[GreenKeys] 1/4" more details

[Eugene Hertz]

Hi Paul (et. al.), thanks for the note. I'll describe what I am trying to accomplish which may shed some light.

I am looking to have a bunch of jacks in series with a loop supply in my st6 (call it tu1) then another bunch of jacks for my second loop supply, tu2 (this is just an example).

tu1(+)---->j1---->j2---->j3---->j4----tu1(-)
tu2(+)---->j1---->j2---->j3---->j4----tu2(-)

This shows that I have 4 jacks (say) between the (+) and (-) of the loop supply forming the loop. If there are no jacks connected, I need the loop to be continuous, allowing current to flow from tu(+) to tu(-). Now, if I place a plug into any of the jacks, the plug will interrupt the circuit and place whatever device is at the end of the plug into the loop (say a teleprinter). 

The whole key is that when I remove the teleprinter's plug from the jack the circuit is made complete by the closing of contacts inside the jack. In this way, I can have as many as 4(say) teleprinters running or as few as 1 or zero. 

The jacks I have today in my panel are just open circuit jacks much like one would place a headphone into and would require me to make up shorting plugs, 1/4" trs plugs that have a short between the t and r. If I wanted only one teleprinter in the loop, I would have to plug up the remaining 3 jacks with these shorting plugs. Certainly not the way to go.

Does this make sense? As for how many, heck, I'd love to have a whole mess, my panel will hold 26 upper and 26 lower or a total of 52 jacks. But to fair, I surely don't have 52 teleprinters! In fact, some of the jacks I have today would be very useful for headphones or patching speakers.

I guess if I were to pick a number, I might want 32 which I could arrange in 24 jacks for 3 loops (8 jacks per loop) and 8 jacks for 4 teleprinters (2 jacks per teleprinter, ie a little 2 jack loop). Then I could patch between any loop and any printer.  But of course, I'd take whatever you were willing to part with!

Thanks again!
Eugene