What’s in a name?
Techno Talk
Mark Nelson
This month we check out various names of gadgetry encountered in everyday electronics. Some of them
are informative, others silly or even a bit dated (like me!) — but still vaguely amusing in their own way.
L
et’s kick off with ‘flower
power’, dating from the swinging sixties, when we all wore
sandals and cheesecloth shirts, with
flowers in our hair. Hobby electronics
was not a dirt-cheap hobby back then,
but transistors were just beginning to
become affordable (especially if you
bought the cheaper but slightly outof-spec ones). Silicon devices were far
too expensive for most folk, so we settled for flower power (in other words
germanium) devices. Because many
people were not very good at spelling,
they wrote ‘geranium’ instead, hence
the flower power nickname. Yes, hilariously amusing.
In those far-off days, transistor sets
were still in the process of ousting the
older valve/tube radios. Manufacturers
used the trendy term ‘solid state’ to
promote the new generation of transistorised products, prompting electronics
hobbyists to invent the name ‘hollow
state’ for sets that still used round glass
things that ran hot.
Culpable and colourful capacitors
Of course, anything electronic that ran
hot was prone to drifting and general
unreliability. Many components could
not tolerate excessive heat, which is
probably how electrolytic capacitors
acquired their nickname of ‘smoothing bombs’ (particularly the ones with
ominously bulging top seals). Like most
electronic components, capacitors use
smoke as their active ingredient! If they
are overheated or overloaded, they explode and release the smoke that up till
then had powered them. This is why
you should always conduct a ‘smoke
test’ to check whether a newly built
or repaired gadget will run for several
hours without liberating any smoke.
Some folk will tell you that smoke
testing is not a silly name invented by
electronicists, but rather an entirely rational term borrowed from the plumbing
trade. After new pipework has been installed, smoke is created artificially, blown
into the tubing, thereby enabling an observer to check the pipes and make sure
no smoke is leaking. There may be some
8
truth in this assertion because an alternative name for this exercise is a ‘soak test’,
in which newly constructed or repaired
equipment is observed under stressful
condition over an extended period. Burst
pipes would be a clear indication of failure. But we are drifting off-topic, so let’s
get back to dodgy capacitors.
Highly suspect are the capacitors
nicknamed ‘humbugs’, ‘black beauties’
and ‘bumblebees’, which were made
in the 1950s – all three being of similar construction. They are notorious
for drifting in value or failing to block
DC properly, thus contributing to overheated anodes (by putting a false bias
on the next stage of amplification) and
early valve death in general. Their weak
point was a Bakelite resin shell that all
too often cracked or crumbled, allowing moisture to enter and degrade the
paper dielectric.
Humbugs looked strikingly similar to
the old-fashioned mint humbug sweet,
while bumblebees took their name from
the coloured stripes used to indicate
their value. Most electronicists replace
these caps without bothering to even
test them. Far more desirable, both in
looks and reliability, were and are the
Mullard/Philips C280 miniature metallised metal film capacitors, dating
from the mid-1960s. Known universally
by their ‘tropical fish’ nickname, they
remain highly regarded for their immunity to moisture and temperature drift.
Same item, different name
Let’s take the humble phono connector – not to be confused with a phone
connector of course. Why does such a
commonplace item have at least three
names in the English language? And
why phono? Answering the second
question first, it’s a throwback from
when owners of radio receivers (wireless sets) could for the first time connect
a record deck or electric phonograph.
On the rear of these upmarket radios
was a small coaxial connector marked
‘phono’ for plugging in the connecting
cable. Presumably, this feature originated in the US, where gramophones
were called phonographs.
Wikipedia confirms this and adds that
the connector was launched in 1937 by
the RCA company, which explains why
most Americans calls these plugs ‘RCA
connectors’. On the other hand, many
people call them ‘Cinch connectors,’ a
term widespread in continental Europe.
Historically, the British and US Cinch
companies made all manner of connectors, but whether they also made phono
connectors I cannot say at this moment.
Another classic design of connector
with many applications in electronics
is the barrel connector, which is a small
coaxial connector used for hooking up a
low-voltage power source to both consumer electronic devices and a host
of industrial products. The (presumably American) author of the Wikipedia
page accords it the alternative names of
‘concentric barrel connector’ and ‘tip
connector’, but sadly omits the name
‘ROKA connector’, which is used widely
in Europe. Why sadly? Because the design of this connector that is now used
all over the world originated in Germany
and derives from the initials of the Robert
Karst electronics company.
While we are on this subject, it’s worth
noting that conventionally these connectors are centre-positive, but this applies
only in consumer electronics. In the US,
the reverse applies on professional and
industrial equipment, the centre pin
being negative. If a gadget using these
power connectors appears to be dead
even though the power supply is known
to be good, the reversed method of wiring may be the cause. Note that the pin
of these connectors can measure either
2.1mm or 2.5mm in diameter (2.1mm is
more commonplace). A 2.5mm power
connector plugged into a device equipped
with a 2.1mm pin will not make contact.
I once discarded a perfectly good ‘wall
wart’ power supply after failing to spot
this stupid mistake!
One final case of pluggery with multiple names is the mini jack connector,
also known as a 3.5mm or 1/8-inch plug
or socket. The proper name for the socket
is a ‘jack’ and the corresponding ‘plug’
is the proper name for what some folk
confusingly call a ‘jack plug’.
Practical Electronics | September | 2022
