RCA MI-9584 on a Battleship horn!

so yet another in my long list of interesting things that I need to pass along to the next person is this awesome oddity:

so the RCA fans out there will immediately see the MI-9584 on there

yes.. brand new... original hang tag still attached to both of them

Bureau of Ships!

that alnico magnet and the unmistakable back cap of the MI-9584

so who knows what this is over the diaphragm??  answer:  a blast cap!  horns work both directions, right?  therefore a cannon blast on the deck would blow a diaphragm *backwards*... and this prevented that... 

yep.. sealed screws... 

so this is the autoformer to set levels.. lots of taps... you could actually go from a 2A3 plate, through a cap into the 3200 ohm tap... 45 into the 6400 tap.... 

and tapped input, of course... 

so UPS had its way with the mate... but, the horn did its job of protecting the driver!

anybody know what "Reproducer - Class H & M" means?

check out those mounts!  the picture does not do them justice... that hole is at least 1/2"... maybe 3/4"..

and that back cap!

the shipping "ding"

same magnet.. same diaphragm... same blast cap... 

note the green color inside... made for the army originally?

sealed screws again.. 

patents.. 

same autoformer... 

so there you have it... another oddity from the collection... 

I was planning to pull the drivers.... but have not had the heart.. and besides, I have a few already... it is honestly in my top three for that magic 200 to 2k decade... just a big, bold, and smooth midrange... 

if anyone out there has interest, email me... experiencemusic at hotmail dot com ... 

peace,
me