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Western & Northern Carbon Transmitter Button Components

Started by Ktownphoneco, August 06, 2018, 12:55:51 PM

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Ktownphoneco

Good Afternoon All   ......  Earlier today I opened up a Northern Electric, carbon button transmitter to see why it wasn't working.      Northern made, and used, the Western Electric patented transmitter assemblies for most, if not all, of their telephones over the years.   
I found the problem as soon as I opened it up - "No Carbon" left in the cup.      The mica diaphragm was damaged, and the small granules had leaked out over time.     Since I had it open, I decided to photograph all of the components of the carbon button and post them here.   I'm sure there are some on this forum who have never seen the carbon button of a transmitter opened up.      Pictures below.    Double click to enlarge.     Have a great week.

Jeff Lamb

RB


Pourme

Benny

Panasonic 308/616 Magicjack service

HarrySmith

Pretty Cool! Thanks for taking the pics. IIRC someone here had made replacment gaskets & diaphrams for those.
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

Ktownphoneco

Harry   ...    John / Teleplay makes replacement gaskets for the large or main diaphragm that the user's voice would drive, which in turn, pushes against the flexible brass button in the photo's.    The part of this assembly that needs replacing is the flexible mica diaphragm.   They are very delicate to start with, and probably impossible to find, but in the last generation of these carbon buttons, I've noticed that some sort of very thin  clear plastic seems to have been used to replace the mica.     
The mica is .002" thousands of an inch thick, so I'm trying to find some clear plastic of the same thickness that might be a good replacement for the mica.    I tried a piece of clear plastic that's .006" thousands of an inch thick, but it isn't flexible enough.   I'm now on the hunt in retail stores for something wrapped in clear plastic that's about .002" of an inch thick.    I'm sure I'll get some strange looks when I whip out my trusty micrometer and start measuring the thickness of plastic packaging on merchandise in the store.   

Jeff

HarrySmith

OK, I thought John had reproduced all the pieces. My memory ain't what it used to be, I could not even remember who it was! I bet employess will be thinking some strange things! Just tell them you are a quality inspector for the company that makes the packaging and you are doing spot checks.
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"