Type 2A voltage reg - question for the old aircraft enthusiasts

Tim, Follow this link for more info. Just donated one of these which I restored to a museum in Kent for display next to a Spitfire. Regards, Ian.

Tim, Follow this link for more info. Just donated one of these which I restored to a museum in Kent for display next to a Spitfire. Regards, Ian.

Is that the museum at RAF Manston - Kent International Airport now? They have one of the uncommon ABC MkII auxiliary engines, also restored.

Regards,

Kim Siddorn. Mechanical Engineers build weapons, Electronic engineers build radar, Civil Engineers build targets.

Ian

Thanks for that. I can't be entirely sure, but I don't think that's the item in question. My understanding is that it was actually fitted to the aircraft, though I don't know which aircraft and I have no knowledge of what sort of electrics were normally fitted to military aircraft circa

1945.

I do know that part of the manufacture involved welding steel tube from sheet and forcing a die through it to give a precise smooth diameter (rather like D.O.M. tubing), as well as oil bath soldering of the 'works' into their case.

In later years my father was responsible for design & manufacture of

200+ ton power transformers, and travelled the world in support of the company's products, but this particular job obviously made a deep impression on him. He was given the run of the whole BT-H Rugby works, with the brief to 'get it sorted', quite a responsibility for a young man.

Cheers Tim

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I'm particularly interested in auxiliary aircraft power supply units & would welcome more information on this unit. Are there any pictures or drawings about? What engine/generator was it fitted to?

I have a Newtonian regulator, courtesy of a list member - I wonder if it's anything to do with it? It is basically a stack of carbon discs compressed in a tube, so that part fits the description so far. Could your father sketch it at all, Tim?

Regards,

Kim Siddorn.

Not much more I can add really, my father can't remember what aircraft they were fitted to, & he wasn't involved in the electrical design so much as fitting other peoples' design into a vibration-proof housing. There were thousands of them made, both by BT-h and, I think, MetVick at Trafford Park. My father is blind now, so a sketch isn't possible, but I'll see if there's any more I can glean from him.

Cheers Tim

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I wonder if this could be it?

I'll email the vendor to see if he can send me a pic.

Cheers Tim

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Tim, Are we talking about a 24vdc in 110 vac out (for instance) rotary transformer !

Mart> >

I don't think so.

Cheers Tim

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Nor me. I'm growing to the conclusion that it is a finned device that is either separate or fixed to the top of the generator.

Shows one on the top of my Homelite. If we are on the right track, I can photograph another that I have in more detail.

Regards,

Kim Siddorn. Mechanical Engineers build weapons, Electronic engineers build radar, Civil Engineers build targets.

and -

Regards,

Kim Siddorn.

Thanks Kim.

What did military aircraft use as their main source of electricity when in the air in that period?

I suppose I'd assumed they had some sort of generator strapped to the main engine, was this not the case?

Cheers Tim Dutton Dry-Dock Traditional & Modern canal craft repairs Vintage diesel engine service

Kim, Yes it is. Ian.

Tim, This is a bit before my time with military aircraft but the basic purpose of a voltage regulator was to control the generator output at

28 ish V DC from the (propulsion) engine driven generators. The were usually carbon pile types where the compression of a stack of carbon discs acted to regulate the generator field, and were renowned for being temperamental. I recall them or something similar in the Whirlwind Mk 7 ( Alvis Leonides). They were superseded by constant speed drive units and high fequency alternators when the gas turbine became the way to get ones push.

If you post your query on the Aviation History and Nostalgia forum of Pprune

I'm sure there will be someone there much more knowledgeable than wot I am.

Regasrds

Nigel

A big 300amp DC dynamo, churning out a nominal 28-32 Volts. You can see one on the back of this Alvis Leonides. The lump in the foreground is the starter, the one further back the dynamo.

The same unit fitted to a Merlin can be seen on this ex Rolls-Royce Glasgow display engine, now with the Supermarine Museum on the Solent.

Regards,

Kim Siddorn.

"Tim Leech" wrote

I've just had a chat with my father about these, he was much more forthcoming than he has usually been about the wider picture.

They were indeed regulators for propulsion-engine driven generators, and used thyratrons and saturable reactors. His initial involvement was with drawing up the design criteria for the transformers & reactors, such as whether to go for oil-filled or potted, etc., and he was transferred to the high-voltage transformer department before the project was completed. However he was called back by senior management to redesign the enclosures when others (his erstwhile boss!) had failed to produce a satisfactory result which would pass the vibration tests. They were apparently about 15" dia and

12" tall. Initial orders were for 2,500 to be made by BT-H and a similar number by Metropolitan-Vickers. (He's described it as "one of the two occasions when I saved the BT-H Company's bacon" )

Thanks

Tim

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Here's a type 2B

I was pointed to that by a response on the Pprune.org forum

I've no idea yet whether there's much similarity with a 2A, probably quite a bit newer, but thought it worth a tenner to take home & play with also to see if it's recognisable to my father.

The vendor has lots of Canberra stuff, so this could well be off a Canberra.

BTW the dimensions he gives don't seem to fit with the proportions in the pic.

Cheers Tim

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Hallo, Re the 2A Voltage Regulator. There is an Air Ministry Generator powered be a JAP 2A Engine. It drives a Dynamo the purpose of which was to charge aircraft batteries, 12 and 24 volt. It was mounted on a RAf Trolley. The Control Box is fastened upon the top of the Dynamo. In it is a wire wound Regulator, adjusted by a rotary knob. A number of Stationary Engine enthusiasts have them. Is this what is be talked about? EricW.

No, I've discovered quite a bit ore since my original post.

It's a regulator to give very precise voltage control of high tension supplies for airborne radar etc., I believe the unregulated HT came from a rotary converter. I've aquired a Tybe 2B regulator, off ebay for a tenner, just out of curiosity and it seems to be fairly similar to what my father remembers of the 2A; it certainly includes the same or similar transformers and reactors. It's at his house now, but I'll try to get a couple of pics to post up next time I go there.

Cheers Tim

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