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Experimental Crystal Set Receivers Hints Tips and

Secrets Submitted to the Publisher of Modern
Electrics Modern Electrics Magazine

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Experilnental Crystal Set Receivers
An anthology of articles extracted from 1911
and 1912 issues of MODERN E LECTRIC~ MAGAZINE

repnnted by Lindsay Publications Inc

 Experilnental Crystal Set Receivers
Hints, Tips 8 Secrets
submitted to the publisher of
Reprinted by
Originally published by Lindsay Publications Inc
Hugo Gernsback Bradley IL 60915
New York
Design© 2005
orig inal articles appeared
in 1911 & 1912 issues of ISB N 1-559 18-327-6
Modern Electrics Magazi ne
2 3 4 5
 A GALENA DETECTOR COMBINATION GALENA DE- liking; but I would suggest, for the up-
He rewith is a photo of my detector. It TECTOR. rights, Yi inch square brass rod, each I
wo rks well, and needs no descriptive matter
to work by. This detector is used in case a q uick inch high. The distance between A r and
The whole surface o i the Crystal "Galena" change is necessary. If one of the points A2 I ~ inches, and 1 inch between A1
can be easily searched, by gently lif ting t11e of this detector happens to be knocked and BL The springs between X and A I
sp ring with a match and letti ng it down again. out of adjustment by static o r other will hold the mineral in tight adjustment,
means the other detector can be easily while the check nut in A2 holds the other
throw n in t he circuit by making use of rod from slipping.
the two point switch. T he arm o f this Contributed by
switch b connected to one side of the cir- JESSE SAUTER.
cuit while t he points are connected to B x
and B2. The base of this detecto r, or
Ax, A2, A3. are all connected together CONTACT FOR LOOSE COUPLER
and led to the other side of the circuit. While building a loose coupler of the style
You will find that this detector can be described in "How to Make Wireless Instru-
ments," the idea of placing two springs on
my secondary to make contact with the rods
did not seem very good to me, so I bough t
two brass curtain rod s, J/16 inches diameter,
of the kind that has a small lube , JicJing into
a slightly larger one. l used th e small tubes
fo r the rods on which the secondary slides,
an d afte r cutt ing two piece; of the larger tube
the lengt11 of my secondary, I soldered one
end o f the wire wound on th e secondary to
one large tube and the wire from chc switch
to the oth er t ube. I th en placed th e t ubes in
holes bored one inch above a nd 1,elow t he
center o f t he end pi eces o f t he seconda ry. I
find that it is possible to obtai n a bette r con·
tact by this means than by the springs, be·
cause the whole weight of the seco ndary lies
upon the brass tubes, and I a lso find that th e
secondary slides much easier this way.
adjusted to the highest degree of sensi- Cont ributed by
tiveness, a nd is easy to construct, its di- T. E. JON ES.
M odeni Electrics has a good circulation in
this colony, and is very popular. mensions being m(\de according to your
Contributed by
2
W . F. HALL, Australia.
 A TUNING COIL SLIDER. AN ADJUSTABLE CONDENSER. that this condenser canno t be used for
The rod is made of two No. 14 brass secondary purposes.
The condenser consists of 10,000 Contributed by Ji\lVIES G. FITCHETT.
wires, D . square inches of tin fo il and wax paper,
T he slider is made of a brass block, made up in seven sections as per
B, th ree-eighths inch square and. one- sketch; l '.I: pieces of brass, 1 inch by 1 HOW TO MAKE AN EXHAUS-
eighth l n ch inch by 3-16 inch, and 2 pieces ~ inch TED COHERER.
-0 thick. Tw o by 3-16 inch by 7~ inches ; 14 binding Procure [Link]: inches of g lass tubi ng
h o I e s arc posts; and 12 pl ugs to ~t holes as p~r s uch as is used in a chemical labora-
drilled o n e - sketch. T he condenser 1s made up m tory, abou t one-q uar ter of an inch i_n
sixteenth inch the regular way, first a sheet of wax pa- diameter. Take a dime and cut from 1t
from the edge, per, the n a sheet of tin foil, until sev~n two disks, B, about one-qua rter of an
F, so that the condensers have been made. It will inch in diameter. Next get two inches
wires will just be seen by the sketch, w hich is very of copper or brass rod one-quarter of
E fit the holes. plain , that there is practically no limit

·-.. .
The spring, to the different capacities t ha t can be .1-
., Q-·~
C, is to 1~1ake obtained. T his condenser can be used B
contact w t t h for primary circui ts or tuning, and is
the tuning coil a very useful instrument around the
wire, and is
fastened to the
laboratory fo r experimenting purpos_es.
The tinfo il sheets can be cut any size
o~ A • 01"1C
B-SIL¥£1'1
block, B, by to suit the ma ker. It is understood 0 C · COPPiRPI.~
E· " "
f means of the ~"8fltA.5~e.A P
2·~1EClS~ JC~i< 7f
0
H.• TtiS! 'l"l'tfr/P..\/(iW.
battery bind-
i n g post, G,
M. t.. and the hard J.4 -B1NOIN <i an -i ud1 in oiamcter and cut it into two
POSTS
rubber knob, E . pieces each one inch long. Solder the
The brass wires are fastened to the silver disks to one end of each of these
tuning coil ends by means of brass rods, E, nea tly. Next get t"wo pieces of
screws. No. 22 platinum w ire, each one and a
Contributed by half inches in length; d rill a small hole
BERTHEL CARLSON. in the other end of the rods and solder
the w ire in these as in E .
The next is a delicate job. Both of
these plugs are fi led to lit t·h e tllhe
3
 off the short piece and leave the tip. test tubes, with corks to fit; enough
Place the filings in the tube, made of tinfoil to cover both outer and inner
!14 per cenl. nickel and G per cent. sil- sides of the tubes; two binding posts,
,·er. These can be obt?ined from coins, and four or five feet of green flexible
using a clean new fi le. Slip the other w ire.
plug in to position and pull the plati - To begi11 construction, smaller spool
num w ire through the tip, as shown at a is glued to bottom of la rger spool b,
N. Space the plugs 011e-sixtcenth of an to fo rm a stand. Then s ix %-i11ch
inch apart, and seal olT this tip as was holes FI arc bored straig ht throug h
the first. T he tube is now filled w ith both butts. Cnre must be taken to get
mercury, using a funn el, tap the tube these holes spaced evenly apa rt.
so as to expel all the air bubbles. Fill The test lube~. after being covered
snugly and also must be airtight. Ex- this tube completely a nd place your with the tinfoil by gluing, are slipped
treme care should be taken not to thumb on the end. Invert, and place into the holes in the stand forming the
break the tube, as it must be over forty the open end under the surface of the Leyden jars. The corks have a hole c
inches long. Next seal the plugs in the mercury, the n release you r thumb. bored throug h their middle, in which
tube. You will need a small bowl, Then w ith the aid oi a helper seal off
some mercury, and burner, also a help- the tube above the mercun· level. as
er. Hold one end of the t ube over the the mercury will drop to the thi~ty­
flame un til it is red-hot as in L. T hen inch leYe! as in P. Place . brass caps
seize with the fingers a nd draw it ou t over the sealed ends, making contact
to a point; break this off abo ut one- w ith th e platinum w ire. T he instru-
quarter of an inch from t he long end ment is now ready for use.
and the end will look like J. Slip one Contributed by
plug th rough the open end and draw F ANNON BEAUCHAMP.
the platinum wire th rough the small
end; hold this over the flame, and
the glass will adhere to the platinum. LEYDEN JAR CONDENSER.
Measure about foar inches from the The materials needed for the con-
sealed end and hold it in the flame: struction of this condenser are: two is inserted a wll'e S, connecting the
also hold another piece of tubing in the wire spools, one about six inches in inner covering of tinfoil to binding
flame at the same time; when both are diameter, the other tliree inches, the post d. Then wires are wrapped
hot touch the small pier:e to the long- larger being fo ur inches high, the tightly around the outside covering o[
piece at the four-inch mark a nd draw s maller Lhree inches in height; six the tubes w, connecting to binding
out a small tip, as shown at M. B rc~Ll< post e.
4
 After varnishing, the device is ready found convenient to screw into the
for work. brass rod, if the outer coil is not suf-
Contributed by ficiently flexible to allow the rod to go
JOHN B. BRADY. through both holes.
The condenser is built up of a num-
A P ORTABLE RECEIVING OUT- ber of sheets of tinfoil and paraffined
paper or some !iimila r dielecti-ic, as
FIT. shown. The le;ids are made to a switch
Below is described a portable wire- "'
less outfit s maller than a small camera, SET C\..OSEO than [Link]:~x3X inches. Black s tain
in which sensitiveness is no t sacrificed a nd a coat of va rnish will give a fin-
to saving of space. is hed appea rance.
It consists of a variometer, a conden- Contributed by
ser contained within the inner coil, and LEWIS C. MUMFORD.
a detector of any type preferred by the
maker.
The ,·ariometer consists of a card- ROTARY LOOSE COUPLER.
board cylinder, 1Ux30 inches in diam- fNER T\lat The [ollowing gives data for con-
eter, with the inner cylinder 3 inches
outside diameter. Both cylinders are
wound with an equal amo unt o[ N o.
24 B. & S. gauge enameled wire. In as shown in F ig. 2, after which the
placing the inner coil in position, a whole conderiser is embedded in para-
brass piece as s hown in D'ig. 1 may be ffin. Two condensers would be an im-
provement.
r.t:,, ~;;,;~:~"" The mineral detector, either perikon
or silicon, is used. The type sho>vn in
. •v••<_. ~-
""'oa
the drawing is very satisfactory.
F1Q 1. -
The details of the construction of the
box containing the instruments are left
to the maker. The over-all dimensions
should be at the most a trifle more
struction of a loose coupler. The prim-
ary is made of wood, and the secon-
5 C..o"'or /'1 3 r r>
darv o f hose.
·~J G 2-
 cut a groove on the circumference
about half an inch wide, and a quar-
"""""""c;
ter inch deep, as per illustration. Then
I think the diagram explains all de- with No. 24 enameled w ire. The novel wind about a hu ndred turns o f No. 36
tails. part is that each slider works in- insu lated copper wire on this disk,
Cont ri bu ted by dependently, and that they a re in- leaving the ends for attachi ng to b ind-
W M. T. REBENHAULT. s ulated from one a nother. It is con- ing posts. Over th is w ind twenty
nected into the circuit the same as a ny t urns of N o. 22 copper w ire in the
A ROTARY TUNING COIL. other double slide tuner. D rawing is sa me direction, having ins ulated it w ell
self-explanatory. from Lh e N o. 3f5 wire, also leaving
The following is a descrip tio n of Contributed by leads fo r t wo binding posts. Then on
my double slide, rotary , a nd very ac- C. J. SEDLAK. positions indicated in diagram, screw

RuaaE'R
l'fN08 TUNING TRANSFORMER
111'!81'£ WA(,Wfl't S
As anybody knows who has tried it, TUNtN<; COil.

the making of a transform er fo r tun-

ing is a difficult job, and also a ve ry
" 0

[Link] one. A nother objection is the

expense oi m ate rial. A ve ry efficient
s ubstitute can be made as fo llows: Cu t
., out a disk of wood one inch thick arid
about four inches in diameter. Then
cura te tuner. The circle and base are
of 1 inch stock, the circle being wound 6
 in bindit~g posts, connecting the ends After the pan is fast ened to t he base, HOW TO MAKE A SENSITIVE
of the wires, o ne to each binding post, two uprights arc provided, which are GALVANOMETER.
and ma rk them. Here we now have fastened to ~he base. a bout four inches
a condcn~cd form of tuning trans- irom the pan. Between the uprights, f'in<ling the need of a good galvan-
form e~, with _a _very short wave length. a metal rod is suspended, from which ometer, and o ne that would be very
A tuning coil 1s now connected in se- wires a re dropped down into each ;;ens i ti,-c, witl1o ut paying a high price
ries wi th this ins trument, and we have g lass; and which is connected to the to r o ne, I s ucceeded in working out
an a r ra ngement which tunes s harper o ther binding posl. (See Fig. 2.) Lile fo llo \\'ing- :
and wit h much less tro ubl e than the The glasses a re no w fi lled wit h a Make a base 4x4x% inches t hick,
o rdin a ry .t uning transformer, a nd cos t- solution of salt and water. nf ma hoga ny o r walnu t a nd bevel the
ing a g reat deal less, as a lmost every The capacity o f this condenser is edges as s hown in Fig. J. Make two
a mateur possesses a tuning coil. The ,-aried accordin g to the amount of so- standards or s ides, 2;4x3.J4x.0 inches.
No. 22 wi re is connected in the aerial
circuit, and the No. 36 in the receiver
circuit. I have found this to work as
good as a regular tuning transformer.
Contributed by
WAL LACE ELLS.

