Whirlwind vacuum tube module rack | 102733227

Description

The rack is built around two identical frame members consisting of a piece of heavy metal that is bent up along one side and down along the other, resulting in an 'N'-shaped channel with a 1.75" bend up, a 2.25" horizontal surface, and a 0.625" bend down. Two of these, oriented in opposite directions, are held together with ten 24-contact edge connectors into which two-tube modules are inserted. Two 11-position screw terminal strips also span the two channels on the right side of the front. Twenty round holes to accommodate BNC connectors are drilled along the front of both channels; however, not all the holes are populated. On the back of the rack, phenolic boards with several rows of solder terminals are mounted to the horizontal sections of each channel, and another phenolic board with two rows of solder terminals is mounted perpendicular to lower one of these. Two 5-position screw terminal strips are mounted on the left side of the back of the rack, and one 4-position screw terminal strip is mounted to the bottom of the left end of the bottom channel.

About 7 long bus wires are connected to pins of the module sockets to supply common signals and voltages. The two horizontal boards are also wired with two busses each. The vertical board attached to the lower horizontal board is provided to hold the passive components of the rack, but there are no passive components on this board. Wiring is point-to-point between the solder posts of the boards and the terminals of the module sockets. Some of the wiring terminates at the screw terminal strips. Many of the external wires connected to the screw terminal strips have been cut.

Sixteen BNC connectors are mounted in the 20 holes along the top of the rack; each of these has a cutoff BNC cable attached. Sixteen of the holes along the bottom of the rack are populated with BNC connectors; three have a cutoff BNC cable attached, and the rest have a BNC tee and two cutoff BNC cables attached.

Eight module locations are occupied by 2-tube plug-in modules, and they each have a tag attached with handwriting in pencil. The right-most two module positions are unpopulated. All modules are type IOSD; the serial number and tag inscription on each are, from left to right: 35, "E14-2-1"; 49, "E14-2-2"; 12, "E14-3"; 24, "E14-2-4"; 40, "E14-2-5"; 50; 60, "E14-2-6"; and 34, "E14-2-8". The module in the sixth slot from the left doesn't have a small tag like the others; instead, it has a large red tag attached with a string that has "IOSD SPARE TEMPORARY MOD TO BE USED IN PIUMP 452 RACK E14 M" written in pencil. None of the modules are missing vacuum tubes.

Date

1951

Identifying Numbers

Other number	E14-2	Written in ball point pen on a sticker stuck to the left end of back of the upper channel of the rack.
Serial number	452	Stamped in white ink on the left end of the upper channel of the rack.