Pattern 2140A Navyphone

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The Pattern 2140A Navyphone was a British Navyphone used in the Royal Navy, intended for ordinary working or fire control, although an earlier source differs on the latter application.[1][2] It was an improved version of the Pattern 2140 Navyphone, differing in being workable off a motor generator in addition to batteries, and in having a movable sound horn for its receiver, able to be "fixed at any angle".[3][4]

Pattern 2140A Navyphone
As shown in Torpedo Drill Book, 1914. Presumably, the little circle at upper right is a call indicating lamp. Notice receiver sound horn on lower left.

Form Factor

The 2140A was bulkhead mounted in a cylindrical iron chassis, possibly around 15cm across.[5] It had a push-to-talk lever marked Press while speaking[6] which now boasted the additional function of also revolving the transmitter to shake up the carbon granules. The front-mounted transmitter was smaller than in the previous Pattern 2140 Navyphone.

The receiver horn could be turned in some manner, but it is not clear along which axis. Most images showing it depict it at the 8 o'clock position around the larger chassis (see image).

A call button located on the right side.[7] sufficed to ring the bell at both the local and remote terminals.[Citation needed] The bells were not themselves an integral part of the navyphone.[8]

Although these phones could be battery-powered, probably powered in pairs off six pattern 1453 cells in a pattern 1704 battery box near one of the two.[9], it was able to run off power supplied by a generator. A separate brass box housed an inductor (the "line coil") to eliminate crosstalk.[10]

The phone could be paired with

  • a Pattern 2140 (using battery power)[11]
  • a Pattern 1856A Navyphone using a generator, line coil and terminal box.[12]
  • another Pattern 2140A using a generator, line coil and terminal box.[13]

These may not be the only applications.

To meet the needs of exposed use, these phones were very well waterproofed, surviving tests with buckets of water poured on them and even complete submersion for 24 hours without any leakage.[14]

Pattern 2140B Navyphone

A tiny reference is made to a Pattern 2140B navyphone in the Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1909.[15]

Service Life

By 1909, the Pattern 863 Navyphone was seen as a successor to the 2140B[16]. These phones were almost certainly obsolete by 1924, by which time only phones in the 2460 and 3330 series were in general use.[17]

See Also

Footnotes

  1. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1907. p. 76.
  2. Torpedo Drill Book, 1914, p. 264.
  3. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1907. p. 76.
  4. Torpedo Drill Book, 1914, p. 264.
  5. inferred from Pattern 1855 Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1902, Plate 25.
  6. Torpedo Drill Book, 1914, p. 264.
  7. Torpedo Drill Book, 1914, p. 262.
  8. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1907. Plate 10.
  9. Torpedo Drill Book, 1914, p. 263.
  10. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1907. p. 75.
  11. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1907. Plate 10.
  12. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1907. Plate 11.
  13. Torpedo Drill Book, 1914, p. 266.
  14. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1907. p. 75.
  15. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1909. p. 70.
  16. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1909. p. 70.
  17. Electrical Drill Book, 1924, p. 286.

Bibliography

  • H.M.S.O., London (1914). Torpedo Drill Book, 1914 (Corrected to May 15) Copy in Tony Lovell's library.
  • H.M.S. Vernon. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1907, with Appendix (Wireless Telegraphy). Copy 9 at The National Archives. ADM 189/27.
  • H.M.S. Vernon. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1909, with Appendix (Wireless Telegraphy). Copy 7 at The National Archives. ADM 189/29.
  • D.T.M. Department, Admiralty (1924). Electrical Drill Book. O.U. 5317. Copy in Tony Lovell's library.