ADJUSTABLE CONDENSER-
1 "!1,.,-jA,,L.[
F OR SENDING ONLY. d:. •$~

First, select s ix o r e ig ht thin table

g lasses, free fro m bubbl es a nd cracks. lution i!1 t he pan; o r if a large capacity Fasten t hese to the base, w ith some
Lt is best to wax the tops of each glass JS required, the pan is filled with this good g lue, 2,l!,I inches apart (inside
to prevent leaka ge. (See Fig. 1.) solution up to the top. If a low ca- measu remen ts).
Second, get a metal pan which will pacity is required, the solution in the Nol\' make a top of the same ma-
hold all of ~he glasses, and which is pan may be but a few inches. Thus terial as the base, size 2;[Link]%
of the same !heigh t as the glasses. the capacity of the condenser is va- inc hes, and bevel the top edges of t his.
The pan should be mounted on a ried according to the amount ol solu- Drill a hole in the center, large enough
base, provided w ith two bindin g posts. tio n in the pan. to adm it a batter y nut, see Fig. 2.
To one of the binding posts a wire is Contri buted by S hape a piece of copper o r brass as
fastened , whic h, in turn, is soldered to JAY JAKOWSKY. s hown in F ig. 3. Make a c ross piece to
7 the pa11. fit this, F ig. 3a. "Fasten the s upport
to the unde r side of the top, F ig. 4. mir ro r, ~ x ;h inches, a nd fas ten in the other ends a re brought on the outside.
This part of the apparatus works the slots (on the top of the cylinder) , with to bindi ng posts ; sec Fig . 7.
same as t!he adj ustin ent of the E. I. glue. Fasten a s mall silk thread to the Now make a back and front from a
Co.'s electrolytic detector. Examine cente r of tq1e mirror with a drop of piece of plain glass and fasten the fron t
F ig. 4 carefully and all will be clear. glue, a nd the other end o f t he th read so that it will be removable. F asten
\fake a thumb screw as described in must be fa ste ned to the s mall hook on <1 dial on two pieces of wire so that it
November, 19ro, issue of Modern Elec- the pl unger, F ig. 7. T he spring o n the ll' ill be adjustable and fi nish instru-
trics, page 452. T he top may now be put botto m of F ig. 7 is made cf No. 10 ment with se veral coats of shellac.
in place with glue, and is shown copper wire which has been an nealed, F ig. 7 shows a side view of the in-
complete in Fig. 4. one end being fa sten ed to the copper strument, a nd Fig. S shows a view
N ext we must make a copper cylin- q 'linde r a nd the o ther end to the base from the top.
der o ne inch long by one-half inch '~ i t:h a small tack. Contri buted by
d iameter. P rick or punch two small Now make two co ils, each two inclhes
long by one inch wide by th ree-quarters FRANK L. BUNK ER
holes one-quarter of an inch from the
top, and diamet rically opposite ; also o f an inch thick. \iVind them in the
two one-sixteent h of a n inch from the form of an arc as described by F ig . 6. HOW TO MAKE A GALVAN-
They should be wound on pasteboard OSCOPE.
bottom. These are for the mag netic forms, a nd wound with fifty fee t each
needles. Cut two slats in the top one- of No. 36 wire. T he res istance will A galvanoscopc fo r detecting $mall
eigh t'h o f an inch deep a nd (wide t hen be approximately 100 ohms. T hey currents of electricity can be made
enoug h to receive a small mirro r, size should be fastened to the sides of t he from a coil of [Link], A ; a glass tu be,
Y<(x 0 inch) , diametrically opposite. box, witlh t wo pieces of wood as shown B, full of water ; a core, C ; a nd a
Mag netize t wo needles or s mall bits in Ga, and connected in series. T he base, D; wit h binding posts as show n.
of steel about one to three-qua rters of T he core, C, which is made of iron and
an inch long. Pl ace one of these in cork is a trifle lig hter than the water
the to p holes of the copper cylinder it displaces, and will therefor e remain
with its north pole to t he left. Now in the tube normally ; but as soon as
a current of electricity passes through
place the other needle in the bottom the coil, the core is drawn do wn out
holes, with the norfth pole to t he righ t. u i s ig1ht. T he current required is very
This is to prevent the earth's magnetic s mall as the core is so nea rly balanced
field from affecting the readings, and t ha t the lea!'t nttrnction wi ll cause it
is called the astat ic system. The to sink. Th e g lnss tube may be a test-
needles may now be fastened with a tube :i s shown in F ig. 2. or a ny em pty
drop of glue or shellac. Now cut a 8
 it to sink. The lower cork is then
s lo wly with d r aw n, by t wis ting un t il
the core s lo w ly ris es . The instn1men t
is the n ready fo r use.
Connec t t he b ind ing posts t o a :;in gle
cell o f battery-any kind will do. a;i a
s light c urrent will answer. On com-
pleting the circu it the core will de-
J1.:, duper tube. li one has neither a scend; o r put in a switch o r push b u t-
t est-lube no r a d eveloper tube, an e m p- t o n 0 11 one o f the bat tery w ires . 1 f the
ty pill bottle may be used. The washers b u tto n be conceal ed where the o perator to two b ind ing posts . T his condenser
<ti the end oi the tu be may be fiber. can reach it, the core will obe\· his has been us ed to g reat advan tage by
hard rnbber. or wood. T h e base is command to rise o r fall, accordi~ g to maker and can be used in many d iff-
111;1dc of \\'OOd, o r any 01her ins u lating hi s con tro l o f the cu rrent. This is a erent hook-ups.
m a t eria l, a nd s ho uld have four legs o n myster io us-looking ins trumen t. the Contrib u ted by
b o tto m. Make the coil oi about No. cor e being m o ved witho ut visible con- ETHAN CLARKE.
18 w ire, a nd co nnect e nds t o binding nectio n to any other part. If this in-
posts as s hown a t Fig. 2. T he core is st rume n t is connected u p as per d irec- A SIMPLE LOOSE COUPLER
nrnde by pushing a small nail throu gh tions, o ne will have a very nice look- FRAME.
a piece o f cor k. Tt should be made so ing galvanoscope.
as to rise s lowly when placed under Cont ri b ul<'d by As a great many experim e nters w ish
wa te r. Some filing may be necessary LYLE BRITT. to build their a p par a tus as simply ,
to g et the weight jus t right, b u t it cheaply, and with a s f e w parts as pos-
s ho uld be remembered tha t the b uov- sible, I will endea vor to o utline a
anc_,. of the core can be adj usted after PLATE GLASS CONDENSER FOR coupler that is s imply a "fool k iller.' '
the parts a re assembled by prcssini; RECEIVER. \Ne will start w ith the base : Pro-
the cnrk in the bottom of the test-tube. Procure a th in g lass plate 20 inches cure a well seasoned c herry board S
This causes com p ressio n in t he \\'ater long and faste n secu rely betw ee n inches wide, 20 inches lo ng, and th ree-
space a nd es pecially of the u pper cor k. qua rter inc h thick, a nd c ut a slot o n e
s uitable s ta nda rds a nd with co rre- inch w ide a n d 16 inches lo n g in th e
red ncin.!? its dis placement a n d causin.E:" spond ing base boar d, g lass being middle as in F ig. 2 A. F ile t his s lot
covered with tinfoil to within o ne- pe riectly smooth a nd ge t t wo strips of
qua rter inc h o f edge and s uitable leads alumi n um o r b r ass, 15 in lon g, one-
hal£ inch wide, and o ne-eighth inch
9 thick as at B. D rill live holes in each
and countersink for No. 6 screws. After your wi nding is completed, l tl1ink that F ig. l will make all other
Fasten these strips, o ne o n each side fas te n a cleat on bottom of primat·y points clear.
of base and a bout two inches from heads, one inch wide, three-quarter Co ntribu tcd by
slot, and one-half inch fro m back end inch deep. and eig ht inches long ; t h i$ F. v\/. DOTY.
of board. After this is do ne, make i;; to s lide in groove of base.
two pieces of wood Sx;/zxl inohes and Fo1· your secondary, make a board A LOOSE COUPLER.
screw them on t he bottom of base al 7x7x;/:! inches, and t hen c ut o u t a piece
each end as at B, B, ( F ig. 2 B) . These First procure a piece of maple four
will keep base from splitting or feet lo ng and seven inches wide. Viork
w arping. this until it is 7Yz inches wide and
Make two p ieces 7x7 inches a nd [Link] inch thick. From this
o ne-half inch thick, as at a Fig. 3; cen- piece cut ornc fourtee n inches long. This
ter them, and c ut a hole five inche:-. is to be the base. Plane a three-eighth
in diameter through each ( or the inch bevel o n this piece. Now cut
diameter of your primary tube). Gl uc t wo pieces.; o ne to be GYz inches
square, the othe r to be a little Jess than
6 Yz inches o n two edges and 6 Yz inches
o n t he other t wo sides. Now have a
0
~ 0 0
0
piece of w hite pine turned o n a lathe
-~="""'===:! S:CCl"oC>A RY
0 0 un til i t is five inches long a nd five
k: ~ 0
' - -- - -- - 1 inches in diameter. Hollow this o ut

~-----~-!,-'-
I for a dista nce of i011 1· inches and leave
a rim one- quarter inch thic k around it.
Turn out :another piece of pine four
i nches in d iame ter a nd five inc hes long.
four i nches in diameter, (or Lo lit in- Glue the;;e pieces to the ends which
s ide secondary tube), and fasten w ith a re GYz ill ch es and Gy; by 6 7-lG
~~ a scre w and some g lue in center of
LI
-l----- -- 20' - ---'-- - - ----j
head board. Now glue t he secondary
inches respectively. N ow get a steel
rod 11}1,i inches lo ng and pass it
I t ube to the head board and make wind- th rough both cylinders until it reaches
ings, taking off taps so as to use a t he end of the large cy linder. Now
s w itch o n head of secondary. Fasten bore <L one-q uarter i nch hole in the
the secondary head w it h screws one- s mall piece "a" un til it is o ne~half inch
one of these boards o n eacl1 e nd of hal f i nob [ ro m end o f base, X. The
t ube, and wind on yoUI· wire. instn 1111ent mav be finis hed to taste. lO
 respectively o n bo th coils .
This instrument, wh e n g iven a ma -
hogany stain and polished, not on!~·
makes a useful p iece of appa ratus, bu r
a n o rnament t o any wireless exper i-
menter's table.
Con t ri buted by
\\! r\ LTER LEAN.
deep and 3 ,Y<i inches from the base.
Fit the large rod into th is . Now t ake:
a smaller piece o f r od s ix inches long MINERAL CLASP F OR DE-
and bore a hole in th e e nd of the sma ll TECTORS.'
cylinder, five-eigh t h inch fro m the base. The accompanying s ketc h shows a
Bore another hole in the encl "a," o nc -
half inch deep. This rod is to keep • secT10N o,.- cup, onA11. r~ ~reop·

