The one-tube shortwave receiver shown here appeared in Boys’ Life magazine in October, 1951. It’s a very simple regenerative circuit using a single 3A4 tube. According to the accompanying article (which carried no byline), the circuit was designed by the ARRL. The filaments were powered by the two dry cells in series, with a 22.5 volt battery supplying the B+. The Boys’ Life editors priced the components at $17.05 in New York, and noted that most Scouts could beat that price both by shopping around and by asking a friendly local ham for components from the junk box.
The article is a bit sketchy on details; in fact, it doesn’t mention the tuning range. But from the size of the coil and capacitor, I’m guessing that its coverage is in the vicinity of 40 meters. The Novice class license had just been created by the FCC, and the article notes that the little receiver would be good for code practice for earning that license:

For your money and time you will have a working receiver capable of picking up amateur signals, ships at sea, aircraft, and the code-practice broadcasts of the American Radio Relay League. The League broadcasts at 9:30 P.M., Monday through Friday, at Eastern Standard Time. If you’re after the Novice Class ticket, you’ll find the ARRL broadcasts tops for real practice.

The same receiver appeared in the Radio Merit Badge pamphlet, a copy of which has been scanned and placed online by AL7FS.  It appears that the receiver appeared in the merit badge book until 1962. From the text, it appears that a requirement at that time was to construct a receiver and use it to log five stations, and this one would certainly be up to the task.

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