This Is Weird - Mystery Military Missile Switch

And I thought Radar in MASH was fictional :)))

Looks like the small metal tab on the side gets pushed in which would rotate the shaft it is attached to. That may enable the switch by popping out the switch to allow it to be pushed in again. When the switch assembly is plugged into its socket perhaps another mechanism (safety key?) is turned to push in that aforementioned metal tab. Just a guess....

Darrell Ashby

I recognize the first line of digits on the envelope as a NATO Stock Number. The catalog entry is here: https://www.iso-group.com/NSN/6210-01-120-4940 - The first 4 digits are a material code (I think) which is usually irrelevant. - The next 2 digits are the country code: 00/01=USA, 99=UK, 17=Netherlands, etc. - The next 3 digits are the manufacturer - The last 4 digits are the item number. The catalog page has a lot of interesting information. The description is: [A LIGHT, WITH MOUNTING FACILITIES FURNISHED, DESIGNED TO CONVEY INFORMATION OF A SPECIFIC NATURE CONCERNING THE CIRCUIT IN WHICH INSERTED. MUST INCLUDE OR PROVIDE FOR THE USE OF A LENS AS A PART OF IT. FOR ITEMS WITHOUT A LENS, SEE LAMPHOLDER, AND ALSO SEE LIGHT (1), PANEL.] When I was in the army in the Netherlands in 1988 (when they still had conscription), I ran a parts shop for an artillery department. The mechanics would drop off forms with requests for parts with NATO Stock Numbers. I had to go through a big binder every day and look up the price of each item, and check if the mechanics needed to return the old item to the shop or not. Then I would order the item from our higher echelon. And I would make sure that replaced items would be sent off. Of course sometimes "mistakes" were made: a mechanic would order a "rivet" and a nice parts box would arrive, which of course was under the price point that it needed to be returned, so eh... the mechanic would keep it. Ahem. I heard from my boss at the time that they tried to do a similar thing one time (before I was there) by putting the NSN of a complete tow truck on a requisition form with a "mistake" description, and it actually arrived but they couldn't keep it.

Jac Goudsmit

Matt is right on the money. Friend was an airline engineer and I've been in these before, but plastic, along with some other amazing "BER" stuff I used to get. My current day job is in safety critical machinery (transport) and our switches have similar contruction, with gaskets to prevent debris, and similarily massively overengineered. The cost and risk of a failure is too expensive.

Anton

Seem so...

Fran Blanche

Oh yes!

Fran Blanche

Hi Fran, I wonder if the pins and contacts are Gold plated?

Is "Missiles Away" a real military label used on launch switches? Sounds like something out of a action flick :)

You are just flying, Fran. Thanks for yet another interesting video.

Simon Mikkelsen

Coverslips :) The small square microscope slide thingies :)

Don't push it Fran! :)

Would that blow up help? https://www.dallasavionics.com/eaton/eaton.pdf

Another great little video well done 👍 Think I am as intrigued and curious as you are on this one. I have no background in military so clueless, on this one. 🤔 The only thing that I can see it could have been, is a status indicator using the same back body of a push button/switch of its time. This does make me think I could do with a ejector button in my car. For when my missus is nagging to much! 🤣

It looks like from the FSCM # or "CAGE" code of 96182 that this particular unit was manufactured by Eaton. It also looks like it was used on Trident submarines. Quite an interesting find.

Here is some info from parttarget.com https://www.parttarget.com/6210-01-120-4940_6210011204940_351-27872-116.html/-8A1EEF52-0EA1-4337-BB99-0C1BEAC1165B

What if there is an electro-mechanical lock as per the twin key security activation found in minuteman silos? As for the rubber seal - the embarrassment of the boys when ww3 is started by a spilled cup of coffee during night shift!

Take off the diffuser, and there should be a quarter-twist screw between the bulbs that will release the front assembly on those little sprung rods and let it fall forward for bulb replacement access.

BobC

That is a system switch designed by Master Specialties in the late 1960s. They are designed to be configured in all types of custom configurations. They can have 0-4 switches, two to four lamps, divided caps where each lamp can light one of the four corners of the cap, each having a custom legend or just two lamps (because of heat) to light a non-divided cap like your switch has. Color filters in the cap can also be ordered and placed behind or in front of the lettering. Usually the engraved lettering layer is plastic, but you can get it in glass if it’s critical enough. “MISSILE AWAY” sounds like a “money is no object” government application. Your model is an indicator-only and you can see the template for the micro switches on the rear that could have been ordered with the switch configuration. You discovered the physical stop that prevents it from being pushed because no switches are installed. The switch body slides into either a single or multiple metal housing that it locks into via a screw behind the cap. They can be as simple as a light, or as complex as four micro switches, four individual lights, and four individual color filters. They can be mounted to a metal “cage” matrix chassis from just two switches up to 10 or more. Lighted switches can be mounted next to indicators and mixed any way the customer desires. The housings they slip into have a connector at the rear that accepts the pins from the switch body and allows soldering, or crimp-pin connections on the other side. This way, if the switch went bad, it could be removed from the metal housing without de-wiring it. That’s why you often find the modules you have since the housings were the least likely part to fail. It was a fairly successful switch series in the late 60s and into the 70s. The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 airliner used this exact model of switch in multiple cockpit panels. The main customer was the military, however, and I have dozens of examples of this switch series used in a wide variety of military control panels and a great many configurations. If I could link pictures, I would, but don’t have an on-line repository. If you actually want a good assortment of this model of switch, or panels with them installed, I’d be happy to donate them to you. It was a pretty good switch, but the all-plastic cap and legend had a tendency to get brittle over time and crack. You have the first engraved glass cap I’ve ever seen. The cost to do that compared to plastic is substantial. You could also order spring-loaded button guards that would have to be lifted to push the button. It was a very customizable switch in almost every way. They were too expensive for use in anything other than military and aerospace applications. Nice 60s craftsmanship, but there are much more exotic examples of military switches that were far more successful.

Matt Wietlispach

It may be overly complicated for an indicator light just because of the form factor of the panel it goes in. I was on subs, but was a nuke machinist mate, so the fire control system was out of my realm

Todd Corley

Got a bunch of these military grade buttons that look a bit similar. https://twitter.com/njrabit/status/1135244530079240194?s=20

BunnyBrewster