tf~ fl
t!he end of the. small cyli nde r fro m s lid-
ing a nd rubbin g the base.
Now screw t he piece "a" to the base ft-:a
~;··
A'
and assemble the parts . T hen sere\\'
t he end of the la rge cylinder a lso to
t he base. Now insert a s mall piece
of wood under t lie s malle r rod to hold
T A·t ( O J.1• 1wJ·'4'
_O · O!AMt.i£[Link] CvP.
s tand, by putting two car bo n c ups on
two brass springs, an eq ua l distance
from the center bolt L (as in diagram).
By this means you can bring either
it in place. \.Vind the large cylinder silicon, carborundum, tantalum or
clasp to be used in connectio n wit h a electrolytic into use witho u t the aid of
with No. 22 enameled wi re a nd the wireless detector m ine ral cu p.
s mall cvli nde r wit h No. :?S e na meled a detec tor switch.
Contributed by This saves making a switch a nd
wire. ff a standard E . . I. Co.'s s lide1· HAROLD \\/. THOlVIPSO N.
and rod is used, the s econdary sl ide1· more than one stand.
and rod will clear the prima ry coil and
a llow adjustment w hile t he secondary MULTIPLE DETECTOR STAND. RECEIVING CONDENSER.
coil is in the p ri mary. P r ocure two \ i\ihile lookin g over J une, 1910, is- A cheap, yet neat ;ind efficient. re-
binding posts fo r both primary and sue of M odeni Electrics I saw a de- ceiving condenser, can be made from
seco ndary; each o ne bei ng connected tector desi g ned by E. E . E ly . the follow ing:
to a s lider and the end of the w ire I s tarted to m a ke o ne, but c hanged Two pieces of wood (preferably
11 which is nearest to t he e nd o f the core. it so I could use it fo r more than one hardwood), 1%xl%x0 inches (Fig.
2); nickel-plated shaving-stick box, pie of coats o f shellac o r varnish (Fi§:. give <1 n idea oi my O\\'n, how to get
1f8 inch dia meter, (Fig. 3); two 2). rid o f bobh of these troublesome faults
screw-bot tom b inding posts, ( Fig. 5); Cut the bottom out of the :;having of S ilicon. T his will make <i n efficient
section of b roo mst ick 2y! inahes Jong- : stick box, and ma ke a11 other cut 20 detector at a v<.:ry low cos t.
fi ve sheets o f tinfoil, 1 ),~x1 2 inches be- inohes aL0ve, leaving a nickel-plated F or the base, procure a piece oi
tween six s heets of waxed paper tha t tube 20 inches long; then from a fi bre 2 0 x2.xf8 inches. Pol ish it \\'it h
a re free from flaw s, 2y,!x 130 incheo:. broomstick cut a section 2·0 inches a file and sand paper and ben:l the
long ; cen ter th e ends and start a hole
Cut out t he wooden ends, centre with a gimlet.
them , and afte r having drilled a hole Heat the w axed papers contai ning
o ne-eight h inch 'd iameter clear through the tinfoil and th en wrap around the
and rounded the two upper corners. wooden core, secu ring w ith a few
draw a circle with a diam eter of 1 ~ w raps of cotto n. being s ure that a -FIGj. l •
inches on the inside of each end, and
with a bit or a gauge cut a\l'.ray the
terminal of the condense r is free at
each end (Fig. 11) . Insert the con- A; (4·:: T>l'OS
wood inside the circle half way through denser into the nickel-plated tube, place
th e terminal that protrudes from ear.h
end into th e small holes in the ends
of the w ooden core : then fit the
°13
wooden ends on the t ube. and through
th e boles bored th rough t1hese ends
insert the bind ing posts and screw S u.1coN SP.=t 1 N~
in to the wooden core to hold the
-F'l Gj. 3~
- F'tG2.- w ooden end s in place and make con·-
tact w ith t he condenser t erminals. edges, ju st ior appea rance's sake. Then
II ~ ( Fig. 1) . dri ll two holes, 10 inches apa rt the
·rij·
. , ~~-,
1
-F• ... 5.-
Cont ributed by
HOL LY ST ARTD L'\N .
long way of the base and in the cen-
te r of the distance across.

I, .--c . '
J . . ,- . - A SILICON DETECTOR.
~o w get an old double con nector
( Fig . 1 ) and cut o ff about one-third ot
lj'-.j -F1'l.'1- ' £., S ilico n is genera lly a Ye ry ha rd sub- it at A (F ig . 1) . Tap the hole in the
stance to ~e t in to adj us tment, and center fo r 8-32 thread. Of course, one
-F'ut3 :'
once t here, i;; easy to get out of ad- o i t•he holes a t the end, w here the set
each of the ends ; then give them a cou- justment again . The following will screw was, (B Fig. 1 ), should be left. 12
 for the end of it. Then get a piece of If y4)u live near s uch a station and
silver or brass (silver preferred), and have a detector known as a "Silicon
get a jeweller to roll it down to No. Cat-whisker Detector," gently pull the
83 and cut a piece 1-!Gx!Yz inches and
solder it on the end of th.- machine
screw (Fig. 3). Then bend it as
shown.
The sili con ca n be placed in the
holder and this spring set up against
the silicon so as to form a medium
contact ·w ith it and thus ~c t your ad-
justmen ts. You should try to use a
sharp or fairly sh:up ed~e of the sili-
con to set your spring up against.
I have found tihat this beats all the
kinds of detectors T have tried. This steel wire olI and then let it fall back
detector ranks even above the perikon on the silicon; and as it vibrates it w ill
or electrolytic, I think. And with it give forth a beautiful, clear, humming
and suitable apparalus 1 have heard sound ; like picking a g uitar string.
::\ow take a brass sleeve tha t fit,; the Honolulu, 2,100 miles away, as well This only lasts fo r a n instant; as lo ng
S-32 thread snugly and place it 0 1•er as 1,000 miles over land every night . as t!he wire vibrates against the s ilicon.
an 8-32 screw ·which passes up throug h Other minerals s uch as fer ron, pyron. F rom this experiment I worked ou t
one of the holes in the base (A . F ig. etc., can be used in it to good ad- the fo llowing instrumen t which g ives
·l). This is to hold pa rt s h Oll'll in Fi~. vantage. the res ult which t he Poulsen people
l . one-hali inch off the ba~c. Contributed by say can only be accomplis hed by their
For the h0lder for the s ilicon, take CLARENCE BALL.-'.RD. instruments, i. e., the Poulsen "Ticker."
a piece of brass and bend it into shape The base is made o f hard w ood or
{Fig. 2) and thread it at A and B rubber o ne-'half inch in thickness, five
(Fig. 2) with 4-36 threads, to hold the A Silicon Ticker. inches long and 3 inches wide.
silicon. It is held to the base by a ~ 1 ·y wireless operator living near ·" The small bell mag net can be taken
screw through the bottom of the holder ...('\, one of the New Poulsen \i\' ire- from any electric bell o f convenient
at C ( Fig . 2) . size; generally they are one one-eig hth
Jess stations, doubtless has trouble in inches long; the dimensions on the
Now get a brass machine screw lYz reading· them, and perhaps he can not
inches long and make a suitabl e handle diagram being for this size. If you have
13 receive their signals al: all.
a di ffe1·ent s ize the dimeusions must be sil icon. E nd view of holder is shown :;even wires stretched between two
changed so t he magnet will always be in F ig . 1. :!OO-foo t towers, 400 feet apart. They
one-eigh th inch a way from the steel Binding posts should be screwed on talk daily wi th a station in Texas.
wire. Th is wi re is the E string of a the ends of the ticker. One goes to the Co ntributed bv
mandolin and must be steel. Make two ::: r:.i nd<1rtl,; <tnd one to the silicon holder; STAN LEY HYO IZ.
brass s tandards one one-half ind1es a lso two in the middle for the mag net.
lon g and drill holes in them one one- T he mag ne t i:; connected to the a l- A SMALL VARIABLE CO N-
quar ter inches fro m bottom, as in dia- te rnating cur rent s upply, preferably
gram, then thread in from the top fo r l J 0 \ -. .'\. C. th rough a resistance
DENSER.
the ch eck-nut on one of them, and on w hich can be varied. Not more tihan Procure a chemist's tes t-tube six by
the side of the other for the tension nu t. iou r ,·ol ts should pass through the seven-eighths of an inch in diameter.
The tension nut can be taken from the mag net or it will heat up. A small Coat the outside with shellac, and
spring of an old telegraph sounder; water rheosta t wo rks verv well in this when nearly dry apply one turn o f tin-
this is to keep the w ire from breaking .:onn ec tio n. r\ sma ll switch should be foil. This iorms one surface.
by twist ing around. mou nted near the ticke r to open the F or the other surface take a wooden
Distance between standards is th ree .:ircui t when y ou are not using it. rod a trifle s maller tha n the inside of
a nd one-half inches. The electro- Th e t icker is con nected up as in F ig. the test tube and about seven inches
magnet is mounted exactly one-eig hth :2 . The condenser wJ1ich shunts t he lo ng. Cut a kno b on one end to fa -
inch under the wire. T he holder is pho nes is three times as large as an cili tate the sliding. Build this rod up
also mounted under t!he wire. so the o rdinary condenser used in w ireless wi th tinfo il t111 til it ba rely sl id e~ into
wire will strike the top surfa~c of the work. T he va riable condenser should 1he tes t-tu he.
a lso uc used to get g ood results. For the cli p u~c a piece of a luminum
~o w adjust the tension nut and vary 1)11c-half inch wide and three and a ha][
1h c current in the magnet, and tu ne in c h c~ long. T his will serve to hold
very closely fo r w hat is known as the t he test-tube to lhe base, wh ic h is
··Conversatio n \ Vave" and you will be 8:x2x_Y:; inches. and also to make cn n-
<1 s urprised person. ncction to the tinfoil.
T hese s tations send out two separate By referring to the diagram you can
rra ins of waves. T he arc sends out a sec how the other s urface is connccte<I
,:.ound which sounds like spilling milk,
hut you mus t tune fo r the waves which
a re generated in the closed oscillatio n
c.: ircui t, arc, conde nser and inductance.
Tihe s ta tion in question has an im-
mense fa n ae rial composed of thirty- 14
 to the wires. Tile wire is scraped bare T o o perate as a two slide t unin g coil drawings I believe are self-expla nato ry.
for eigh t inches a nd t h en wrapped m o ve s l ider, S, t o winding, A, and Contributed by
arou nd the tinfoil. then only slider, l-1. and M, are in use. LELAND A. REINHOLD.
T his ma kcs a \'Cry efticien t con- T o operate as a si ng le s lide tuning
denser and h as a capncity of about .001 coil, mo,·e sliders, S and R, to winding, A VARIABLE SENDING CON-
:\I. F . A, t hereby using o nl y slider, ?II.
Con trib111 eel ll\· To operate as a three s lide tuning DENSER.
:J. i::. DORRINGTO:\. coil mo,·e sl iders off from winding, A, The base i:; made l> i a dry piece o i
thereby putting them a ll in use. \\'Ood about 10x8xl ind1es . .\ piec.: v i
THREE SLIDE TUNER.
This will help o n e to adjust a three tinfoi l about Gx6inches is fastened o n
1i one is making a three slide tuning slide tuning coil a lso to experiment in the centre with mucilage, an d co n-
coil and docs not know how to operate with single and double sl ide coils. nected to b inding pos1. ,\ small h0le
ir. or for >-om c reason would l ike to Contributed by is dr illed in each end, and a nut
WILLIAM S. WILDER. iastened o ,·er each one, threaded to
A' take thumb screws as s h o wn in draw-
ing. A thin s prin g, about ly,( inc h es
VARIABLE CONDENSER. lo ng , is fasten ed at ead1 corn e r. T h ese
ser ve Lo raise t h e g lass a nd u pper
The accompany ing s ketch rep resents
a variable condenser of hig h ca pac ity,
" '- hich I recently built, a nd whic h g ives r-e1 ..~.-.r.
fin e res ults . .I used thirteen g lass \ '- "'0$ r

-TrN ~Ott.. - \
I 1

l~-0 ---<
\ ··O" ,~ ...,
<lit..AS,_ &-t Jr<T' "'"'"-
rf!N'< f ,._..i,p,._oc;i..A.$#

c hange fro m a three s lide tuning co il to -or~.R.1t111 -

a o ne o r two s lide, o ne can do so bY
a dding the follo wing: · plates six inch es by 3 inc h es, enclosing
When your evil is almost finished all in a varnished box, w ith switch
winding cut the wire about one inch and binding posts o n lop. The switch
fro m ~he end, then add a separate wind- was made of an o rd inary o n e except 8 P • .,,... "-..
u"-. r(.~ :'•••r·,.-~

