1943 Barb-Wire Telephone

1943SepRadioCraftEighty years ago this month, the September 1943 issue of Radio Craft carried this circuit, dubbed the “barb-wire telephone.” It was sent in to the magazine by one Fred H. Randolph (from another submission to the magazine, apparently of Booneville, AR), who reported using it to communicate with a friend three miles away, courtesy of an iron fence wire. The circuit is nothing more than an audio amplifier using a carbon button mike, and puts out enough power to drive a speaker at the other end of the circuit, where an identical unit is located.



Courtney’s Radio Service, Stratford, CT, 1943

1943SepRadioRetailingThe cover of Radio Retailing, September 1943, was a tribute to the WWW. No, it had nothing to do with the internet–it was honoring Women War Workers, such as Mrs. Wallace Courtney of Courtney’s Radio Service, Stratford, CT.

Before the war, the shop was run by her husband, who had recently taken a job in a war plant installing radios in planes. Despite shortages of both parts and help, Mrs. Courtney, also the mother of a 12 year old boy, kept sets moving along as fast as possible.

The magazine noted that Mrs. Courtney was typical of a lot of American wives and mothers, who without any fuss or furor, had stepped calmly into their men’s places for the duration.



1963 Homemade Microphone

1963SepEIWe’ve previously shown (here, here, here, and here) other homemade microphones. This idea for a carbon mike appeared in Electronics Illustrated, September 1963. The mike element itself is made of carbon granules. These are obtained by cutting open an old carbon-zinc battery and removing the carbon rod.
You grind them up finely with a file, or by using a metal rod as a rolling pin. The resulting granules are placed in a plastic bottle cap, and wired to a battery and transformer. Almost any type of transformer can be used, either an audio transformer or power transformer. The larger winding is connected to the mike element. The cap is set on top of a paper tube 2-3 inches in diameter, into which you speak.



Alabama Schools Integrated: 1963

1963Sep5PghSixty years ago today, schools were desegregated in Alabama, as reported here in the September 5, 1963, issue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  A hundred white persons were on hand to protest the two black children, Dwight and Floyd Armstrong, but according to the paper, the disorder was short lived.

Democratic Governor George Wallace didn’t intervene, but he did state that this was only the first battle.  About a week later, the 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed, killing four young girls.  Shortly thereafter, the church received over $300,000 (about $3 million in 2023 dollars) in unsolicited donations.



1923 Radio Walking Chair for Baby

1923SepPMA hundred years ago, this youngster is literally getting off on the right foot, thanks to this walking chair on which an eastern mother has installed a radio. Any station could be tuned in, and the child left to enjoy a concert or stories from the air. “Meanwhile, the child is able to push itself about and be entertained, and the cares of the mother are lightened.”

The photo appeared in the September 1923 issue of Popular Mechanics.



1938 One-Tube Shortwave Receiver

1938SepPM1This young woman is now about 90 years old, but in the September 1938 issue of Popular Mechanics, she is shown helping her father pull in a shortwave signal with the simple one-tube receiver described in that issue. It uses an RK-43 dual triode tube as regenerative detector and audio amplifier.

The set can be initially constructed for the standard broadcast band.  Then, to pull in the shortwaves, a fixed capacitor is switched in series with the main tuning capacitor to lower its capacitance.  In addition, shortwave coils are used in place of the coil for the broadcast band.

1938SepPM2

1938SepPMSchematic



1959 Grocery Prices

1959Aug31PghFor a snapshot of grocery prices in 1959, this ad for A&P appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on August 31, 1959.

The prices might look low, but there’s been a lot of inflation since 1959. According to this inflation calculator, one dollar in 1959 is the equivalent of $10.50 in 2023 dollars. The make the math easier, let’s just call it $10. So a can of beans or peas for a dime is really a dollar. And ham for 39 cents a pound is actually $3.90.

The minimum wage was $1 per hour, so an hour’s labor could buy you two cans of Spam at 49 cents each, with two cents left over. And if Junior needed a new shirt for back to school, you could get one for a dollar.

If you were shopping for dinner in 1959, what would you buy?



1923 Camping Afloat

1923AugPM3A hundred years ago, “the newest way of camping is to pitch a tent on a barge,” and the August 1923 issue of Popular Mechanics showed you just how to do it. The construction article, penned by “widely known authority on outdoor life” Stillman Taylor, notes that the floating camp has many unique advantages. It was easy to build and not expensive, and provided a good comfortable canvas home with large storage places. And whenever the camper felt like picking up and changing camp, he could easily drift with the current and wind to a new spot.

1923AugPM4The camping scow shown here was good for many years of service. It was hauled out of the water each year and stored, bottom up, out of the reach of ice. The boat featured plenty of storage space, including a waterproof box accessible through a trap door in the tent floor.

The scow would be hard to row with the tent set up, but was fairly easy to scull. Therefore, an oar lock or scull plate could be fixed to the roomy front deck.

Today, such a craft would undoubtedly need to be registered in most states, but this shouldn’t present a problem. In Minnesota, for example, a homemade boat over ten feet in length can be registered. But save the receipts for the materials, as you’ll need to present them, along with four photographs of the completed boat.



1923 Homemade Radio

1923AugSciInv2Shown here is Miss Dorothy Benkeser, from the August 1923 issue of Science and Invention, , in which she described building her first radio set. When she decided to make a radio, she told a friend (presumably male), and was told “when you need my help, just call me up.” She vowed not to call him, no matter how much assistance she needed.

She bought the parts, and managed to put it together. She had only the tools from her mother’s sewing machine, which seemed to get the job done, until soldering was needed. For that, she tried using a curling iron, the type which was heated up on a stove. While she was able to do some soldering after it got red hot, it didn’t prove completely satisfactory. Eventually, she borrowed an alcohol powered iron, and got the job complete.

She had another friend help with the antenna:

In order to attach one of the poles, I tried to climb on a little ledge which is a good deal higher than the rest of the roof and quite near the edge. My friend told me it was very foolish to do this for the house was old and she thought any part of it might be very apt to become detached and besides, she didn’t think the chimney was a safe thing to hold on. I asked her if
she were making any reference to my weight and told her to “unhand me” for I was very confident the chimney was strong enough to hold me. This she refused to do and I was struggling to get away from her and to pull myself up when the piece of the chimney which I held gave way and had she not held me, I should most likely have landed on the cold and unsympathetic pavement three or four stories below.

She reports that the set had been in service for about two months, and picked up distant stations with little difficulty. She concluded with, “no, I do not wear overalls.”



1925 Grocery Prices

1925Aug28WashTimesFor a snapshot of grocery prices in 1925, this ad for Sanitary Grocery Co. appeared in the Washington Times, August 8, 1925. There’s been a lot of inflation since 1925. According to this inflation calculator, one dollar in 1925 is the equivalent of $17.47 in 2023 dollars. So that 15 cent loaf of bread would be the equivalent of $2.62 in today’s money. A 12 pack of Schlitz would set you back 98 cents, or about $17.12 in today’s money. Of course, this was during prohibition, so that near beer had an alcohol content of only 0.5%. You could also buy a quart of grape juice for 35 cents. But, of course, you would want to be careful and not leave it sitting out too long.

Eggs were 47 cents a dozen, which sounds like a bargain, but that’s the equivalent of over $8.

What would you make for dinner in 1925?  Click on the image above to see a full-size version of the ad.