An Ancient Ark-Les Automotive Switch

It's a four-position rotary switch with wire-wound resistors built into the rear of it.

Stamped on the metal shell is "ARK-LES"^[1]. The Ark-Les brand is still with us, though their website is a disaster right now. Every link just brings up a bit of gibberish.

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I suspect that this switch must have been meant to be the heater-blower speed control switch for the cabin of a car or truck.

I'm a bit baffled by the knob. The knob surely has to be removable in order for the switch's shank to be installed in a panel, but the knob is stuck fast. I'll try warming it with a heat gun and see if it pulls straight off.

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Hmmm. That didn't work. There's no pulling the knob straight off, and it doesn't want to unscrew in either direction. This makes no sense. The knob has to come off in order for the switch to be installable.

So ok; let's try this. I'll clamp the knob in my mechanic's vise in such a way that I can pry up on the metal shell with the knob held in place.

Here goes.

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And that worked. I managed to get the knob free.

Now the question arises, should I go further and separate the metal shell from the ceramic base? That risks fatiguing and breaking the fastening tabs, but what the hey, let's have a look inside.

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And here we are with the components separated and lined up.

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Uh-Oh

This switch has a defect. The centre resistors-connection crimp terminal at the rear is flaky. Someone has attempted to solder it in the past.

The solder didn't take to the resistance wire. I tried solder again after thoroughly scraping clean the area, but it was no go. Solder simply will not take to the resistance wire.

So, I centre-punched the connection all around to try and establish a renewed crimp effect.

That may work, though I'm not confident that it's a truly sound repair. I'll reassemble the switch and try it out with a small DC motor. If nothing else, I'll keep the switch as a curiosity.

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It works. Here's an annotated schematic of the thing.

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Note:

[1] A little play on words there, I imagine; ARC-LES = arcless. My schematic doesn't show it, but the switch is a make-before-break type, which I suppose would inhibit arcing as switch position is changed.

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A Trailer Wiring Harness (Partial) And Module

I'd love to know what manner of circuitry is inside these things. What are my odds of opening up that encapsulated module? -- slim to nil, probably. Let's have a go.

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And here we are.

Hmmm.

I did manage to split the thing open, but the component side of the circuit board is encapsulated to a fare-thee-well. So much for that bit of reverse engineering.

Electronics today may as well be magic -- it's utterly inaccessible.

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Electric Scissors

I can't recall ever having had the thought, "Gee. I sure do wish I had a pair of electric scissors." Electric scissors are not something that I've ever felt the need of. But that hasn't stopped some outfit from manufacturing them.^[1]

There's no maker's name on it. It takes two 'C' cells in its battery compartment.

And it's inoperative; pushing the switch button results in nothing. Oxidized electrical connections are the likeliest fault.

Here's a view of the business end's insides.

A little DC motor with a cam at the end of its shaft lends a rocking action to one of the blades, and that provides the scissoring effect.

Some attention paid to electrical continuity got the motor going. Here's a brief video of the mechanism in action.

['Sorry about the very poor video. I could have used some help with shooting that, but there was none available.]

The swing of the moving scissor blade is tiny. Only a very small part of the scissors' blade length is actually utilized. But it does cut paper remarkably well. Here it is in action.

I'm kind of impressed.

The battery compartment cover wants attention; one of its retaining clips is broken and the cover pops open easily.

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And here we are with a fastening for the wayward battery compartment cover.

That's a 4-40 x 3/16" screw with an oversize No. 4 flat fibre washer holding the front edge of the cover in place. That will work fine.

I'll keep the tool handy and see if it makes itself useful.

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Note:

[1] And never mind just 'some outfit'. There are all kinds of the things available, and they're not cheap. Visit Amazon and search for "electric scissors" and you'll see what I mean.

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A GN-38-B Army Field Telephone Generator

It's a little the worse for dust accumulation, but it's in fine condition.

The things were built to last forever. This one still works as it ought to. Here it is cleaned up some.

I may put this up for sale on Kijiji. I can't think of any use to put it to.

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A Pair Of Roller Skates

Does anyone still skate with these, or is it strictly in-line skates now?

On the front portion of the skates' platforms is stamped "SIMPSONS-SEARS  MADE IN CANADA". Are those days ever long gone.

These may have belonged to my older sister; I have no recollection of having ever roller skated.

I think these are bound for my scrap metal pile.

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A Dahlia Sprayer

Here's a new one on me -- something I've never encountered before.

It's a Dahlia Sprayer -- a sprayer/mister that you hand pump to pressurize. Apparently, these things are quite valued for the fine, dripless mist they produce. An outfit that sells them, Gaylord Archival, says this about them: "The Dahlia Sprayer has remained the standard handheld mister for many years. It is particularly well suited for relaxing paper and removing stains."

I tried out the one pictured and it works. It was made by the Maruhachi Industry Company of Tokyo, Japan. (If they're still a going concern, they don't appear to have a website.)

I'll stash this one in the storage room for now, along with some of my wife's gardening things. Perhaps she'll find use for it as some sort of plant mister.

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A Two-Prong To Three-Prong Adapter Cord

This short (under four feet) extension cord has a two-prong plug, and a three-prong receptacle. Why would anyone make such a thing?

The answer to that question lies in an obsolete form of house wiring known as 'knob-and-tube'. My dad's house had that type of wiring, and the outlets that accompany knob-and-tube wiring are two-prong outlets, not three-prong as with modern wiring.

So, to plug in a three-prong cord, one would need an adapter such as the one pictured here.

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