Category Archives: World War 2

1943 British Homemade Alarm Clock

1943JulPracMechWar meant shortages of many things in Britain, and one of those things was alarm clocks. But people had to get up, and the July 1943 issue of Practical Mechanics carried these plans for taking matters into your own hands. It was sent in to the magazine by one R.W. Lewthwaite of Plymouth.

It’s not a new idea. We’ve previously shown similar designs from 1911 and 1921.  The basic idea is quite simple. Since the metallic hour hand is going around anyway, you can set it to make electrical contact at a certain hour and turn on a bell or buzzer. In this case, it turns on both a lamp and buzzer, powered by two flashlight batteries. A switch is also included to turn it off when not in use.

Here, a thin brass extension is soldered to the hand so that it can make contact with a bolt mounted in the glass face. The article even includes instructions for the delicate process of drilling through the glass. The thin brass strap has sufficient slack so that it doesn’t slow down the clock. If that turns out to be a problem, then a thinner piece of brass should be used.

According to Mr. Lewthwaite’s letter to the magazine, there has been a lot of discussion lately about the short supply of alarm clocks. But fortunately, he was able to find an adequate supply of “eight-day car clocks” to press into service.  Presumably, lack of fuel meant that the market for automotive accessories had dried up.

As we noted in our earlier posts of similar ideas, young STEM enthusiasts can use a similar idea to make their own alarm clock.



Keep Your Radio Working: 1943

1943JulRadioRetailingEighty years ago, domestic radio production had been shut down for over a year, and there would be no new radios for the duration of the war. Therefore, it was every American’s patriotic duty to keep their current radio in working order.

In this ad in the June 1943 issue of Radio Retailing, the makers of Tung-Sol tubes was making available to dealers this display of booklets, containing hints for consumers on how to keep their radio working. The ad noted that many Tung-Sol tubes were available to dealers, so that if repairs were needed, they were probably possible.



Kids with Bicycles Wanted for Wartime Deliveries

1943JuneBLThis interesting ad appeared in Boys’ Life magazine eighty years ago this month, June 1943. It encouraged boys and girls to do their part toward the war effort by making themselves and their bicycles available to local retailers for deliveries, since they were “finding difficulty in getting grown men for delivery work.”

For kids who already had a bike, they could start offering their services.  But if they didn’t have one, they could “go to their nearest Roadmaster Bicycle (Cleveland Welding Company) dealer and ask him to help you fill out an application to get a bicycle.”

The application was necessary because bicycles, like many wartime commodities were being rationed, and were available only to those in critical occupations.  Specifically, they were not being made as children’s toys.  But if the kids were willing to be the last mile of the wartime supply chain, then presumably they qualified.

The wartime models were bare bones, without many features.  So the ad encouraged kids to  invest their earnings in war bonds, and buy a post-war model as soon as they became available.



1943 “Gibson Girl” Transmitter

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Eighty years ago this month, the June 1943 issue of Radio News showed the transmitter that was to become known as the “Gibson Girl.”  The two downed airmen had nothing but hope, and their potential rescuer was beyond the horizon, with no way of knowing they were there.

But that was soon to change, and the men would have with them a hand-cranked transmitter capable of summoning help over long distances, thanks to an automated message sent on 500 kHz.  Rescuers would be able to hear it for hundreds of miles, and zero in on their location through radio direction finding.

The antenna was to be made out of Belden wire, and they were justifiably proud of it.



Electric Sentry for Air Raid Warden: 1943

1943MayPM5Eighty years ago, this west coast air raid warden was subject to call at any moment, but he might need to be somewhere in his house other than next to the telephone. His solution was to use something called an “electric sentry” to alert him.

As near as I can tell, an “electric sentry” was a one-way intercom, which used the house wiring to transmit the signal. The transmitter was plugged in near the telephone ringer. He could then carry the receiver to another room in the house, or even a neighbor’s house, with the assurance that he would hear the ringing phone.1943MayPM6

Here, he appears to have the sentry receiver nearby while he repairs a radio. His daughter assists him by trying on his warden’s helmet. The transmitter is shown at right.

The item appeared in the May 1953 issue of Popular Mechanics.



Woody’s Radio Service, New York, 1943

1943MayRadioRetailingThis busy looking wartime shop at 131 East 34th Street, New York, was actually two stores. Shown at the left is Woody, the proprietor of Woody’s Radio Service. At the right is O. Saporta, owner of a business that sold music and records, and had recently started carrying greeting cards.

Woody’s business kept him very occupied, as he specialized in servicing hotels and apartments in the “high class section” of the city. His clientele consisted of many of the best-known people in New York. In addition, he did work for the Merchant Marine, and serviced “Muzak” in hotels.

Saporta, with whom he shared the store, was well known in New York music circles, according to the May 1943 issue of Radio Retailing, where the picture appeared.



1943 Victory Gardens

Screenshot 2023-05-02 1.16.45 PMEighty years ago today, the May 3, 1943, issue of Life magazine showed a few of the 18,000,000 victory gardens that had taken the place of lawns, fields, and even prison yards. Shown above are the “pretty bare-legged girls” of the Jane Addams High School in Portland, Oregon. The school, whose students were being “educated in house-wifey virtues,” replaced the school’s smooth green lawn with this garden, whose produce would be used in the school cafeteria, nursery school, and “practice house.”



1943 Air Raid Tip

1943MarPM1Eighty years ago this month, the March 1943 issue of Popular Mechanics showed this preparedness tip. During an air raid, the first thing you would of course grab would be the radio. This cloth cover fits over the set and contains other items needed during a blackout. As an added bonus, it covered the front and back of the set to keep any light from leaking out.



Eclipse Litigation.

1943 “Little Giant” Broadcast Receiver

1943MarPM3The March issue of Popular Mechanics typically carried the plans for a receiver dubbed the “Little Giant,” and despite the war, the March 1943 issue was no exception.  The couple shown above are putting the finishing touches on the set.

Wartime parts shortages were taken into consideration, and the set could be constructed with many parts found in the junk box. For example, the coils were wound on the cardboard forms retrieved from an old flashlight battery.

The circuit was a simple 3-tube TRF set, using a 12K7GT as RF amplifier, 12J7GT detector, and a 70L7GT AF amplifier driving a PM speaker. With a good antenna, the set would pull in stations a thousand miles away, but still had good selectivity for use even in a city with many stations.

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War Emergency Radio Service, 1943

1943FebRadioRetailing2We’ve previously discussed the War Emergency Radio Service (WERS), a wartime civil defense service set up to harness the talents of amateur radio operators who were otherwise off the air for the duration of World War II.

Eighty years ago this month, the February 1943 issue of Radio Retailing takes a look at how the local radio dealer might fill part of the need in supplying equipment and expertise. The illustration shown above is a mobile repair facility, and undoubtedly some of the personnel shown here service radios as their civilian job as well.

In addition to radio operators, a role likely filled by hams, the dealers might fit into one of five other categories: Maintenance, procurement, construction, repair, and training.