montgomery: Unusual component, clockradio GEN-1851A

Dear friends,

does anybody know specific information about this part called "couplate"? I found it inside a clockradio Montgomery Ward "Airline" Model GEN-1851A from 1959. It contains 8 (!) components (resistors and capacitors, see figure of wiring diagram). Could be that I am forced to replace it because the radio does not play. How was it manufactured ? It looks very "modern", like a ceramic filter of today.

Thank you in advance
Rolf
Bilder bitte durch einen Freischlag trennen. Es wird sonst der Rahmen gesprengt!.

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hi rolf , let me start by saying ive never worked or seen one of those models , but from ur pics the 'couplate ' looks like a wax capacitor to me , what makes u pos itive that this is the r eason the radio wont play ?have u tested with a meter , the circuits and valves etc , it might be a good idea to try antiqueradios.com  , as they are an american forum and would probably have someone there who has firsthand knowledge of that particular model , keep in touch here as well , because u never know somebody might just come forward with previous knowledge of that set , good luck with ur project , best regards maitiu , [nb let us know when u complete ur project ]

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Hello Rolf, dear Maitiu,

this is not a wax capacitor, it is an early form of an integrated circuit incorporating an RC network in a single package.

More can be found out using the search engines.

And yes, if any of the subcomponents of the couplate is out of specs, you will have to replace the whole unit. You should however trace the error thoroughly before just replacing the couplate, as with any other defective component.

Best regards
Mark

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Rolf,

These devices are fairly common on American radios from the late 1950s and through the 1960s.  In general, they are fairly reliable (they don't contain paper capacitors), so they don't often need replacing.

Fortunately, the internal circuitry for yours is shown.  What can sometimes be frustrating is to find the couplate shown on a schematic simply as an empty box with multiple connections.  Since you know what is supposed to be in yours, you can test it using an ohmmeter and capacitor tester.

Best regards,

Tom

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Dear members,

thank you all for the precisely information : An early type of "single in line integrated circuit" with passive components.
And never fear !
I did not decide to remove this part. I am at the beginning of the restoration work, it was only one of many suspicious components.
The only inner part which most likely might be defect is the 6.8 MOhm resistor between the terminals 1 and 4. But it is okay, I made a measurement. And at least the capacitors with no resistor in parallel are also within the specified values. So I hope there is nothing wrong with this "progressive" part and I will use it further on.

Best regards
Rolf

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Dear Rolf,

With this maybe  you can check all the values
kind regards,

Dirk

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