Tuchel plug
Tuchel connector is the slang term for a connector developed in the 1930s by the German engineer Ulrich Tuchel , which was widely used in the field of electroacoustics . In contemporary audio technology, the field of activity covered is now mostly taken over by the XLR connector, which is why the Tuchel connector is considered obsolete here.
history
The Tuchel plugs were developed by Ulrich Tuchel, engineer of the Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft , in the 1930s to simplify the interchangeability of radio equipment and were first used on a large scale at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. In 1943 the contact was introduced in all German radio studios. After the war, Tuchel founded the company Tuchel Kontakt (today Amphenol -Tuchel Electronics GmbH ), which continued to produce the connectors. Up to the 1980s, Tuchel plugs were mainly used in professional sound systems and in the recording studio area for microphone and loudspeaker connections .
The special feature of the connectors was their self-cleaning contacts, which was achieved through a special design as multiple blade contacts. This reduced the contact resistance to less than a twelfth compared to good banana plugs . This contact construction was also the basis for the company logo of the Tuchel company.
Nowadays, Tuchel plugs are rarely found, for example in event rooms and churches that were set up in the 1970s and 1980s. In the professional audio sector, they have mainly been replaced by the more robust and much easier-to-use, but also larger XLR connectors; in the home audio sector through cinch connectors.
variants
Kleintuchel (DIN 41524)
Even today , the screwable DIN connectors called Kleintuchel are produced in accordance with the DIN standard for DIN plugs (DIN 41524) with numbers of pins from 3 to 8 (and with fine pins even up to 14) pins, also up to protection class IP68. In addition to Amphenol-Tuchel, manufacturers include Franz Binder and Lumberg Connect GmbH.
The pin assignment of the Kleintuchel connectors in audio technology is 1 = positive phase (+), 2 = shield (ground), 3 = negative phase (-). The counting method corresponds to that of the 3-pin DIN connector . The coupling has a rotatable sleeve that is screwed over the plug. The 5-pole version (180 °) can also be used as an alternative to couplings.
Großtuchel (DIN 41624)
There was also a larger connector variant known as the Grosstuchel . Typical of the Großtuchel connector are its three contacts, which are arranged like a "Y". It can be locked by screwing.
The pin assignment of the Großtuchel connector in audio technology is 1 = positive phase (+), 2 = negative phase (-), 3 = shield (ground). When used as a microphone or loudspeaker connection, there is signal compatibility with the XLR connectors that are mostly used for these purposes today, so that retrofitting is possible without any problems through appropriate re-soldering, taking into account the different pin assignments (see XLR ).
In the picture on the left you can see a large Tuchel plug (type T 3079 002) and a small Tuchel coupling (type T 3261 001) on the right. When enlarged accordingly, the former logo of the Tuchel company can also be seen on the front of the small cloth.
More Tuchel products
Other connectors from the Tuchel company were, for example, rectangular contact strips, other circular connectors, 4 mm laboratory plugs and non-screwable DIN connectors.
See also
Other connector shapes in the audio sector include XLR and Cinch, Speakon , jack plugs , and pickup plugs . Philips also had a proprietary system for ELA connectors called 977 / F05 .
Web links
- Connection plugs for microphones (PDF; 85 kB)
- Historical information