Monday, January 7, 2019

Entrex Data/Scope Keystation Connector: Winchester Electronics MRE14S and MRS14P

Well, we finally figured out what this bizarre connector was, and to my astonishment, 
they aren't quite as rare as I thought!

Winchester MRE14
Winchester MRS14
Continental 14-20
Gorn GM-14
GMCT Connector
Positronic GM14


Thank you to Dominique, for sharing this picture of the connector to your 

Entrex Data/Scope Keystation "Terminal",  from your private collection...
What a bizarre plug!

Here's where the cord comes out of the back of the Keystation.  (I believe that this id-tag is for the Keystation's power supply, instead of for the terminal itself.)
Here's the back of the machine, where it plugs into:
And the backside of the boards that hold those female "sockets":
And how it connects on the inside of the "keystation" terminal
So here is my verbose YouTube commentary on acquiring some of these plugs on eBay!
We shall watch them in reverse order, from most conclusive to "still exploring and fumbling around"
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The journey started with me searching "vintage mainframe connectors" images, and the closest thing I can find is this possible female component, which may be the same style, just with more pins.  It's part of a Vintage Univac Mainframe Computer Read / Write Head
What is that lettering molded into the middle of it, I can't quite make it out.  It looks upside-down.  Is it the word "CONTINENTAL"?
Yes, that's it!  

Most of them seem to be this seafoam-green color.  Did I find the exact 3-row, 14-pin model right here at marchelectronics.com?  


D-2004-0589-001 and D-2500-P2A22-61-50 pair, as shown in the animated .gif on this page?


Yet this company's site doesn't return any results for these part numbers, neither does Google, except for this one animated .gif.  I'm so confused...


Similar number at netcomponents.com

and one at Resion.com

which appears to be a socket only, with no receiving pin-sleeves (or pins).

which appears to be the "plug" as far as the clamp-screws are oriented, but the pins seem to be female rather than male on this side, but this is really close!  Do these pins swap out?

The 14-20PG FSN 5935-257-8730 (formerly 5935-258-1709 ?) connectors appear to be the correct vintage and color, and , although I won't be buying a lot of 500 of them!  And still not he exact same plug. But not quite, with the pin gender...  But was this packaged in April of 1964?  That's closer to the vintage I was expecting on early '70s equipment...
 

Aha, NOW we're getting even closer with the 14-20-S, except we're missing some of the pin receivers in the holes, only 10 out of 14, ugh!  And look at that packaging date, is that 1955?  Wow, these are old!
 
 


Remarkably similar to the modern Vishay (Dale) SMP20 and SMS20...maybe this is the right route!  But I can't find any currently for sale online, so I've contacted a few distributors...

Now I'm liking the prices of Surplus Sales of Nebraska for at least one side of this connector:
(CON) GM14M Gorn Electronics connector. Male. 14 pin. Pins are tarnished. Alt P/N: 81D4-14..








And, I'm learning that the plug "cover" or "housing" is called a "hood", which is shown on the original plug above.  I've found plenty of Continental Connectors with "hoods", but none of them with the same 3-row 14-pin configuration.
Winchester connector plug with hood. 18 position. 1" guide post centers.



Winchester MRE series hood. 0.59" c-c mounting holes.

And, I may need these pins, but are they the right diameter?
Burndy female pin for connector body. 13 pins per strip, 5 strips per box, 65 pins total. 
Gold & silver. 0.102" outer diameter x 0.708" long.


The latest, a GMCT Connector:
Because there's at least one of these that's actually part of Dominique's system:
Which leads to "Positronic" GM14, yes, that's right!
 
 
 
 


1 comment:

  1. Internal of this terminal, this connector is used in several places: https://www.te.com/usa-en/product-1-480270-0.html
    Courtesy Jim Brain

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