ing, A, and ground as shown in draw - a c ircular extension of brass. The

15
111g.
tinfoil when thumb screws arc Joos· A SIMPLE ADJUST ABLE DETEC-
ened. A frame is made to h old 1he TOR.
•>'lass, w ith room enot1g-h at each end Any boy w ith a set of st ocks a nd
~o put thumb screws t hro ug h, whic h di es o r a mac hine shop where he can
mus t screw into nu ts in base. A piece
of tinfoil 6xG inc l1es is fastened o n u p- use th em ca11 make this detecto r. It
per s ide o f g lass . an<! a binding post
faste n ed to it. \V ilh this condenser
yo u can get a very ft~e adjustment, 6 ASC ffl
and I htl\'e used it with great suc- of bare wire, making two or three lnrn:'
cess. aroun<l each one, to insure good con nec-
Contributed by t ions. Space them about o ne and 0~1 c­
\i\TJLLTf\M 1\fcGUIRE. hal f inches apart. Leave four o r hvt•
inc hes of wire to connect with the 1Ji11tl -
AN EASILY CONSTRUCTED VAR- ing-post. . ,
Now pla<:e the tubes in the box anCl needs no explana tio n as by referring
IABLE CONDENSER.
run the \\'ire through a hole in the bot- to the illustration the parfs can be eas-
rn HE follo\\'ing is a description oi my tom. Fill the space around them witl• ily constructed.
W Yariablc condenser which \\'as con- melted paraffine and space them carefully Contributed by
structed at home. very cheaply and easily. beiore it hardens.
First procure l wch·e glass tesl-t11bes 1 THORNTON KEARFOTT.
The connections to the movable lubl·~
s ix o f them 6x 1 inch. and th e other six are made of strips oi thin spring hra s~. ROT ARY DETECTOR.
of a size th at will just sli p inside these. The\' shoul<l bear pretty hard on th e The case is made o f Ys-inch oak. It
Co\·er all the tubes with tinfoil. on the tubc"s. If the box is stained hlack and is 2 inches deep, 6 inches wide and ·!
outside only. and make the inside ones ~i \·en a coat of shellac. it will be a \·c ry inches hi~h. A small window is cut
fit ,·cry sn;1gly, as the closer the tinfoil good looking instrument. in the front at the top to inspect the
surfaces are together, the more efficient Secure this on end, w a base about contact. 0 11 top a large thumbscrew
the condenser will be. Next get a box. 3x8 inches. and connect the bincliug-post•. turns in a brass piate, to make contac t.
e ight or nine inches lo ng- and five inches It is then rcadv for use. O n the front th ere is a knob and po int-
wide b1' one and 0 11c-hal f inches dl.!ep. Va ry t he capacity by pushing jars i11 e r which w ill indicate what mineral
A ciga 1: box with tile lid nail<'d clown a11d o r out. is b e ing used.
one side take n ou t will do ve ry well. Contributed hy The w h eel which the minerals are
Connect the large tubes with a piece JA:\ffS BITLER. placed on is made of a strip o f cop-
16
 per (Fig. 2). Small brass cups which Contributed by we are ready to use the electrodes.
hold the mineral are soldered to this RAYMOND RUTHERFORD. Remove the screws from each end and
strip. This is then tacked around a insert 8-32 battery screws through the
wooden disc, 3 inches in diameter. holes left.
Through this disc the shaft is placed
which turns in the front and back oi
VARIABLE CO NDENSER.
case for bearings. A copper strip is
tacked to the bottom d the case, in- T he first thing to do is to obtain
side, which makes contact with the four pa irs of handles from a medical
coil. These may be obtained from al-
most any electrical house or from you r
friend s who arc equipped with medical
batteries. The four larger electrodes may now
A piece of hard wood or fibre seven be clamped to the upright and the
inches by six, and about half an inch latter fastened to the base as in sketch.
thick will do for the base. Another The four nuts may be connected by a
piece of wood seven inches by two piece of sheet brass or thin wire.
inches and haH an inch thick will do
for tlhe uprig ht shown in Fig. 1.
Now bo re four holes in the upright,
J Yi inches from the bottom and 1 3-16,
2 J3- Hi, 1~ 5-lG and 5 lli-16 inches from
lhe end. T hese holes s hould take an
S-32 machine screw.
Screw the uprig ht to the base and .--::..._--=:
8 A.9 E 11.e
• - - ' ---< -Flq. 3r
Dip the four smaller handles in thick
shellac and let stand till dried. A brass
strip on the wheel. Connections arc bar six inches long three-quarter inches
made from this strip and from the wi<le and one-quarter inch thick is now
brass plate on top. The drawing will •. G - -- , clamped to the four small er electrodes
make the desc ri ption more clear. .,
r:" G l

17
 A CLOSE COUPLED TUNE R. GALENA DETECTOR
\Ve have herewith the plans for a ve ry The drawings herewith ar e intend ed to il-
close tuning coil. lu strate a detecto r I constructed rccenth·
which, after testing, l think will be welcomed
by the amateu r who sti ll adheres to the min -
eral type o f detector.
One .great fault I find with the average de-
tector is that the up and down adjustment of
the contact is not sufficient to lind t he sensi-
tive spot in the mineral; and if the adjustment
- - · - - / $ '" -
~I G.1 - ·f'IG 2.-
~ - 4f ,
I .!J _I
1'
16
-Fr,.. .;lc •

T he coil is. wound with No. 22 bare

copPtT w; re,. 9J'J4.1 in such manner t hat the

in the sam e m a nner as before. A ha n- wire does not touch the ncxl wire in anv
dle may be fastened to the bar to fa- instance. ( This can be done by winding
cilitate i ts use. An up rig ht is made of a thread between the wires.) T he bracl<- is n1 ~dc by sliding ihe cup arou nd it is liable
wood as in F ig. 2 a nd fa s tened to the ets arc put on so that they will move, but to ge t out o f ad justment at the least ja r.
base.. Two binding posts complete not enough that they may fa ll of their T he adjust ment o f my detecto r is very deli-
own weight. T he connections a rc the ca te; and 1·0 use it. first adjust ver tical thumb
t he ins trum ent. T he movable elec- sc rew until wire just touches m in era l then
trodes should be connected to the same as any other double-slide tuner. turn side thumb screw, drawing th e c'ontac t
b-i nding posts and ins trumen t should \•Vith this coil ,·ery sharp tuni ng can wire sidew ise over the mineral unti l a spot is
look like Fig. 3. J\ hig h polish on all be done a nd it also replaces the small fou nd. If a ll goes well, and a good piece of
tuner usually used for sharp tuni11g. galena is used, a Jarg~ stat ion will come in like
wood and brass parts g ives it a very thunder.
handsome appearance and a ny amateur Cont ributed bv The contact wire may be No. 30 to 36 plati-
. H AROLD WOOD. nu!n o r copper (I prefer platinum). Manipu-
may well be proud of it o n his instru-
latmg th.c top thumb screw gives a front and
ment table. back adi ns!ment to. the comact point. Thi s,
Contributed by togethe r with the side thumb screw, permits
STANLEY F. PATTEN.
18
 trough is placed ano th er piece of platinum E ight dry cells . connected to a multiple

~
point switch so that any adjustment from
A 4 to 12 volts may be secured, are placed
in series with the detector and receiver.
By keeping plenty of :salt in the trough
M.E.
and carefully adjusting th e voltage, a
Octoil of Con· Constrnc tioo marveloml_v scnsitiYe detector may be
tact witb Crys tnl. of Rc3r Ph·oL
made.
any point oa the surface of the crystal to be Contrih11ted hy
reached. The cnp i; fixed in position, but MEARLE MELLINGER.
may be revoh•ed.
Co ntributed by
]. F. ARNOLD.

A FL AME AUDION. I have been an experimenter in wire-

The Audion as a receptor of Hertzian J ~ssfor about three yea r s. During that
waves seems to have lost a place in the tune I have been bothered with a con-
h eart of the wireless experimenter. How- tinua l hum in my phones.
e\·er. the following ma_v interest a few. wire. The trough is the cathode of the
because it provides a good field for in- telephone circuit and the wire the anode.
~·esug-ation. The object of all aud ions. This detector is so sensitive t hat the
is to ge t one o f two terminal plates to least flicker in the flame is registered as
tl~ row off ions, which act as a relay to a sound Ln the receiver. So in order to
h1g-h-frequency oscillations that pass be- produce a steady flame, a wire gauze is
t ween the plates. placed just abo,·e the burner, then, the
Bunsen burner i!' used to furnish the flame produced is extremely steady. How-
flame, A, and salt or any a lka line metal in ever, it should be provided wi th a mica
the flame produces the ions. The salt is chimney to protect it from the air cur-
contained in a small trough of platinum, rents.
\\'hic!1 is ea~ily made by Aattening and The sketch explains the arrangemen~
shapmg a piece of platinum wire, since and construction. The base and pillar are I have fi!1ally, af~cr Lryin~ many ways,
the trough is only three-eighths of an inch made out of wood, or better still hard succeeded 111 stopprnO' this hum without
long- and on e-~ix t cc nLh of an inch wide. rttbb~r. B indi ng posts a re fastened to decreasing th e signal; in the least and if
19 About one-sixteenth of an inch above the the pillar to take the trough and wire. anything, increasing them. '
 The drawi ng will explain itself. The ELIMINATION OF INDUCT- which is self-explanatory. A five-slide
coil does not have to be of any pa rt icular ANCE DISTURBANCES. tuning coil, three adjustable condensers,
design, altho ugh 1 used an o ld tune r , detector, and telephone rece ive rs are ne-
A clever method has been suggested
wound w ith No. 24 S. C. cotton wire. cessary. Probably a th ree-slide tuning
and found to be successful in p ractice, fo r
I also fi nd that it wi ll cut 011t static to a coil will fulfill the purpose if the end con-
the elimination o f so unds in telephone re-
certain extent. nections on the coil are used in place of
ceivers, produced by neighboring powe r two of the sliders.
Contribu ted by lines. This method, set forth by S. G.
PHILI P T . BTWWN. Brown, the well-known B rit ish wire less
investigator, is shown in th e diagram UNIVERSAL DETECTOR.
. \ 11 i 1n p rcJv emcnl uvc r i\ Ir. J-l utdri11-
A VARIABLE SENDING CON- '" 11 1',.; d t'll'i:to r in lht' 1\ 'fa1· issue o ( Muda11
DENSER FOR ANY SIZE U N !rics i ~ show11 i11 th.e illust ration.
COIL. I 11sl <:.ad u f fixing Lhc.: s lider rod on Lwn
Illustration is self-explanatory; full hr;i:;,.; upr igh ts it is pivoted on a
details may be obtained from sketch. har. /\ , at one end, an d at th e other end

~
i ~ provided with an adjusting mechanism.
Th i ~ consists of an alum in um bracket , B,
the.: kind E. l. Co. use 011 th e "Elcctro" -

~~
lytic detrctor. and a thumbscrew, C. Be-

-F"1G. l- { -"ic:;.3-i't..EADS
!, :···--1:s-. ~~~f:c~· · ;
~='E·-~
-- -~~m

T his is a good condenser for chang-

ing from a large coil to a small o ne.
D imensions and num ber of plates
can be varied.
Contri buted by Io a )
HARRY KING.
fo rt• screwing the bracket. n, to the base.
a spring, D, is cut from a one-sixteent h 20
 inch sheet hrass, and <lrill<:d as shown. ~nade of tinfoil and paraffined paper, be- dcn tly not many experimenters hav-
It is then fastened under bracket. ll. as mg sealed in wax after all connections are ing used it.
sh11wn. The improvemem consists of solder-
This sprin~ is usc<I to keep the slider ing an inch or more spring phosphor
nul up against the screw, C. bronze o ne-eighth of an inch wide to
( 'ontrihuted by an o rdinary Gill ette safety razo r blade
P. i\IF.RT7.. wh1ch is very flexible and has sharp
ANOTHER VARIABLE CON- edges to make co ntact with the s ili-
DENSER. con. The blade s ho uld be about o ne-
Enclo~erl herewith arc some drawin<rS
eighth of a n inc h abo ve t he bell mag-
' r(C>"-'-~ v. $..\SE
th;it perhaps will interest some of yofi r /:off C O N!:~[Link]/ll ne t. It s ho uld rest gently o n the s ili-
readers, on a va riable c0ndenscr which [
"-'· con. T he rc,.:t 1)f the tic ke r is con-
am n ~ing with good results. I t is a fin e s tructed the ;;ame as the fi rs t o ne de-
looking apparatus when polished and fin- scribed in the :\I a y issue.
ished, besides easily operated. The advantage in this form is that
The wood is made out of oak, three- made in the base. The brass tube can be it is very much easier to adjust a nd
cighth-inch stock, and polished or stained cut with tin shears and the edges filed un- holds its adjustment indefinitely. I t
with mahogany dye. The contacts are til the contacts slide on easily. ca n also be used to receive ordinary
rnade of Ge rman silver and the knobs a re The wires mav he solde red onto the l'?AZOFfBLAOE'
contacts a nd th c 1~ rnn through the base.
I think the rest is set £-explanatory.
Cont rili utcd by
RUDOLPH W. ALSING.

I MPROVED SILICON TICKER.

