A.I.23 reflector size
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Wire wrap was devised by Bell Labs in the 1940's to address some of the several disadvantages of soldering.
The other big 'cold jointing' technology, crimping was devised for the same reason.
It seems that the Apollo Guidance Computer was a wire wrap job too.
First and foremost, soldering represented a reliability problem. Solder joints require a certain set of skills to effectively complete, and yet the joints themselves can easily fail if the soldering process isn’t just right – and it is difficult to measure the acceptability of a solder joint and quite messy to attempt rework of a defective one. Mechanically it is brittle, weakens with age and varies widely in strength from connection to connection. Also, soldering is prone to ‘solder splash,’ or the exfoliation of small balls of molten solder from the area of the solder joint. This can cause shorts and burn damage in adjacent electrical and electronic gear. And if the soldering iron is not properly grounded, there is a risk of electrical discharge to the costly network elements in the facility.
It seems that the Apollo Guidance Computer was a wire wrap job too.
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AI23B
And as far as I know Lavenham church tower never suffered any ill effect from being used as an AI23B test target to lock onto from the radar bay window. Their fault for building the church directly opposite the large window! I think it was 7 point something miles but it was many, many years ago that I last did it.
We had an AI23b pointing out of a perspex window in Trenchard Hall RAFC in the 1980s. Used to be able to track cars up the road from Cranwell Village!!
When I was at Wattishambles we had a group visit that included the vicar of Lavenham who was most miffed that we "radiated" his church tower. As I recall we expected at least -1v on the agc meter to consider the lock good enough to send out the radar!
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Ohh Dear - pull up a sandbag.
Almost every Sperry-Univac Mainframe used wire wrapped pins from the 50's until the 90's. 1004, 90/25, 90/30, 90/40, 1103, 1120, 1140, 1160, 1170, 1180, 11/90, 2200/600, 2200/900, etc. For the cousins, the 1004 also went to sea in rather large boats, Ohh wire wraps and sea air, what a combination.
I also remember (5?) a limit on how many times the same wire could be "unwrapped" and "rewrapped" before it was too brittle to bend effectively.
Each corner of the square wrapped pin also represented a single contact point and eventually the pin also became rounded and useless. Some back panel pins were completely inaccessible and necessitated some innovative techniques to rewire the open (or shorting) connection.
I always thought I was rather sad...
Imagegear
Almost every Sperry-Univac Mainframe used wire wrapped pins from the 50's until the 90's. 1004, 90/25, 90/30, 90/40, 1103, 1120, 1140, 1160, 1170, 1180, 11/90, 2200/600, 2200/900, etc. For the cousins, the 1004 also went to sea in rather large boats, Ohh wire wraps and sea air, what a combination.
I also remember (5?) a limit on how many times the same wire could be "unwrapped" and "rewrapped" before it was too brittle to bend effectively.
Each corner of the square wrapped pin also represented a single contact point and eventually the pin also became rounded and useless. Some back panel pins were completely inaccessible and necessitated some innovative techniques to rewire the open (or shorting) connection.
I always thought I was rather sad...
Imagegear
In the mid-80s whilst on MASUAS my QFI (Uncle Rod) arranged for me to visit a buddy of his who flew at Binbrook. I spent half a day being shown around the radar bay and recall a radar on its test stand radiating through the big window.
On one of the benches was a drill that spun a piece of wood (about 2" x 3/4" x 18") along its axis. As the wood turned they wrapped a length of uninsulated wire round it. After this they would cut through the wire along the length of the wood on opposite sides to produce hundreds of U-shaped pieces of wire. These were then used to wrap around the multiple pins in the radar boards to link them together.
I'm sure they told me that they used to have to buy these links from Ferranti before they found the much cheaper in-house solution!
On one of the benches was a drill that spun a piece of wood (about 2" x 3/4" x 18") along its axis. As the wood turned they wrapped a length of uninsulated wire round it. After this they would cut through the wire along the length of the wood on opposite sides to produce hundreds of U-shaped pieces of wire. These were then used to wrap around the multiple pins in the radar boards to link them together.
I'm sure they told me that they used to have to buy these links from Ferranti before they found the much cheaper in-house solution!
On one of the benches was a drill that spun a piece of wood (about 2" x 3/4" x 18") along its axis. As the wood turned they wrapped a length of uninsulated wire round it. After this they would cut through the wire along the length of the wood on opposite sides to produce hundreds of U-shaped pieces of wire. These were then used to wrap around the multiple pins in the radar boards to link them together.
I can't remember now how many functions the hand controller had, 50 years ago I could operate them all by touch while peering at the B Scope. Anybody got a picture?
And 164798 -
The dish orientation (2 half dishes side by side) was the same on AI23 and AI23B. The RF side didn't change, although the electronics behid wer somwhat different.
I do remember morning one of the AI23 Course - 'Before tomorrow go out and buy a set of coloured pencils to colour in all the relays by function set, and a bunch of hole reinforcements for the ring-binder holes'.
And 164798 -
This is a picture of an AI23 not AI23B. The roll axis rotated 90 deg
I do remember morning one of the AI23 Course - 'Before tomorrow go out and buy a set of coloured pencils to colour in all the relays by function set, and a bunch of hole reinforcements for the ring-binder holes'.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
I can't remember now how many functions the hand controller had, 50 years ago I could operate them all by touch while peering at the B Scope.
The advantages of a left hand stick in a UK car.
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I believe you replied to my pm about this picture, but I cannot access the pm. Unfortunately there appears to be a problem with my inbox (reported as full with only one message there!). I didn't want you to think I was ignoring you.
