Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Looking for manual: Strong Copper Oxide rectifier

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Looking for manual: Strong Copper Oxide rectifier

    Does anyone have a manual for a Strong copper oxide rectifier? This is the one they introduced circa 1936, using the then-new copper oxide stack, to replace rectifier tubes.

    A schematic is fine, too. This is just for my leisure, so don't spend a lot of time searching if you don't have anything at hand. I ran a pair of these as a kid, before I knew anything about electronics. Now that I'm retired, I'm curious to know more about what was a mystery to me back then.

    If you would, please just send a scan to Brad so it can be preserved in the Warehouse section. Thanks! .

  • #2
    Originally posted by Tim Reed View Post
    Does anyone have a manual for a Strong copper oxide rectifier? This is
    the one they introduced circa 1936, using the then-new copper oxide stack, to replace rectifier tubes.
    One of my old RICHARDSON's Projection books, dated 1935, has this picture & circuit diagram of an
    un-named copper oxide rectifier. I can't imagine there were that many differences between them back
    then. In the early 1970's, I worked with one that looked just like this, which was made by Westinghouse.
    I could tell the Cu2O stacks and fan had been replaced at some point, but the coils, etc were original.

    CuOx_DC1.jpg

    The circuit is nothing fancy- - but notice no filtering. I do recall the output went through a couple of large
    choke coils before going to the carbon arcs- - and I always assumed these were to remove residual ripple .
    CuOx_DC2.jpg
    The power was controlled by a 110v contactor type relay which, in that booth was wired so
    that you couldn't start the rectifier unless the arc-exhaust fan was running, and, as you can
    see from the circuit diagram, there was also an air-flow switch for the rectifier's internal fan.
    I don't recall the thing putting out that much heat, but I guess those copper stacks would
    overheat pretty quickly without some forced air ventilation.

    > At this particular theater, which dated back to around 1917, they still had one of those old
    "Frankenstein's Lab" mercury-vapor rectifiers in place as an 'emergency' DC power back-up.
    I fired that thing up once or twice- - it was pretty scary!
    Last edited by Jim Cassedy; 10-10-2022, 07:49 PM.

    Comment


    • #3
      Thanks, Jim! Yes, that looks like the Westinghouse rectifier. The Strong unit did operate the fan, which in turn energized the contactor. The knife switch on our machines controlled the fan. I don't remember ours ever getting very hot, either, but copper oxide rectifiers had a time limit of operation. They didn't like anything more than about 20 minutes on at a time.

      I'll keep this, thank you. If anyone has literature on the Strong model, I'd be grateful.

      Comment


      • #4
        tim, can you give me the 'type' designation off the nameplate? i most likely have an original manual

        Comment


        • #5
          Hi, John. Unfortunately, I don't have the type number. It was this one.... open spoke hand wheel, round fan opening on top, and STRONG on the nameplate (they had one with a solid wheel and squarish fan opening that said MOGUL on the plate).
          You do not have permission to view this gallery.
          This gallery has 1 photos.

          Comment

          Working...
          X