The following apparatus is an im-
pro\·[Link]' o n the ticker described by
the \\T1ter o n page 88, 'fay issue of
--..-.-.,,-~--- ,.... - 1 .lfodcrn T:lcctrics. T haYe been wait- -<park s ig nal,: by si mply c utting off the
ing to see an im provement appear in :\ . C. current. Using it this way it is
from a typewriter which can be gotten at .\lfndem Electrics on this piece of
any typewriter store. The condenser is \'Cry much bette r than a so-called "cat
21 apparatlls but am disappointed; evi- " 'h is ke r detec to r." T he Poul sen people
ha ve certa inly "got one over" o n t he on each side and opposite ends of plate
spark sys tems. and bring the other ends down to two
The station in this c ity keeps up un- binding posts on base and the condenser
broken co mmunication witih El Paso is complete.
when the U nited Wireless and ama- T o operate push plate down or pull
te urs a re sendin g- within a few blocks' up, thereby ca11sing tin foi l to adhere to or
radius. T hey can not hear s park s ta- str ip from plate, t ill the point for bes!
tions un l e~s they connect o n an o rdi- results is found.
na ry receivin g- n u tfit, wh ic h they some- Con tributed by
times use. R. S. TRUE.
Contributed hy
STANLEY E. HYDE. A NEW TYPE OF VARI ABLE
CONDENSER.
A NOVEL CONDENSER. Herc is a ne\\' kind o i varia ble con-
This variable condenser is quite con- denser \\'hic h is \'Cr\' e ffcc ti ,·c in c ut-
venient to use in connection with a scmi- tin g o ut static ::ind -high \'Oltagc line
variable condenser where the glass plates in tcrf ercnce.
arc very la rge, as after cutting in o r out the g lass used. G. G. are metal rods to
the proper number of plates, the adj ust- counterbalance the glass plate.
ment may be brought to a very fine point fasten the rods used for counte r-
by moving the movable g lass plate u p o r weights to one side o f each piece o f tin-
down. fo il and then g lue the opposite side o f
The construction may be clearly seen in each piece a long a strip o f one-half inch
sketch . on opposite sides of glass plate, [Link]
A is suitable wood base. B. H. ar c ciistance from edge, ::ind next g ive the - Fn:; 1-
wooden uprig hts with grooves, C, on the rest of the plate that is to come in con-
inner sides. D. D. a re wooden rollers- tact with the tinfoil a coat of petroleum Materials required: One brass rod
pieces cut from a curtain pole arc excel- jelly and the plate is ready to insert be- Y-) xS inc hes . 1 thin brass strip Y-) x2,Vi
lent-covered with felt or several layers tween the rollers, as shown in sketch. inchc~, l s lide r to fit. l m::iiling tube
of· soft cloth. E is g lass plate of proper The rollers must work smoothlv and 3x7,0 inches, l brass mailing tube 2 y,f
size to moye freely in grooves, C. F . F. press tinfoil and plate firmly together . x 7 inc hes , 1 fibre encl fo r small Lubc
F. is tinfoil an inch less in diameter than After adjusting plate connect a piece of .Y2 inc h thick, 2 bloc k ends 'lx'1 i nc hcs,
fin e wire, coiled spring fashion, to t i11foil 1 ba~ e 5x'IGx 0. inches. 1 bras$ tube H 22
 xy,j inc h es, ·1 urnss rod ;Ytlxl f8 inc hes, tuning coil. I( [Link], a n extra coil s ho u ld be g iven a couple of coat s of
of wire is placed in the aerial circuit, varn is h a nd a llowed . to dry before
the wave length is considerably in- w indi ng o n th e w ire. '\i\Tind 55 turns
creased. of w ire o n; w it h the turns abou t 1-16
inch ~1part. Fasten two binding posts
o n the top o f th e coil and connect the
two ends o f wire to them. Over the
ho le in the center o f the coil head place
a hattery switch (1 point) to be used
for shorting the inductance when not
needed; connect one pole of the switch

1 brass ro d machine scr ew abou t 14-20

inc h ro un d head, Y, p ound No. l S
bare cop p er wire.
Asse mble the pa rts as s ho wn in d ia- T o make this ex t ra inductance coil,
g ram. Conn ecti o ns arc a lso s h own in procure several woode n spools s u ch as
F ig . 2. J\ quart e r inch ho le is dri lled ann uncia to r w ire comes o n , several
in 0 11e o f the bindin g pos ts to fit the hundred feet of en a m eled wire No. 22,
tube. B. & S. gauge, and five or six large
Contribu ted by b inding posts. The s p ools will be fo und
to measure about 5y,l inches in di a m- to each binding p ost. Give the wlhole
LI\ WREN CE KREIDLER. coil a coat of varnis h and while still
eter by 3 3-16 inch e s hig h; this will
allow abo ut 55 turns of w ir e l.8 inch es wet place a piece of thin rubb er around
AN INDUCTANCE OR LOADING lo n g, t·he turns bein g nea rly 1-16 of the w ound p a r t. This gives a finished
COIL. an inch apart. Cut 16 p ieces o f h ard appearance to the coil and helps to
wood 3 3-16 inches by }E inch by y,; keep the wi re in place. Mount on s m all
Sometimes when you want to listen inch, r oun d the corners w ith a knife, porcelain knobs.
to a high power ed s tatio n like Glace and fasten aro und the circumferen ce o f If y o ur aerial and tuner are small
Bay you fi nd that the wave length of several inductances may be req uired,
the spool with 1 inch brads equal dis-
the station is greater t ha n l!hc com- tances apart. The com pleted frame a nd all must be connected in series.
23 bined wave length of yo ur antenna and
For details and wiring diagram see t he will not have such a square appearance,
drawings. t he bevel is about 45 degrees. The draw-
Contributed by ing shows a sectional view of the detector
R. S. CRAWFORD. and is approximately full -size, so all
the di m ensio ns are not given as yo u
ENCLOSED COMBINATION DE- can va ry the dimens io ns to s uit yo ur-
TECTOR. self.
The detector described in this article The thumb screw and the case are
has been tried out on long distance re- turned from hard rubber. You will find
ceiving and holds its adjustment admi ra- the hardest part in turning out the inside
bly. All parts can be made on a small of the case; the walls of which should be
lathe with little trouble. left at least one-quarter inch in thickness, Finished Detector.
F ig. 1, is a sectional view of the de- so there will be room fo r the small screws
tector. T he ha rd rubber case is turned tha t hold the bottom cover on . T he Two holes a rc bored in the side of
from a piece of hard rubber 1~ inches cover should be litter! to the case after the case so as to let two leads of a Aexi-
in diameter. The ins ide diameter is l}i it has been turned o ut to the proper size. ble cord pass through, which are solde r-
inches. The top edge is beveled so it Rod (R) is threaded with 10-24 die, as ed, one to the small screw which holds
well as the bottom part of the crystal the rod in place, and t he other to the bot-
holder. Check-nut ( C) is screwed on tom of the crystal holder. The finished
to the rod to help out the appea ra nce and mbber case can be then buffed up and
also brace i l on tig hter lo the thumb- made to look very attractive.
nut. The photog rnph gives a much better
Great care should be taken in thread- idea of the appearance which t his detector
ing any of the rubber parts as the tap gives when it is finis hed. It is capable
is apt to break lhe threads if screwed of ve ry fine adjustment and can be used
in too fast. On the end of the rod is ior any crystal. The length of the cord
soldered a comparnti,·ely fine steel spring is made to suit the needs of the user,
wire that fils in a small hole bored in the being in this case one foot long.
rod. Holder (H) is made so it can hold Contributed by
any mineral by lhe use of the screw STANLEY E. HYDE.
which clamps it in place.
i..-- -1{-· - --
Cross Section of Detector. 24
 FIXED CONDENSER. ''Ticker" will prove of considerable Poulsen arc 1s heard, the "Ticker"
Herewith find a sketch of a fixed pleasure and interest. The "Ticker" to
condenser, which I think will be very l)e described is very simple of installa-
eflicicn t in wireless work. 1ion and operation.
Tt will require a one quart fruit jar A low resistance telegraph relay 7 0 TIJ./\ .VG DEV CC 0

and a !>trip o f tinfoil 3 inches wide comprises this "Ticker." This may be
purchased new at any supply house
from three to four dollars, and second
hand, for very much less.
The magnets of the relay are con-
nect&<! to any a lternating current rt l

~ou rce of electricity in series with "

l6 c.p. lamp and suitable means for
making and breaking the circuit. The
other two binding posts on the relay, s hould be switched onto the A.C.
which a re connected to the platinum mains, and the signals may be read as
eas ily as with the spark system of
lo ng enough to go around the jar,
;111<l wireless telegraphy.
and a wet battery zinc. Remove the This " Ticker" will prove much more
glass fro m under the can cover a nd foTtPVING OIYICC O ~ff
efficient than those which arc directly
bo re a hole in the top of the cover, ··c _y connected to the rectify ing element in

--r._~ I'·;~::"'<"O:r~,-,p
[Link] fil l with water up · to dotted line a detector. The moment that the
o n sketch, add a teas poonful of sal t "Ticker" is disconnected from the A.
co the water. The ske tch will explain C. current, the set is receptive ior
t he res t. _::;[o s park system signals.
Contributec1 by N E \\\,
Contributed by
JOHN HOGAN REV'f' Ofl TicJrE/I
E LLERY W. STONE,
-FIG, z~
California.
AN IMPROVED POULSEN contact points, are connected t? the
~
TICKER. two sides of the fixed condenser 111 the
For all operators who are able to receiving circuit. Two different hook-
hear any of the various Poulsen sta- ups are shown below.
tions in the united States, an efficien t Whenever the fami liar fry ing o f the
25
 A SIMPLE LOADING COIL. energy by building the condenser
A simple and efficient loading coil right in the first pla'cc ?
for receiving long wave6 may he made From any la rge photographer pro-
as follows: cure 40-SxlO inch used plates. He
i\.fake a hollow tube of cardboard will g ive you all that you ca n carry
t:ight inches in diameter and eig h t away. 'Dhcse plates a rc pnrticularly
inches in height. Boil H1e tube in par- su'ited for this purpose as they are ab-
aRine until t he bubbles cease to come
from the cardboard. Procure several
hundred feet o i No. 24. B. & S. gauge
., '----<:::'° TC
solutely free from flaws of any kind.
Clean the pl ates i11 hot water and dry
them thoroughly. These plates may
enameled wire. seem small but they allow the us e 0£
six-inch tinfoil, which is muc h easier
to procure than wider sizes.
Between two a11d three pounds of
G
tinfoil will be needed as the lugs and
'llhis coil makes a very neat instnt· plates are to be cut in one piece. Cut
ment when constructed with care and the pieces GxS inches with a lug 1
is capable of getting those high-pow- inch wide and :) inches lo ng on one
ered stations with ease. end. Alternate these lug ends so that
The coil will be greatly improved ii o n adjacent plates the lugs come out
encl pieces are added and the swit~h at opposite ends o f the p ile of plates.
O ne half inch from the top of the
t ube start winding the wi re and con- mou nted o n one e nd. The first lug s hould be placed as at
tinue winding unti l a section o ne-half Contribu ted by !\. (Fig. 1); the next two as at J3 (Fig-.
inch wide has been completed. Break ALLEN DAHLQUIST. J); the next three as at C (Fig. 1);
off ehc wire allowing about one foot the next four as at D (Fig. 1); the
for lead and fasten. Measure one-half next ten as at E ( Fig. 1), and the re-
inch from completed section and wind AN OIL CONDENSER. maining twenty as at F (fig. 1).
another section. Continue making An authority states that more send- The glass plates should now be
these sections until the tube has been ing sets prove inefficient through thinly coated with vascline; the plates
filled but a space of one-half inch losses brought about by a poor con- of tinfoil placed o n the glass so as to
s hould separate each section. The dense r than from any other one thi11 g, clear the edges by o ne inch all around,
lead from each section s hould be led losses in some stations amounting to and the foi l rolled tight to the plate.
to a switch and connected as per di:i- as much as 33 1-3 per cent. of the to- The vasclinc makes an excellent ad-
gram. tal energy. Why not save this lost hesive for tlris purpose, and as it does 26
 Build a box ul vak (~ inch stock) were desi red, the s wi tches connected
10xl4:x5 inches (outside measure). to the b1.p1ches of 3, 4, and 10 plates

iii
Miter or rabbet the corners, glue the would be closed, a nd so on. The
bottom on, and fasten the top on with thick vasel ine cuts out the brush dis-
nickeled round headed brass screws. charge almost entirely and fuTthers
The box may he filled and varnished the general insulation. This conden-
ur just shellacked as preferred. It ser was designed for use on any coil
A B C should be well shellacked inside, how- or t ransformer up to and including
ever. On one end oi this box a hard- 7'2 k w., but any larger size can be
rubber or fiber plate J4x4-x9 inches built accordingly.

Ii
should be fastened. On this plate Contributed by
moun t five 15 ampere S.P.S.T. knife L. W. TELLER.
switches and two large hinding posts.

