Police Inaugurate Two-Way Radio

THE first two-way police radio equipment in the United States is now in operation at Piedmont, a fashionable suburb of Oakland, California. Permission for this efficient new form of communication between police officers in the field and headquarters has been granted by the federal radio commission. Read the rest of this entry »

Portable Radios for U. S. Cavalry
THE latest in portable radio receivers and transmitters has been developed by Signal Corps engineers for use by the U. S. Cavalry. The antenna is strung on a short mast, while the instruments are carried on the saddle, as illustrated below.

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The Amateur in the Making

By Walter Burnett

Illustrations by Kneeland L. Green.

WHEN Marconi completed experiments a number of years ago, which made wireless telegraphy practicable, an unbelieving world sat up and gasped.

The wonder of his achievement lingered in the minds of many for a few days and then died. In certain young men, however, it created the spark of ambition, which flared up into an irresistible desire to enter into this new and practically unknown field. As a result nearly every city in the country boasts (or tolerates) its wireless amateurs. Read the rest of this entry »

Super Radio Set Will Tune In Any Of World’s Programs

JUST about the largest radio receiving set to be made so far is the latest creation of E. H. Scott. Night or day it will tune in any broadcasting station in the entire world

The receiver has forty tubes, and there are five loud speakers in combination to give the best reproduction possible on all tone frequencies. Read the rest of this entry »

The mystery constructor is wearing a mask? Huh?

World’s Smallest Complete Radio Broadcasting Station

THE City of Brotherly Love now boasts of the world’s smallest radio broadcasting station. Not much different in size and appearance from a household refrigerator, this station is accurate in all respects, operates entirely under its own power, and has a sending radius of two hundred feet with its 1/400th of a watt power plant. Its call letters are WEE, and it is owned and operated by the Tiny Broadcasting Company, operating on a frequency of 1,300 kilocycles.

The transmitter was designed and built by the Mystery announcer of WPEN, who recently won the title of the most popular radio announcer in a nation-wide contest.

A Private Booth on Your Desk

You can insure absolute privacy and secrecy with

“SCHER’S IMPROVED TELEPHONE MUFFLER”

You need not leave our desk or go to a private booth to talk freely, and confidentially over the phone. This invention gives the equivalence of a telephone booth.
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Antenna Now a Loud Speaker

RADIO “freaks” or hearing of programs without apparatus, are reported occasionally; but are usually hard to verify. However, an occurrence at the Hilversum (Holland) station, reported by no less an authority than Dr. Balthasar van der Pol, in a letter to Nature, is well authenticated by competent observation. Read the rest of this entry »

The exact same quote about being assigned a phone number at birth is used in the Mechanix Illustrated article Your Telephone Of Tomorrow (Sep, 1956). If you haven’t read that one, be sure to check it out, it pretty much predicts modern cell phones.

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Voices Across the Land

Night and day I keep singing—humming and thrumming:

It is love and war and money; it is the fighting and the tears, the work and want,

Death and laughter of men and women passing through me, carrier of your speech,

In the rain and the wet dripping, in the dawn and the shine drying,

A copper wire.

—Carl Sandburg

Under a Telephone Pole Screwdriver and splicing knife hanging from his belt, the telephone man keeps history’s happiest invention humming from coast to coast. He watches over 265 million miles of wire, waging war against storm, disaster and pesky animals that chew up or nest in his equipment. He hoists his lines over mountains with helicopters, shoots them across canyons with bow and arrow, strings them through dark conduits far beneath great cities. To every home and office, he gains ready entrance, exuding courtesy and helpfulness.
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THIRTY MAN-POWER POSTAL SORTING MACHINE

By D. H. BACH

INSTALLED at the Chicago post-office is a new and striking machine for distributing mail. It looks like a monster typewriter attached to a belt conveyor, and is the first mechanical letter distributor to be adopted by any post-office.
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WHEN A CABLE SNARLS

By C.L. EDHOLM

WHAT happens when a submarine cable is dragged by a ship’s anchor is shown in the accompanying photographs ; this accident occurred to the New York Telephone Company’s connections between Brooklyn and lower Manhattan. A steamer, trying to make its pier, was carried too far by the swift current under the Brooklyn Bridge. Dropping its anchor, it caught the cables lying on the bottom beneath the bridge. Read the rest of this entry »

Radiophone to Rid Siberia of Wolves

RADIO telephones placed at intervals throughout the wolf-infested regions of Siberia so that the whereabouts of these dangerous pests can be easily discovered is the latest means proposed by Soviet officials to rid the vast plains of the country of the wolf menace, long an obstacle to settlement and safe travel. Read the rest of this entry »

The “Petite,” a compact new extension telephone with illuminated dial, has been introduced by Stromberg-Carlson Division of General Dynamics for the independent telephone industry. The dial light glows dimly when the ‘phone is not in use, lights up brightly for dialing when the handset is picked up. Subscriber can turn off the light entirely by a switch in the base. Although the “Petite” has no built-in ringer, a compact wall-type bell box is available so that it can be used as a primary telephone instead of as an extension. The new narrow shape is intended to make the instrument more convenient for bedside table and other applications.