It was customary to use spacers or preformed bent-lead spacing
of heat sensitive components from the pcb. This prevented them
from overheating in the wave soldering machine. The same spacing
is and was used for parts that run hot to avoid cooking the PCB
underneath. Power resistors are an example. Early Ge transistors
were mounted on spacers for the same reason. Some cheap and
cheesy assembly houses such as the Russian (Latvian? - then USSR)
based factory which made VEF brand radios used unshortened pins
on the Ge transistors which makes for an odd sight when opening
one today (and a small miracle none shorted out while being=20
bumped over the years - these are portable radios!). Here's a
picture of the internals http://i44.tinypic.com/zv314x.jpg . I
am almost sure these were hand soldered but there is no way to
tell.

-- Peter


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