D F
- /:"/(:;.).-
not harde n ;ill of the air can be got-
ten out from un der t he tinfo il. vVhen
the fo il is all rolled tig ht coat the One end of every s witch s hould be
whole plate wi vlt from one-six teenth \:Onnected to one of the binding pos ts
o f an i nch to one-eighth o f a n inch of by a copper bus-bar. The five other
vaselinc. Treat the remainder of t he ends are connected to the five bunches
plates in a similar manner. Now pile o f lugs 1, 2, :l, 4, 10, in order. The
up the plates so that at one end 20 lugs at the other end of the plates are
Jugs arc at the center, while at the a ll connected together and to the oth- U NI VE RSAL DETECTOR.
other end there arc five bunches of er bindi ng post. The parts of the detector arc mount·
1, 2, 3, •J., and 10 lugs each respectively. This abou t completes Lhe construc- cd on a hard wood base 2 5-~ x3 0 x0
Tliese bunches of Jugs must come tion. By this arrangement any num- inches. The edges may be beveled to
from consecutive plates and be on the ber of plates from one to twenty can gi vc a hcttcr appearance.
same part of the plate. The pile be cut in by closing the proper >!ext make two U -shaped standards
should look as in Fig. 2. Compress switches. For instance, if 17 plates (A' and N) of spring brass, using
27 the pile and tape it togethe r. material 0 inch wide and 1-16 inch
thick. T hey s hould s tand about two through ball B. The press ure of the VARIABLE CONDENSER.
inches high, thus requiring ·1Jh inches of point on rhc mineral is regulated by I n the Sep tember i!;sue of this mag-
material for each standard. O ne ol the collar C, by changing the tension azine appeared a Novel Variable Con-
these cl amps the mineral while the o f the spring- S. denser contributed by R. S. True, one
other s upports a .JtS inch brass ball All that is necessa ry now is to place vf which I made and found to be al-
(B), which is held in place by prac- the poin t on a ~cnsit i ve spot of the right, except for the cloth covered
tically the same method used on the mineral. Silicon, carborundum, and wuod rolls. I found it altnost impos-
back of wireless recei\·ers, and allows pyron are generally used with the set :<ible to get them to run true. \\Thea
the rod A to be m oved in various di- screw H loose, using the spring S to the glass plate \\'as mo\·ed up or down
rections. push the point against the m ineral.
rolls would mO\' C away from plate just
By studying the drawings one will Galena is an excellent mineral to U H'. enough LO prevent the tinfoi l from
easily be able to understand how the 111;1king a good contact with plate.
detector w orks. Suppose you want to So I made a device as o;hown in ea -
dosed sketch which is composed of
four brass strips two on each end of
0 plate .Jl; x1-16x5 inches long, the strips
-FIG. ~.- · having 3-1 G inch holes bored .Yf inch
from each encl . and two small coil
The detecto r nrny be used as a pe rikon
type, by clamping- the zincite in 1\ 2 and
for the othe r mineral solder a piece
of born ite in a c11 p having a shank on
it, and cbmping the s hank in the tip
D.
The writer has made two of th ese
detectors and mounted them on his re-
-FIG 2 :- ceiving cabinet, using a double poi ut
switch to chang-e from o ne to the oth-
use a mineral that requires a rathe r er. By c o nnc~t in g two detecto rs this
heavy pressure on its su rface .. Pl ac~ 1\·ay they may be easily adjusted to
the mineral in standard A 2 using the the highes t degree of sensitiveness,
knob E to clamp it tight. Thumb- which they possess.
scre\\' 11 must be loosened so that rod Contributed by
A is ahle to slide back and forth R. COWDEN. 28
 springs, on e for each end of the con- A NOVEL VARIABLE CO N- F /&O

denser. These are slipped over the DENSER.

screws together with the brass strips A ,·ariable condenser of almost arn·
before the screws are put into the desired capacity may be made a·s
wood rolls. I have found this to give shown in the sketch, by tacking the fixed
fine results and it works very smooth- plate to a broad hard wood ba;;e board,
ly when glass plate is moved up or allowing about ;} i11c:1cs of base board
do wn. As the brass springs ·hold rolls vacant fnr tacking- che movable plate
firm ly :igainst plate nearly perfect con- n n.
/V/OVABL. E:
PLATE are thinking of making an instrument
ifr- of that kind don't read any further.
.,..~·
... . ,.. _i
.......,.........
soe ,G
0 0
'<=I
I
A
C~·L I
I
c 0
I

,,.kt- -. fj c ;,:
I
I
I
•NC«, "c .... cos =~ ·! "'£>
... , •\ ·- c.e--

.___...._,____, - I - OCTCCT017
~2 ! -1 _µ.. Insulate the top of the fixed plate.
-FIG 2-
T he capacity is varied by raising and
lnwering the top plate.
tact between the tinfoil and the g lass (' ontribu ted by
PNONCS
is se.:ured. The enclosed sketches will CHARLES A. WILSON.
iully describe everything.
Contributed by
CLARENCE E. CHAMBERLIN.
PORTABLE RECEIVING OUTF IT
FOR LONG DISTANCE. The first thing to procure is the box
The long distance receiving outfit for holding the tuning coil, variable
clt;scribed below cannot be carried in a condenser and the detector. In this
29 "Cane" o r stuck in your hat. If you case the box was formerly a medical
battery case measuring about 9x5x50 as the 011e preceding, the first one measures 9 inches in diameter. It is
inc hes. Excellent boxes of this kind being lOx't inches. A good way to 30 inches deep · and will carry about
can be purchased from the E lectro Im- ge t these co11densers is from a local 2,000 feet of No. JS annunciator wire.
po r t ing Co.. fn r a very reasonable telepho ne company. They can be pur- This wire is very flexible and does not
price. c hased fo r abo ut 25c. and about 10 kink easily.
The tuning coil is wound with No. rece iving condensers can be made from \i\/ith the connections shown at Fig.
~ -L enameled wire and is 10 inches in a s ing le telephone condenser. There ( C) the use of a g round connection is
diam eter. ft j us t sl ips into the case are five o f these and taps are brough t determined by the length of the aerial
o u t o n the case with a switch for cut- wire. If the wire is very long the use
t ing in lhe different capaci ties, a s o f a g round actually hinders the rece iv-
,,hown i11 the picture. ing ability o f the set. T his is not a l-
At the left o f the condenser is the ways t he case, but for every 'I stations
detecto r whic h is shown in F ig. B. o ut of 10 this rule will hold true.
The crystal holder ( H) is 0 inch in So that if you are out in the wilder-
dianw t er a nd in t his is soldered the s il- ness some where, you don't need t o
it:on c rys tal o r o the r mineral that is worry about a g round connection if
preferred. Tt is threaded with 10: N you can tie a rock to the end of the
die to fit the holder base (B). It is ~vire and lheave it up into some high
ll'cll to make a number of these hold·· tree and stretch the wire out for about
tTs so tl1at a ny crystals can be used. :ioo feet.
:\11 excelle nt sol<ler that will cool off To s how the sensitiveness of small
but will not ha rd e n for about fiiteen sets like this, the writer one morning
Portable Wireless Outfit. :;ome months ago, stretched a wire
111i11utes can be made by melting one
and is held in place either by screws pa rt merc ury with three parts of sol- fro m a tree 15 feet high for about 100
o r ca rpente rs ' g lue, which is very der. ieet ac ross a vacant lot and without
:strong. T he s lide rs a re t he regular Two binding posts are provided on any g ro und heard the (S.O.S.) sent out
ha rd ru bbe r hall bearing s liders, which each e nd o f the case, o ne pair for the fro m the ill fated S.S. Santa Rosa,
are made to fit a )4 inch brass rod. telephones and the other for the wh ich went on the rocks near Pt. Ar-
Care should be ta ke n in scraping off ground and ae rial. The phone is a guello during one of the most severe
the ins ulat ion fro m the wire where the single one of 1,000 ohms and can be storms ever experienced on the Pacific
s lide rs make contact wit h it, as the carried in the pocket along with the Coast. Contributed by
wire is no t ve ry large in cross section . s ho rt head-b a nd. STANLEY E. HYDE.
Th condenser is made up in sec- T he spool for carrying the aerial
t io ns and each o ne is twice as large w ire is a la rge magnet-wire spool and 30
 CHEAP POTENTIOMETER. loose, and a drop of oil be plated between
Below is description or a11 efficient 1·he washe rs s o as to act as a swivel. The
pole n ti om eter. other one is set directly on the base. A
The base is nrnde o r wnod (p refer- large brass washer or pillar is next p ro-
1.:ured; with a hole in it to pass an 8-32

-~
~n.~ ~r
C± O
,
· ~.-'·'-A.·
~-: ~Gi;-tl ~
li'i
>
·;
.-..
....
-~
, ...,_,,. • ~
-
., -- · 6

Drawin~ sho"·s how to connect up

~~-~~·i~tt~,:;;;~i_i~0~~~~ ~:~-
for use. machine screw. It should be '~ ii1r-h
Contribu led by hip;h :rn<l Yz inch in diameter. A hole
JOHN BURLEIGH. i,: drilled in the ~idE, just deep enough
10 get a few 8-32 thread;; in it. A small
piece of threaded brass rod fastens it o n
PERIKON DETECTOR STAND. the bind ing post. HoweYcr. it should
T he following is a description of 11 clear th e t op by about l -1G inch so as
a b ly hard wood), s ize abo u t 8x8 inches, "'Periko n Detector," which T have bce11 ro revo h·c in a :;cmici rcle freely. 11olh
y,f inch thick. us ing for some time w ith excellent re · I he rods ;ire of 5-32 inch br ass, th rcaded
T l1 e g rap hite ro d is 1.akc11 from a s uits. It cost m e exactly $.40, and was 8-H;.1 at ho lh ends. T he sp ring shoul d
ha rd lead p enc il, it can be taken o u t made, exclud ing the base, in twen ty m i11 - he rath er weak, fine phospho r-bronze
hy soaking pencil in ho t water fo r utes. A ll the mate r ial necessary can bt w ire is best. J thin k the d raw ing ex-
;;ome tim e. pttrch ased from th e E lectro Imp. Co., a nd plains the othe r p oints. F ig. 2, is th e
T he encl:; of rod are he ld i11 place hy will conform nicely. ~mall piece which allows the copper
inserting ends in sprin g clips at end>'. The base is of mahogany, 3x5~ inches, py rit es cup to r evolve in a small a rc. It
The contact is mac\e with rod by a and beveled to im prove its appearance. is r ut out of l-16 inch brass sheeting ,
;;hort piece o f brass tubing, just large If this cannot be procured, a S. P. D. T. a nd the holes bored about Y.: i11d1 .iparl.
enough to slide along easi ly on g raphite switch base wi ll do nicely. The two The size i,- dependent on the :-izc of the
roe\. To th is tubing is soldered a piece standards, arc double binding posts. The i.:up used. The press ure 011 the min-
n i flexible cord . which is fas tened to one supporting the zinc crystal is set eral:; can be varied by moving- the zincite
binding post at bottom. on two 3-16 inch washers . \.Vhen fas- mineral backwards or forwards. It may
31 tening it down it should be let a little lake a 1ittle wh ile to get u~cd lo th is de-
tcctor, but it is very sensitive. and there A FI XED CONDENSER.
i.; no poss ible ad justment which cannot Make a board three-qua rters inch
be made; it being- poss ible lo reach every thick by 5)l4 inches long by 3 inches
point on the zincitc. Also. when send- wide.
ing, instead of shorting the detecto r, the Make another board three-quarters
mi ne rals a re disengaged, thereby savini;: inch wide, by 5 inches high by 4;v.I
them from being burnt out. inches wide, nail or screw them together
Contributed by as shown in Figs. l and 2. Procure two
GEO. W. KE LBY. JR.

CRYSTAL MOUNTING. 111c11tfor holding the delicate vVolla.>ton'

As most experimenters know, solder- wire. Amateurs hecome disg usted with
ing takes a gocd deal of the sensitive- fingering minute screws and discard <i
ness away from the mineral, and tin- most excellent detector for a more con-
foil wads no matter how tightly packed, venient, if not so efficient, type.
do not hold the crystal firm . Wad:" of The detector shown overcomes the dif-
fine copper wire ( 34-36 B. S.) jammed ficulty in a novel way. A in the draw- ~
between the cr:;stal and the cup holci it ing is nothing more no r less than a tie-
firm and make a good contact. pin g uard which may be obtained at any
Contributed by jewelry store, sli pped through a suitable
VAN ALLEN [Link]. hole in a piece of spring brass a nd sol-
de red thereto. By this method, putting
in the \X/ollaston wire is made an easy
IMPROVED ELECTROLYTIC matter and the principal objection to the
DETECTOR. electrolytic detector is removed.
Contributed by
Jn no wi reless instrument have make-
shift methods been more often resorted LEWIS C. MUMFORD. r!<;. I
to lhan in the electrolytic detector. De- test tubes seven-eights inch by 6 inches,
s ig ns for such detectors by men admit- coat the ins ide and outside with tinfoil
tedly experts in the field display most ·1 inches wide. When this is done, pro-
a mateurish crudity. The stumbling cure two pieces of N'o. 14 copper wire
block has been, of course, the attach- ;.ibout 6 or 7 inches long, !'older to one 32
 end of each wire some fine copper wire I have made one using an induction
taken from lamp cord. Then run them coil to get the A. C.
through corks that just fit the test tube. A core of iron wire ,0 inch in diam-
C, Fig. 1. The fine wires arc to make eter and six inches long is wound with
contact with the inside foil, Fig. 4. two layers of No. 22 enameled copper
The tubes are held to the base by the wi re. This is insulated and over this is
hatlery binding posts, H. and the strip wound two more layers of the same wire.
This is the secondary, using a vibrator
to interrupt the primary. \"!hen the
primary circuit is closed the induced
current flows in one direction and when
the primary circuit is broken the induced
current flows in the opposite direction. FIG. if!
This gives an alternating current, the H .E

