Automated electronics assembly - 1940's style

[mikeselectricstuff]

Before even PCBs were invented, there was ECME.
I wonder how the path of electronics manufacturing might have differed if the comany hadn't folded in the late 1940s....



Love those uniselectors!

[N2IXK]

Neat video!  We had a somewhat similar initiative for automated, modular electronics assembly here in the states called "Project Tinkertoy", but that was a few years after ECME.

BTW, the valves for the ECME radio sets were unusual, as well. Only a single type was used, which could perform any function from the RF front end to the audio output, even the power rectifier!

http://www.r-type.org/exhib/aag0061.htm

[SLJ]

Very interesting.  I also enjoyed your web site and the information on the Mercury Arc Rectifiers.  I have an old General Electric mercury arc rectifier that I need to build a display stand for.  Something the cats won't accidentally knock over.

[Sionyn]

very nice mike looks very over engineered and very British too

@slj
photon did some of his 'experiments' with old reflectors he had

[G7PSK]

What did they make during the war, I would have thought that the system would have been ideal for radar predictive fuses.

[saturation]

Nice, its very Raymund Massey, 'Things to Come' in appearance.



In the 1940s, electronics and mechanical things cost far more than labor so an automated process may not be cost effective.  From the 1900 to early 1970s electronics hobbyists rose to prominence, as the cost of DIY or repair was worth the labor, and it fell when electronics production was cheaper than individual labor, leading to the demise of electronics as a hobby, and the collapse of Heathkit kits.

[poptones]

Yes, it continued for some time. Note the comments about 2/3 of the way into this video from the 60's, where the anouncer talks of "no shortcuts in manufacturing, no printed circuits."



Hand made production: this is another reason breadboards rule.

[Simon]

presumably printed circuits were unreliable at first, where would we be today without them

[N2IXK]

Early printed circuits were CRAP. Brittle paper-based phenolic material, and the foil would fall off as soon as you touched it with a soldering iron. The large mass and high heat output of tube era components took their toll as well, causing the boards to crack and delaminate.

Lack of printed circuits was used as a selling point by some manufacturers (particularly Zenith), well after the initial "teething problems" were solved, and PC boards started to mature. Many of Zenith's "hand crafted" TV chassis were actually wave soldered, though. The components were mounted on the underside of the chassis as usual, but the leads were inserted into rows of insulated metal "spikes" that stuck out the top of the chassis. Once all the components were stuck into place, the chassis was inverted and run through a wave solder bath to secure the component leads to the metal spikes. The exposed metal connections then did double duty as test points for the serviceman...

[poptones]

Actually, those are still used today in many guitar amps.

[N2IXK]

No, that's a turret board. Nothing AT ALL like the arrangement Zenith used.

Look at the rows of metal terminals here:

http://www.boxcarcabin.com/zenith-13a16sz-chassis.jpg

The components are point-to-point between them and the tube sockets (which have a ring of the same type terminals surrounding them).  Components on underside, wave soldered from the top side.