General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

1

Total Parts

5

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

Synthetic casing, cord covering, and connector end, glass (possible) lens, and metal wires with some fibre insulation.

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

35.5 cm

Width

25.0 cm

Height

16.8 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Aviation

Category

Communications

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

GRIMES

Country

United States of America

State/Province

Ohio

City

Urbana

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Unknown

Period

Unknown

Canada

The Grimes C-3A signal lamp was widely used by the U.S. Army Air Forces and, perhaps, the U.S. Navy, during the Second World War. Grimes Manufacturing was well known for its aircraft lights (green red and white), mounted on the wings, tail, etc. of civilian and military machines (see Ref. 2). It is entirely possible that Royal Canadian Air Force people used Grimes signal lamps during and / or after the Second World War. This signal lamp was presumably sold as war surplus, in the U.S. or Canada, after the end of the conflict. At some point during the post war years, it was modified to plug into the cigarette lighter of an automobile. Whether or not this was done in Canada is unclear.

Function

Lampe utilisée pour transmettre des signaux lumineux. Apparemment utilisée par les équipages de gros avions pour communiquer entre eux, ou avec le sol, quand toute communication radio était interdite pour raison de sécurité.

Technical

As was written above, Grimes Manufacturing was well known for its aircraft lights, mounted on the wings, tail, etc. of civilian and military machines. The company’s designs were adopted in 1933 by the U.S. Department of Commerce. The all-important patent was awarded in 1936. Warren G. Grimes (1898-1975) has been described as the Father of the Aircraft Lighting Industry. Grimes Manufacturing is still with us, as Urbana-based Grimes Aerospace Company, a subsidiary of Honeywell International Incorporated. What is interesting about the Grimes signal lamp donated to the collection is its transformation from a military, airplane-oriented item to a civilian, ground-based one, closely associated to an automobile.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

Printed on the label on the proper back: "Property/ Air Force/ U.S./ Army/ [logo] GRIMES/ LAMP ASSEMBLY/ INTER-AIRCRAFT CONTROL/ TYPE C-3A 24 VOLT/ SPEC. No. 94-32288-A/ GRIMES PART D-2313 TYPE K-3/ CONTRACT No. W 535 AC-27818/ Grimes Mfg. Co. Urbana, Ohio"/ On the logo on the proper top: "AIRCRAFT LIGHTING/ GRIMES/ URBANA OHIO U.S.A."/ In raised letters on the proper left side of the handle: "GRIMES/ MFG. CO./ MODEL/ K-3/ URBANA/ OHIO"

Missing

Original electrical end replaced with a 12V automobile connector.

Finish

Black synthetic casing with a translucent glass lens and a mirrored reflector. There is a brown paper label on the proper back, and a red, yellow and black logo on the proper top. Attached to the handle is a black cord, with a cut and split end showing beige fibres, a black and a beige wire, and a red connector attached to the end.

Decoration

N/A