Monthly Archives: November 2018

American Basic Scientific Club

1958NovBL This ad for the American Basic Scientific Club appeared inside the back cover of Boys’ Life 60 years ago this month, November 1958.  For only $3.45 each, the club would send one scientific kit per month for eight months, each containing an interesting project on subject such as radio, meteorology, atomic energy, and photography.  At the end of eight months, the student would have a working regenerative receiver, signal tracer, code practice oscillator, darkroom (including enlarger), and many other scientific instruments.

I don’t recall hearing about this club, which was apparently in decline by the 1970s when I would have been interested.  There’s an interesting history of the club at this website, written by the son of the founder.  And a picture of the three-tube regenerative receiver, along with a partial schematic, can be found at this link.  The set appears to be mounted on a chassis made of a single piece of metal, mounted on the cardboard box in which the kit arrived.  It does have a power transformer, making it relatively safe for the young experimenter.

One of the books included with the kits was a guide to obtaining a ham radio license.  It appears that the receiver could be built for either the AM broadcast band or 80 meters, meaning that it probably made a workable receiver for a new novice.



1938 One Tube Regen

1938NovRadioCraftEighty years ago this month, the November 1938 issue of Radio Craft carried the plans for this handsome one-tube regenerative set built around a type 1231 pentode tube.  The tube appears to be unobtainium today, and was an amplifier tube used in early television circuits. It appears that a more available 7V7 can be substituted.

The author reported that he was tasked, right before deadline, in whipping up a circuit and construction article for a simple receiver, and designed and built the set in a single evening before sitting down to write the article. With just a short wire dangling out the window of a modern steel building, the author reported that both broadcast and shortwave stations began pouring in.

1938NovRadioCraftSchematic



Checking for High Voltage Without a Meter

1943NovPM75 years ago, wartime shortages meant that meters were not readily available. The November 1943 issue of Popular Mechanics offers this tip for checking whether high voltage is present. A small capacitor (.25 to 2 uF, 400 volt) has spaghetti tubing placed over the leads, which are connected where the high voltage is being tested for. The capacitor is then removed and the ends shorted. A spark indicates the presence of high voltage.



“I Poured A Death Potion For My Sick Baby!” 1938

1938NovPMEighty years ago, an Eveready flashlight and Eveready batteries saved another life, as recounted in this ad from the November 1938 issue of Popular Mechanics.

The story was sent in by Mrs. Camille Dearkin of 222-09 135th Avenue, Springfield Gardens, Long Island. It was one of those nights. Her one year old son was seriously ill with whooping cough, and her husband was also “down with the grippe.” And while she was going to bed, she managed to blow a fuse.

Since she didn’t know how to replace the fuse, she decided to wait until the morning. But she was awakened by her son’s terrible coughing, and rushed in the dark to the medicine cabinet to find the medicine.

Her hand was shaking in the dark as she fumbled in the medicine cabinet until she encountered what she believed was the bottle. But her shaking was such that she spilled the medicine, and she realized that she needed light to properly measure it. So in spite of her panic, she took the time to get her husband’s trusty Eveready flashlight.

When she got it, to her horror, she realized that she had taken the wrong bottle! In her hand, she was holding not the cough syrup, but a bottle of deadly poisonous disinfectant! The Eveready batteries had saved her baby’s life.

Of course, it’s probably best not to store deadly poison right next to the medicine. But if you do, make sure you keep your Eveready flashlight handy.

People frequently Google their own names and names of family members, and I always enjoy hearing from them to follow up on these old stories.  So if you are the 81 year old Mr. Dearkin mentioned in this story, I would love to hear from you.  Please feel free to contact me at clem.law@usa.net, as I would enjoy sharing your recollections of this event.