In the late 1950s, the Soviets were the first to put Sputnik in orbit, and they were the first to put a dog in space. And they also led the Free World in another important area, namely, the kerosene powered radio, as shown here in this leaked photo from the August 1958 issue of Radio & TV News.

The set was designed for export to the Middle East, to allow listeners there to tune into Radio Moscow. The 7-tube set covered 175 kHz through 12.3 MHz in four bands, but it’s main feature was its ability to run off kerosene, thanks to a thermocouple and vibrator power supply. The thermocouple, heated by the kerosene lamp, put out 1.2 volts, which lit the filaments directly, and powered the vibrator supply putting out 90 volts. If normal A and B batteries were available, the set could also be run directly from them.

As with Sputnik, the West lagged behind. I recall the 1966 edition of the World Book Encyclopedia carried a “candle powered radio.” You can view the plans for that project at the Wayback machine..  It was a one-transistor set powered by the junction of two dissimilar metals heated by the candle. The American set would probably pull in one or two local stations with a headphone, but the Soviet model would have been able to pull in stations from around the world, with push-pull audio driving a powerful 5 inch speaker for room-filling volume.

The Soviet set was  said to be capable of 8-16 hours operation from a quart of fuel.