The Armature Insulation Story
1943
Written 09/2012
Howard Yasgar
This story was told to me by Barney Kaplan of Detroit Michigan, Barney was an automotive electrician for many years. And this story will probably only be of interest to people familiar with the automotive electrical trade.
Barney passed away in 2015 at 96 years of age.
During WW2, many items were rationed, and some items were just not available, so a lot of innovation was required to get the job done.
One day in 1943 during the war, a household goods salesman came to the Detroit suburbs, He walked the streets knocking on every door selling whatever he could out of his catalog.
At the end of the streets, was an automotive electrical repair shop, so he salesman went inside.
The Electrical technician was working at a bench putting new wire into an armature for an automobile generator.
The salesman sort of cornered the electrical mechanic and showed him his catalog.
The technician politely told him he didn’t need any household goods, but the salesman was persistent. So to get rid of him the mechanic said. “Look I don’t need anything, but if you leave me your business cards I will make sure they circulate all over town.
The salesman reached in his pocket and took out a stack of business cards and placed them on the electrician’s bench, they shook hands and the salesman left.
As soon as he was gone the electrician took the business cards and with a scissors cut them up into strips and used them as insulation in the generator armature he was rewinding.
He didn’t feel guilty because he knew the armature he was repairing would be circulating all around town once he installed it on the car.
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