frequency depending Oil the speed of the t ube at the top. Wind a bout one-
vibrator. With 2 or :J dry cells this fourth pound of No. 30 D.C.C. wi re O il
will give good results. the reel. Be sure that the same amount
Contr ibuted by of wire is wou nd on eithe r side of
ALFREJ) HOLMSTROM. tube.
Now magnetize the finest needle you
ca n find. Take a s mall piece of the
wire and wrap th ree or four turns
around the needle as shown at A in
of brass, A. I think the drawing will A SENSITIVE GALVANO METER. F ig. 2. Now place two or three inches
.:xplain any other questions. Here is a galvanometer which is of black silk thread on a sheet of writ-
Contributed by B. CARLSON. very simple in construction and if ing paper. \Vith one o r two needles
properly made is only surpassed by unravel one end of the thread until
the high resistance phone. you have obtained a silk fibre that is
TRANSFORMER FOR POULSEN The base board may be of any good scarcety visible to the naked eye. Put
TICKER. piece of wood of about 3x3 inches with a drop of glue on the coil at A, Fig. 2,
· Since a 15 k.w. Poulsen station will holes drilled for binding posts. Now and carefully fasten the silk fibre to it.
soon operate in Chicago the amateurs make a reel of cardboard or wood After the giue has tho roughly set bal-
will want a ticker detector. Those not (the dimensions arc cl early given in ance the needle by pushing the coil to-
33 havi ng A. C. cannot very well have one. Fig. l). :-incl <tri ll a hole for a brass ward o r a way from the eye. All the
 supcrAuous silk may be rolled upon improved in appearance, but the derecl to A, as s ho wn. All holes for
the upper part of the thread. writer will leave that to the constructor. screws are No. 19 drill and all tapped
Place the needle inside the coil; Contribu ted by holes are made with a No. 29 drill and
bring t he end of the silk thread up ERNEST BARNHARD. tapped 8-32 thread.
through the brass tube and carefully The sketch g ives all necessary dimen-
pull the needle up till it is exactly in the sions and shows how the detector is as-
center of the coil and fasten the thread A SILICON DETECTOR sembled.
with glue, to a wooden plug in the Here is a sil icon detecto r which I am Contributed by
top of t he tube. Next securely glue the using in connection with my wireless set C. W. SEAM'fil'\J.
co!\ to baseboard and connec t to the The parts are mounted on a hard wood
bindin g posts. To exclude disturbing base 4,Yi xll{i inches and ~ inch thick.
air c urrents, enclos e w ith a glass case Two pieces of brass, B, and D, are A CIRCULAR POTENTIOMETER.
,;uch as a lamp chimney. If the exper- bent as shown in sketch. A, and C, are
ime nte r <les ires to compare currents made of spring brass. All these are rs The potentiometer her·e described is
one which will, a nd does, g ive excel-
with this galvanometer, place a grad- inch wide, and o f a ny convenient thick- len t results, and may be made by any
uated scale, drawn upon a piece ol ness. A small brass spring is placed un- one fami liar with the use of tools in
cardboard, just below the needle. Of der the end of C, supporting the cup. a n hour's time at the cost of a few
course the coil must in any case be T he contact point, made of a small oents.
parallel with the magnetic meridian. brass nail with the head flattened is sol- The dimensions are of small ac-
This ins trumen t could be wonder- count, but the o nes shown will be
fully improved by fastening a very fo und to be very convenient. The
small mirror to the needle and by base is turned from any hard wood,
causing a beam of lig ht from a lamp or hard rubber, if preferred, 0-inch
to fall on the mirror, t he reflected light t hic k a nd four inches in diameter. A
could be focused on a :Jcale placed on groov·e is the n turned in one s ide 3-16
a s uitable frame jus t in front of the inch w ide by _!..i-i nch deep and with
lamp. a center diameter of 30 inches. The
The author finds this apparatus so holes are drilled nearly all around the
sens itive, that the tiny current gener- groove 5-16 inch apart and large
ated by dipping a steel needle and enough to admit 8-32 brass screws
piece of zinc (connected by wires to rathe r tightly. Then file the heads flat
galvanometer) into a drop of salt o n eno ugh screws to fill the holes and
water will se t the needle swinging. Of screw them in place. These screw
course this instrument may be greatly heads should all be the same height, 34
 a nd the shanks should be a little less ble caused by im perfect contact when Next, from some .0 inch material cut
t han 0 -inch long. In the two holes a graphite rod is used with a sliding ten pieces 2~x6 0 inches. Wind on
at the end of the circle place two bind- contac t. each of these sixty feet of No. 24 enam-
ing posts. Contributed by eled wire and place them in the box
The g roove is then filled with a SIDNEY E. AND ERSON.
paste made of ja mp black and shellac.
T his will dry in a few days; and the
resistance is a bout :300 o hms. If this A COMPACT LOADING COIL.
i;; no t eno ug h it may be increased by Finding that the usual type of load-
ing coil, such as described by Mr. Allen
Dahlquist in the February issue of
Modern Electrics, occupied too much
space I devised a more compact one.
Here it is:
BINDING Pos-rS.
- FIG. 2-

TOP V IE.W BOTTOM VIEW.

ME
adding a little powdered slate to the
paste. Another excellent substance to
use is the graphite which may be pur-
chased for g reas ing bicycle chains.
This may be m elted and poured into
the groove. M.t: :S'-1At..t.. NA11..:s [Link]'roPS. standing them side by side with a little
A switch lever is then attached and space between each of them. A good
-r/G.1-
connection made with t he middle bind- way to insure agains t having them touch
ing post. The o ther t wo being placed Make a box of some hard wood, pre- each other would be to slip a piece of
at the ends of the groove, make con- ferably oak, having ins ide dimensions of cardboard between each one.
nections with the paste when it is ap- 7x6x2 .0 inches. Figure II shows how the connections
plied. On top of this mount a twelve point are made.
The chief advantage of this poten- switch and two hard rubber binding
tiometer is tha t it overcomes the trou- posts at points indicated in Fig. I.
35
 Whe n all wi ring is completed fill the holes are bored through it as shown. F
box, containing the sections, with an in- is y,; ·inch out of center an<l is ;;,I -inch 0
sulating compound. in diameter. The three holes A, B. and
Screw the cover on with round headed C. are 90 degrees apart and ~- i nch from
brass screws. the cdO'e. The two holes. D and E, arc
If this coil is ca refully made it will for bi~ding posts. All the holes except
make an attractive addition to any ama- F are ::1-16 inch in rfometer. 0
teur's set. The stationary pl ~t·es . FiJ?:. 3. are m ade
Contributed by HARRY HAAS. o f <>heet brass 1-:32 inch thick and are
cu t out to the sha pe of a semi-circle 6 0 0
inches in diame ter. They have 3 holes
THE CONSTRUCTION OF A RO- bored in them to co rrespo nd with the
TARY VARIABLE CON- holes A, B an d C, in the top. Twelve
of these plates will be needed.
DENSER.
The rotating plates are shown in Fig.
The [Link] is a description of a 4. T hese a re cut from l-32 inch sheet
rotary variable condenser that ca n be brass, and have a radius of 2}"2 inches.
easily const ructed by anyone without the A projecting lug, J, is left on and has
use of m any tools, and makes an efficient a 3-16 inch hole in it. Th is hole must L
addit ion to any wireless station. be ~-inch from the straight edge of the
The accompa nying diagrams give the plate. Eleven of th ese are needed.
necessa ry dimensions of the various Fig-. 5 shows the bolts and separator s.
parts. This condenser is built of a T he ' bolt . K. 8-32 thread, is of brass,
rather la rge number of small metal has a round head and is 3y.j inches long.
plates. This is done in order that it T hree will be nee ded. L, is a piece of
will not take u p much room on the wi re- brass tube t hat will slip over K and has L
less ta ble and st ill ha,·e a high capacity.
an inside diameter 3-16 inch and an out-
The condenser is chieAy u sed in con- side diameter of ~- inch and is ~-inch
nection with a loosely coupled tuning
lo ng. S ix o f these will be needed. l\1f,
K
coil, as it's capacity is just abou t righ t
is a separator, which is 3-32 inch thick
for this.
and .)4-inch outside diameter. It must
FIG. I M.E.
Figure J shows a plan and elevation
of th e complete ins trument. The top,
~hown in F ig. 2, is of hard rubber Yi -
inch thi ck and 6 inches in diameter. Six 36
 ~
threaded with an 8-32 thread. It is 1
inch long and has a locknut. The piece
of hard rubber, X, is similar to the sta-

~
tiona ry plate ; but has a lug, simila r to
that on the rotating plates. A hole is ~~@\o i'~~
~
$:~1 rLOiS-~T
drilled and 'tapped in the lug with 8-32
DETAI LS OF TOP STATIONARY PLATE th read.
FIG.2 FIG.3 M.E. The assembling is done as follows. ~e~~ ADJUSTMENT SCREW
First take the stationary part. Force FIG. 6 FIG.7 M.E.
be able to just make a firm fit on K the piece, 0, in the hole, F, of the top.
Forty-three of these will be needed. Then place the three bolts, K, in the The top may be marked off in 180 de-
Fig. 6 shows the rotating pieces. N, holes, A, B, and C, of the top. Slip a grees. /l.t 0, the capacity will be nil,
is a piece of 8-32 threaded brass rod, piece, L, on each bolt, then a stntionary a nd a t 180 will he the maximum.
1 inches long and fitted with a hard rub- plate, then a separator, one on each bolt, The condenser can be mounted in a
ber knob. The lower end of the rod then ano ther plate, separato rs, etc. /I. fter case with the top exposed, or left open,
should be hollowed out so as to fit over all the plates are on, put on the three as de; ired.
the point on the adj usting screw. 0, remaining pieces, L, then the hard rub- Contributed by
is a piece of brass tube that is similar ber plate, X, and fasten all tig ht with B. F. DASHIELL.
to L, in Fig. 5. P , is the pointer and nuts on the ends of each bolt, K.
is 2 0 inches long, but its shape can be To assemble the rotating parts, first
alte red to suit the builder. take the rod, N, a nd screw a nut to
F ig. 7 shows the adjusting screw. It within 0-inch of the upper end. P ut CAT WHISKER DETECTOR.
has a sharp point on the end and 1s on a plate, separator, another plate, etc., I enc lose dia g ram "f a wireless de-
until all the plates a re on. Then fasten tector wh ich I wish to ente r in yo ur
r 3f--1 all firm with a locknut. Put the encl of prize contest. It is easily made and
J
,.
1,..~·
8 ''"· .,..~ K N up through the hole, F , of the top, will g ive good service. A l most any
~
M and turn the plates so that they inter- kind o f mineral may be used. Follow-
i!t @r lock. Put the adjusting screw in place
ROTATING PLATE
FIG. 4
I
rmvt L
ifr..1
c:;::i !'~
J" and fit it into the hollow end of N. Ad-
just the screw unt il the plates swing
ing arc dimensions and d irections for
making:
Base is o f hard wood, three and one-
@ clear. Connect the bushing, 0, to one ha lf inc hes by two and o ne-half inches
FIG. 5 M.E. binding pos·t a nd the bolt, K, to the other by three-e ig hths inch.
post. Put on the pointer and hard rub- First procure three large binding
threaded with an 8-32 thread. It is 1 ber knob.
37
posts. In o ne of these tap a hole for into t he binding post. To the other
the screw, G. end of the rod solder a fine silver, or
In a piece of brass, t hree-eighths inch sil ve r-pla ted, wire, so as to be in line
wide and about two inches Jong, drill with center of c rys tal holder. Con-
a hole in center fo r fas tening to base, nec t one post to the clip a nd the other
bend to shape s hown, and file the to the wire holder.
edges like a saw, to hold c rystal. Fast- A, is the si lver w ire; B, B', B" are
en binding posts a nd brass clip in posi- binding posts; C, is c rystal holder; F, A
tions as s hown. is crystal ; E, is a lock screw on wire FIG. I
Thread a brass rod about one inch holder ; D, is rubber knob; and G, the
long, so as to fit the hole previously threaded rod.
tapped. To one end o f this, fasten P ressure of contact is adjus ted by
a small rubber kn ob-. Screw the rod m eans o f rubber knob and screw.
Contribu ted by
EARL ZANDER.

