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Author
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Topic: Unknown Saturn V (?) electrical connector
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spacefan JC
Member Posts: 86
From: UK
Registered: Jun 2010
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posted 01-09-2011 12:46 PM
  
I purchased this on a whim on eBay over a year ago. It was advertised as a Saturn V connector. (Money in PayPal is as bad as having money in your pocket). I used to work in Military comms, and have seen my fair share of MIL SPEC connectors (which this looks just like). Can anyone verify? I'm not bothered if it's not NASA hardware. Just want to know either way. Also, is there any way to dig into my eBay archive and recover the original auction listing?  
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rwhite502
Member Posts: 29
From: Reading, PA
Registered: Apr 2008
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posted 01-13-2011 07:15 AM
One use of these Amphenol connectors can be spotted on the backs of firing room and GSE panels, see: Identifying a vintage NASA control panel |
spacefan JC
Member Posts: 86
From: UK
Registered: Jun 2010
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posted 01-16-2011 03:04 AM
Thanks for the reply and link. I'm glad it is some sort of NASA connector! I'm going to try to mount this in lucite. |
SpaceAholic
Member Posts: 4437
From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 01-22-2011 08:49 AM
 
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David Carey
Member Posts: 782
From:
Registered: Mar 2009
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posted 01-22-2011 11:38 AM
I figured Scott would dig up some goods on this one.A question though - I'd always assumed the umbilical assemblies were designed to pull/fall away at launch by way of the cam lever actuation. The connector in the original picture appears to be a locking type given the pins around the circumference. Wouldn't this preclude its use in an umbilical setup where the connector has to "break" without the usual twist-to-disengage action associated with the pinned sleeve? I suppose the Saturn end of the interface might have simply had the pin-capture slots removed or was otherwise modified to allow a non-locking action. Alternatively, perhaps the electrical connections to the umbilical block on the LUT were internal and did not connect to the launch vehicle directly. |
SpaceAholic
Member Posts: 4437
From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 01-22-2011 02:16 PM
Looks to me like the connector engaged the carrier umbilical plate. It was the carrier umbilical plate which interfaced to and detached from the launch vehicle (pneumatically actuated push-off pins and cam-off mechanisms helped disengage the carrier plates as swing-arm retraction was initiated). |
David Carey
Member Posts: 782
From:
Registered: Mar 2009
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posted 01-22-2011 06:38 PM
Yup; makes perfect sense. You'd want to engage this connector with some kind of bulkhead passthrough block in the umbilical plate, which in turn engages/disengages on the 'far side' with the Saturn. |
spacefan JC
Member Posts: 86
From: UK
Registered: Jun 2010
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posted 01-22-2011 11:00 PM
Yet again you guys come up trumps. These drawings will make for a nice little display. Its funny, I come across Amphenol connectors like this almost daily at work, but they are just inanimate objects. This one on the other hand, has special properties, and I’m going to display it. I guess this is part of the magic of space collecting. A small lump of plastic and metal is now elevated to something to behold. This is the part of space collecting that only collectors understand, and I just can’t explain to my wife! |
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