[GreenKeys] wire spring relays

Roy Morgan roy.morgan at nist.gov
Wed Jan 25 11:22:36 EST 2006


At 11:04 AM 1/25/2006, Charles Ring W3NU wrote:
>...there are a number of Bell Telephone veterans here,

(Which I'm not, but I'll offer some guesses...)

>I recenty bought on ebay 60 pounds of W.E. wire spring relays,

*I* recently bought some octal plug-in mercury wetted WE relays that seem 
to have 2500 ohm coils and are normally open.  I don't have the number at 
hand, but anyone having info on these things, please let me know.


>1. Is my guess right that these are memory relays and I could reliably use 
>them as such? Do they stay pulled in long-term?

You may have a memory bank for a four bit computer with 0.01 Kiloword 
memory!  I suggest you pull one in and watch it for some days.

>2. Is there any way to change them to normal relay operation?

They may have magnets as part of the armature structure, that keep it 
pulled in.  I have some tiny "crystal can" type military grade relays that 
are of that sort.  They latch in whichever position last energized to.

>3. How are they made to behave this way? Some magnetic material that stays 
>magnetized long-term?

That's my guess.

>4. Is there another list or forum where this subject would be more on topic?

I don't know, but I'm interested in this topic here.

Roy


- Roy Morgan, K1LKY since 1959 - Keep 'em Glowing!
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