Ninety years ago, the humble crystal set was already regarded by many as obsolete. But it still had its uses, and one of those was for use by kids, who could tune in their own programs while the family listened on the big set in the parlor.

The July 1933 issue of Popular Mechanics shows everything you need to know about making one. If you had a broken down radio, the tuning capacitor and coil could be salvaged, meaning that you already had most of the necessary parts. The simple design here was said to work well if you had a station within 25 miles. For a larger version of the article, click on the image above.