[GreenKeys] Twist-Lok Twist-Tite was: RA87 and BE-77-A

[Gary Schulz]

Steve,

I have re-attached the photo.  It is identical to the outlet that is
leftmost in the picture you provided from your search.  The blade spacing
would appear to be something a little under 0.5"  maybe closer to 0.475" (a
little hard to tell).  I just made a remarkable discovery; it would appear
that this receptacle takes a standard non-polarized 2 blade plug!  I just
took the power plug on the end of the AC cord for the RA87 and it seems to
plug in with no problem into this Twist-Tite outlet...  Maybe these
Twist-Tite outlets were designed to be completely compatible with standard
2 prong outlets of the day.  I got that idea by looking at the picture you
enclosed.  I would guess that the twist lock feature was just an added
security capability to an otherwise standard outlet.

Interesting and clever stuff....

Still would be neat to find a Twist-Tite plug though....

Gary

On Fri, Dec 21, 2012 at 1:01 PM, Steve Schlink <sschlink at mindspring.com>wrote:

> Gary,
>
> How about the dimensions?
> Photos?
>
> A few minutes of googling led me to this:
> <http://www.electrical-**contractor.net/forums/**
> ubbthreads.php/topics/197738/**Some_vintage_receptacles.html<http://www.electrical-contractor.net/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/197738/Some_vintage_receptacles.html>
> >
>
> So, Twist-Tite was a Bryant  tradename. Bryant was bought by Westinghouse
> c. 1970. Westinghouse has long been out of that business.
> It looks like Hubbell now owns the Bryant name. I doubt that any of the
> old Bryant people are now at Hubbell. One shot is to call Hubbell and ask
> for the oldest person there. He at least might remember the Bryant
> receptacle and know whether there was any interchange.
>
> You are short on options. (The worst of which you are now doing - cramming
> the wrong diameter cap into the receptacle.)
>
> 1. Remove the existing receptacle and hardwire a cordset.  At least then
> you can carry the receptacle around with you and try any you might find.
> Then when you hit the lotto, you can have one manufactured. And it is
> reversible.
>
> 2. Replace with a more common Hubbell Twist-Lok. At least then the chances
> of finding the cap are reduce from 1-in-10million to only 1-in-1million. As
> I stated earlier, Western Electric Bell System used a 2 wire Hubbell
> Twist-Lok receptacle on some of their equipment.
>
> 3. Enlarge the hole so that a safer 3 wire current Twist-Lok  receptacle
>      can be installed.
>
> While I usually shun modifying original equipment, I think that that the
> safety issues justify #3.
>
> So after all of this, now I have another thing to look for at estate sales
> .... I wonder how many I have stepped over?
>
> Good Luck,
>
> Steve
>
> At 11:58 AM 12/21/2012 -0600 Gary Schulz  wrote:
>
>> OK I took a close look at the DC connectors on the RA87 and all I see is
>> the following: "TWIST-TITE  10A 250V  15A 125V".  This is what is on the
>> front of the DC output connectors on the RA87.
>>
>> At least I got it going.  When I received it, it had a blown fuse in the
>> DC circuit.  I would guess someone just tried turning it on after 70 years
>> and that the big filter caps were leaky so it blew the fuse.  It looks like
>> all is well with the power supply.  By the way, this thing looks like it
>> could power a kilowatt class amplifier with really massive iron for the
>> xfmr and output choke.  All this for a 60mA current loop??
>>
>> Any other assistance with these "TWIST-TITE" connectors is greatly
>> appreciated!
>>
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/greenkeys/attachments/20121221/1bbbf92f/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: RA87 twistlock.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 71304 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/greenkeys/attachments/20121221/1bbbf92f/attachment-0001.jpg>