Army Signal Corps Power Unit

I recently acquired a US Army Signal Corps Power Unit #PE-75-M. It has an AC (frequency?) generator, belt driven from a Mod. ZZ Briggs & Stratton. I determined from the engine serial No. that it was built in Feb., 1945. There is no tag on the generator. I searched NTIS and found nothing. I also e-mailed a site I found advertising military manuals but received no reply after 2 messages. Would anyone know anything about this unit? I would like to get a manual if possible.

Hey Tom, how's it going. I have one of these units, It is 110 AC, 60 Cycle, 1800 watts. I dated the engine on mine at late 1943. These were military standards, made by a number of contractors, mine was made by Climax Engineering, Clinton IA. I believe the generator itself was made by Leland Electric. I had an almost identical unit, but it had a Briggs 23BP engine and was made in 1954, by the Penn Boiler and Burner Corp. I don't have any other info on them.

Thanks for the info, Gus. I didn't have the number quite right (couldn't read my own writing). It is a PE-75-AA, not PE-75-M.

hello gus, i have the identical army signal corps generator made in 1954 with the briggs 23bp engine. pretty awesome generator set-up. sorry i don't have any manuals, wish i did. have a good evening.

I had one of these some years ago. The engine runs at about 2100 RPM and the generator (alternator) runs at 1800 RPM. The belt drive may have small variances and that is why I said about 2100 RPM for the engine. The generator has to be at 1800 RPM for 60 Cycle current. The generator is self regulating voltage wise, and the output is a little on the high side at 130 volts to make up for extension cord losses. While the generator rating was around 2.5 Kw, the maximum output before the engine runs out of throttle was around 4 Kw. If yours has the stock muffler, adding about 8 feet of flex exhaust metal hose makes them a lot quieter.

These are a good rugged unit, a little heavy for old retired guys to lift and that is why they came with four oak handles that were stored on the sides of the mounting base with small "L" shaped clips. The oak handles were inserted into the tubes at the ends of the frame so four people could pick them up and carry them.

As for manuals, many of these units were given to Air Force MARS members for emergency backup power. The MARS members were Amateur Radio operators who were a part of the Military Affiliate Radio Service (MARS) and were elgible to receive this surpluss equipment for their participation. My unit came from Wheelus(sp)Air Force Base in Lybia back in about 1953.

Hope that helps a little bit.

Thanks, Russ. I wondered what those clips on the side of the base were for. I haven't had time to get the unit running yet. It needs a little minor work, mostly carb, linkage and fuel tank. Did yours have the reactors in the box on the generator? One of those had come loose and shorted against a terminal. It looks like minor damage from arcing but is not cooked.

I am not sure I know what you mean by "Reactors". There was some sort of a radio interferance filter circuit inside the power plug box on the side of the generator. Was this what you were refering to?

The spark plug was also a shielded type which looked like an aircraft engine spark plug. The version I had also had a fuel pump on the side of the engine so it could run from an external fuel tank remote from the engine. A few hours running time was all I could get from the engine mounted gas tank. Should check the oil occasionally anyway so this wasn't much of a problem. It was just a bragging point for me to the others in our Air Force MARS group who had the older engines with no fuel pump.

Hi guys,I have 2 N.O.S canvas covers for that model generator in O.D color,one still in the paper bag never opened for sale.$40.00 for the pair.These are the only 2 I have ever seen for these type.John.

It cost me about $100 to have a new cover made out of truck tarp material for my late model 5Kw generator. Sounds to me like a very good price.