~ "~
..G
l
·...,,.
"'
BALANCED DETECTOR STAND.
A is the base 5x2 inches; B is a dou-
ble binding post, with top set screw
removed; C is hole wh ere lead wi re
FIG. 2 H.E

E, a-t N, to receive the No. 30 steel

or phosphor bronze wire, G, which

J
goes in; D is hole in binding post for s hould be bent as shown in Fig. 1, and
the balance rod, a nd the rod should fit be three-quarters inch from the end o f
easily in the hole, or the hole m ay be balance rod to the point where it
dr illed to fit one-eighth inch rod; E bends down to the mineral. Cup, H,
is balance rod (one-eighth inch cop- should be not Jess than one-half inch
per) . The parl, l\, in Fig. 2 should in diameter, and should be soldered to
3f be made first and put through the hole plate, I, and drilled to receive small
/ [ in B and then bent as shown. F is a screw, J, and binding post, K, as in
counter weight a nd s hould be one- Fig. 1.
half inch in diameter and one-quarter Contributed by
inc h thick with one-eig hth inch hole M. E. ARMSTRONG.
in center to slip ove r balance rod E,
and should have a small set scre w, .M.
11.E. A small hole should l>e drilled in rod, 38
 A WIRELESS OUTFIT FOR A T he rest of the material I found ly- The aluminum wire was used in mak-
DOLLAR. ing a r<iund the house and was merely ing the aerial.
Recent!y I finished constructing a scrap. Contributed by
wireless outfit, with which, while it cost T he sending battery consists of ( 12) LANCE BOYD.
me only one dollar lo make, I am able twelve dry cells connected in multi:11c-
to send and receive to the Cl\.1:ent of over series (two rows of six cells in series). A NEW TYPE OF VARIABLE
a quarter of a mile. My idea in build- These batteries I got for nothing at dif-
CONDENSER.
ing it was to seP just how cheaply an ferent garages in the city, being consid-
outfit could be built. ered no longer fit for use; but I found Jlere is an easily made variable con-
The materials I bought are as follows, I could get quite a respectable current denc;er.
together with the prices: from them when a large number was h consists of a cylinder, A, fixed on
1 Phone ....................... S0.35 used. a shaft, B, and arranged so that it can
1 Buzzer ................. ..... · 0.35 The key is made of strips of brass, (or be made to rotate. A semi-cylindrical
Y<i Lb. No. ~4 bare copper wire .. 0.10 other metals may be used ) 1-32 inch by
1/3 Lb. !\o. 14 bare aluminum wire 0.20 ~ inch. Figure 1 shows the key. The
condenser is made of a 4 x 5 inch pho-
Total ...................... $1.00 tograph plate with a sheet of tin foil 3
x 4 inches on each side and having a
lug 0 inch wide extending out from the

I -
---
F"IG. I
glass. \V rap the condenser with some
th ick brown paper and glue or bind it.
The lugs should be wrapped arou nd two
( 2) pieces of copper wi re about six (6)
inches long, and solde red or bound tight-
ly with thread.
F o r the receiving set you will need a
small tuner made as shown in Figure 2.
T he No. 24 bare copper wire is wound
on with a thread between the turns. The
design for the detector is shown in Fig-
ure 3. The contact on the silicon is made
by a fine silver, gold or copper wire, but
M.E
I find silver is the best.
f'IG. 4 The set is wired up on a baseboard as
39 shown in Figure 4. FIG. ~ SECTIONAL EL.£VATION
piece of .sheet aluminum, C, is screwed spe ndi ng pieces o f s pring-b rass w ire. b indi ng post is connected t o o ne o f
to the cyli nde r, A, in a d epressio n in T hese wires a r e ins erted in ho les m ade t h e e~ rs of t he sta tio na ry plate, D , b y
the latter so that both s urfaces l ie in th e b as e, E, a nd the cap, F, an d a rc a wire, runni ng th rough a noth er
Rush. This is clearly shown in Fig. 2. so bent that the p late, D, is m ade to groove un derneath the base.
O ver the cyli nder, A, is glued a thin bear upon the cylin der, A, with a light . Mention ' ".as made above o f the cyl-
sheet of insu la tin g mate r ial, G. In pressure. inder, H, being of metal. The r eade r
t his in s t a nce it w as pa ra ffi ned paper T h e base, E, a nd ca p, F, are turned m ay ha ve, at first th o ught, believed
Lu t a [Link] o f s hellac, a sph a lt um, o u t of hardwood, to the s h ape show n, t h a t t his w as not good. inasm u ch as
mica, etc., wo ul d be just a s g ood. with g rooves to ad m it the coveri ng a short-circu it could accidentall y be
The scam, if it is made of paper o r cylinde r, H . T his is made of alumi- made. lf the drawings arc carefully
mica, is not over th e metal p la te. num, bu t it m ig ht as well be m a de of obser ved, however, it will be seen t hat
a s heet o f blac k fi b re, t he seam being contact 1111:,qht be made between it a nd
Over this cylind er is made to
hear a nother semi-cy lind r ical a lum i- a lap join t. T h e r eason a metal ca s e the p la te, D , b u t a cont a c t with t h e
was ch osen was b eca use it is mo re pla te, C, is absolu tely impossib le.
num p late, D. T his has four ears (two
at the top and two a t the bottom), durab le than fibre. It shou ld have a A scale, H, for the index, J, to indi-
t igh t fit in the g rooves, as it is the cate the com parative capacity is made
only t h ing ho ld ing t h e bas e a n d cap fro m a s hee t of Ge rman s ilve r a nd
together. s cre wed to t he cap, F. ln my c ase th e
A la rge k nob, I , is screwed on the nu m bers an d lines w er e e tch ed upon it
shaft, B. and, beneath it, an alum inum as follows:
index, J, is clamped with a hexagon It was covered with a thin coatin g
n u t. o f paraffi n w ax, a nd the cha racte rs
T he con n ect io ns to th e b ind ing- scratched on it, so a s to leave th e s ur-
posts a r e made as follows: face of the G e rman s ilver bare at those
A w ire, K, is caught under one of points. The n it was d ipped in a bath
the scre ws holding the plate, C, to of dilute ni t r ic acid a n d left there for
the cyl inder, A . This w ire is passed a while. vVhc n taken out it was
thro ugh a groove in t h e cy linder, as w ashed in wa ter a n d then d ipped in
shown, t o a washe r, L, to which it is b o iling w ater to m el t off the wax.
soldered. This washer makes contact The en!,,.ra ved surface w a s then paint-
with another washer, M, to which a ed O\·er with asphaltum varnish,
w ire is soldered . Th is wire is p assed an d when t he latter had dried. it was
F"IG.2 CROSS St:CTION
t hro u g h a g roov e u ndern eat h the bas e was hed off w it h a rag w et w it h g a so-
p roj ec tin g , a nd ben t o ve r four corre- to one of the binding posts. T he oth er line. T he varnish in the g rooves made
by t h e eng rav ing re mained, so tha t a 40
 ne;i t and attractive, as well as du rable, inserted between two washers at t he The resul ts were so g ratifying that
a S!11nlle r one was made, having a ca-
pacity of 0.005 mfd., and occupying a
space of less than three and three-
q11arter inches by th ree inches by
three inches (Fig. 4) ! This also
shows a different form of case.
AJthough not absolutely necessary,
I found it to greatly increase the effi-
ciency of the condenser if all the sharp
edges of the plates, etc., were rounded
with a file.
Contributed by
P. MERTZ.
place shown, to keep the washers, L SIMPLE POULSEN TICKER.
and 11, in contact.
From the description above, it would The present is a diagram of a
not seem t hat a condenser of this type Poul!'en Ticker, wh ich, I think, \Viii
could have a high capacity in a s mall be of in te rest to som e amateurs. It
M.E. space, as there are o nl y about twenty- is not necessary to ha ve a tele<Yraph
four square inches of active surfa~e relay, as s hown in the Februa ry issu e
:with a .[Link] t hree and o ne- quar ter in the Experime ntal Departme nt'.
inches in diameter a nd fo ur and three- The fac t that a relay was required
scale was the result. It will be no-
ticed t ha t German s ilver was used, in- quar ters inc hes lo ng, the si;,e whic h I
stead of aluminum. T his is because adopted.
aluminum cannot be etched eas ily as Howeve r, it must be borne in mind
nitric acid has no effect upon it. ' that ·the two plates, C and D, may be
Two pins, 0 a nd P, are inserted in very close to each other, by making G
the cap, f, at the points shown, to pre- · very thin. In my case it is only 0.001 in.
vent the kn ob from being turned more thick, res ulting in a capacity of about
than 180 degrees. 0.02 mfd. ! The total space occupied
As the condenser may be operated by the condenser is seven and one-
at any angle, a small spring, Q, was quarter inches by six inches by s ix M.t.
41 inches.
would prevent some fro m attempting Cut up the sheet brass in to pieces two screw is soldered to the tube and
to construct the ticker. and bore holes in them, as shown in the electrose knob placed on it.
Instead o f a relay I used a buzzer. Fig. 2. Cut as many as there are sec- If one side of each section be one
Disconnect the mag nets fro m the con- tions of the condenser. Then, assem- sheet of tinfoil, having ten square
tact points and connect them as in ble o n the condenser case, o r receiving inches of surface, and using paraffined
the relay. Now connect to the con- cab inet, as shown in F ig. 1. Bend the linen paper, the capacity of each will
tact po in ts jus t as you would connect brass contacts into the shape shown be app roxi mately .0001 mfcl. If de-
the relay contacts. You now have a sired a pointer or hand from a clock
ticke r that is just as good as the one may be fas tened under the electrose
construet«:cl from t he relay, and it costs knnh, and a s ca le made, s howing the
very mlic h less. capacity in circuit.
Contri b uted by T his conde nser may be used wher-
J AS. LEROY HODGES. ever a variable condenser, or a fixed
condenser of several capac ities, is
needed. It may be shun ted across one
A SEMIV ARIABLE CONDENSER. or the ro tary o r slide plate type.
The following described variable FlG.I Roug h adjustment for capacity is
condenser, which is built in sectio ns, (o > CONlACTSPRING
made on th is while finer adjustment
is very useful when o ne o[ the rotary, OEFORC OENOING is obtained by the plate type conden-
or plate type, cannot be obtai ned; o r F'IG.2 M.E ser. S ha r p t uning is thus made pos-
it may be used as an auxilia ry. T he s ible.
condense r is of paraffined paper and a nd fasten to the ·w-ood with small
screws, connecting a sectio n of the Contri buted by
ti n foi l, built in sectio ns of wha tever HENRY L. DAHi\f.
capac ity is des ired, a nd the method of condenser to each one. Bend them up
constructio n is sho wn in sketch. until each one nea rl y touches the one-
Procure a piece o f o ne-quarter inch quarter inch rod. Now, when the five--
rod, seven inches lo ng. Also a piece sixteenths inch tube· slides over the rod it COMBINATION DETECTOR.
of fi,·e-sixteenths inch ( outside) tubing, should touch all contacts. By push- Enclosed please find a blue-print of
three inches lo ng, to fit the rod. Tap ing back and forth the number of sec- a detector stand which I have worked
the rod at both ends fo r an eight-thir- tions, and hence the capacity, may be o ut. This detector has a new idea as
ty-two screw. Also procure two ,·aried. The one-quarter inch rod is to the fi ne ad iustment. lni;tead of
brass pillars, one-half inch high, five- fastened to the board by eight-thi rty- having the fine ad justm ent screw be-
eighths inch thick, with holes for an two screws from below, through the tween the contact a nd the s tandard, I
eight-thirty-two screw, an electrose pillar, or hy wood screws passing down have placed it o n the o ther side of the
knob, and some thin sheet brass. from the top. A flat-headed eight-thi rty- contac t, and thci·cfo rc obtain a much 42
 finer adjustment. If you turn the Another scheme is in the metal sheet copper, about 1-64th inch thick,
screw down one-sixteenth of an inch plate, on which the mineral cups rest. and fasten it to the body of the coil,
the contact point will only go down The plate is connected to a binding directly under one outside slider, so
post, and the cups just rest on the that when the slider is moved off the
plate. They can be moved around >vire, it will slide onto· the copper.
until the right part of the mineral is Then connect this piece of copper to
under the con tact point. the other outside slider. Using the
I do not know whether you could hookup shown in Fig. 2, if the slider is
use two minerals at the same time, but moved fron1 the >vire to the sheet cop-
PLAN you can make a quick change from one per, the loop aerial is converted to a
to the other in this model. Some of straightaway aerial.
the dimensions are not needed, but I The writer believes that the method
think the drawing is clear. of connecting 'phones and detector (in
Contr ibuted bv series instead of in parallel), which
ROBERT GIBSO K. was shown to him by a United 'Wire-
less opera tor, is new to most amateurs;
INCREASED RECEIVING EFFI-
CIENCY.
In most books dealing with wireless ~
subjects, very little is said about three-
~lide tuner.;, so a word here would not
~~I
be out of place.
Experimenters using single or
ho
double slide tuning coils will find that ~
the selectivity of their station is in- r1cI
creased from 2570 to 50% by using a
three-slide tuner in conjunction with
A AERIAL
a loop aerial, connecting instrnrnen ts c CONDENSER (F1xw· OR
11p as in Fig. I. Excellent results can VARIABLE:)
0 G!WSTAL DETt:CTOR
also be had from Fig. 2 . G ·s. G GROUND
1~.T.R. TE:LEPHONi; [Link]:RS.
~~ T.C. TUNING COIL
M. E. Any single or double slide coil can
one-thirty-second of an inch or less, be converted into a triple slide coil at l----0-:~
where, as in the other kirids, the points a cost of from twenty-five to fifty cents. G'~;: T. R. M. L .
43 would go down farther than ·the screw . r\fter this has been done, get a piece of f" I G. 3
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