
<1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 14, 2014 1:56 PM
Subject: Re: [CW] Vibroplex Original Damper Wheel


Thanks for the info, Richard. I decided to leave my screw 
and nut alone
and I just fixed it with a little threadlocker. At first I 
was going to
cut the overly long screw short but it didn't fit my 4-40 
bolt cutter
and it looks as old as the other hardware so I'm just going 
to assume it
*is* the original 4-36 and leave it alone to preserve its 
history. The
key is otherwise complete, just absolutely filthy but that's 
improving
steadily ;-)


Based on the serial number it's a 1943 Original made at 833 
Broadway and
it was donated to the museum ship I volunteer aboard (the 
USS SLATER,
last WWII destroyer-escort still afloat in the U.S. Our call 
sign is
WW2DEM).

As I studied it, I concluded it might represent an example 
of the sort
of industrial turmoil brought about by wartime shortages and 
the
attendant compromises. The data plate is steel since brass 
was too
valuable. The bottom of the base appears to have irregular 
shaped
craters as if the grade of steel used, or the process, was 
inferior.
The L damper mounting is crooked; the mounting holes were 
not
equidistant from the edge of the base. I would have thought 
they would
have been jigged holes.


One thing I've always wondered about was the wartime market 
for bugs.
Straight keys were still the norm during the war and, at 
least as far
as the navy was concerned, a "speed key" certificate was 
required to use
a bug. The current issue of QST suggests that amateur 
activity during
the war years still continued for civil defense purposes as 
determined
by local government officials. So I guess hams were still 
part of the
market, albeit a small part, of the total market for bugs 
along with
government entities, the armed forces and perhaps certain 
business and
industries like transportation (railroads, airlines...).


All in all, an interesting winter time project; so 
interesting that I
just purchased another wartime era bug for myself and I'll 
restore it
after I get finished practicing my techniques on this one 
;-)


73 and Season's Greetings to all,
Stan WB2LQF



On Sun, Dec 14, 2014 at 12:57 PM, Richard Knoppow via CW 
wrote:

> FWIW, I just looked at three standard bugs. The screw 
> holding the damper protrudes from the lock nut on all but 
> with somewhat different length. Two of these are the 
> pre-WW-2 style with sharp cornered castings, one is about 
> a 1950 version with the rounded casting so the dimensions 
> may be slightly different. I have never had a damper move 
> after being adjusted. They seem to work best when they 
> slide sideways easily and can flop back and forth just 
> slightly.
>   Another FWIW: I've looked at the design of both the 
> standard and Lightening Bug versions. Its important that 
> the main shaft be aligned vertically for the correct 
> height. There is some compensation for this in the 
> adjustable dash contact but the dot contact will not make 
> squarely unless the overall height is correct. This is 
> done with the vertical trunion adjustments. The same is 
> probably true for all speed keys.
>   BTW, my WW-2 vintage bug has a few parts that appear to 
> have been plated with zinc. These develop a coating of 
> white powder. My understanding is that the powder is zinc 
> oxide. It is harmless and should be left alone since it 
> provides some protection from further oxidation. I have 
> not seen this on bugs of other periods so perhaps it was 
> done only in war-time or perhaps its worn off of others.
>