A hundred years ago this month, the July 1922 issue of Science and Invention carried the plans for this, which the magazine called the “simplest radio receiver.” The plans had been sent in by Leon Webster, who won $50 in the process, as the third-place winner of the magazine’s radio design competition.

According to Webster, the set could be constructed by a twelve year old boy, and a great deal of pleasure could be obtained. All that was needed was an outside antenna and ground, a tuning coil, condenser, and detector.

The condenser consisted of one from a defunct Model T spark coil, and the detector was a piece of galena or silicon. The coil, as shown here, was homemade on a piece of wood. The set would work with an old telephone receiver, but for better results, a 1000 ohm headphone was the better option.