Waddington’s Future Scientist Flash Photography

 Waddington’s Future Scientist Flash Photography

Once more we’re time travelling back to the 1960’s, this time to another Christmas Present long gone and replaced from a well known on line auction site in quite good condition

Simple black and white photography in the form of a educational toy

 

CAMERA 

 

The Kit contained the following

1, A Diana 120 roll film Camera, with flash attachment for Flash Bulbs

I believe they did a cheaper set with NO flash

 

2, 1 x roll of 120 Film

3, 1 x Small thermometer

4, 3 x packets of Chemical A , which I believe was ILFORD ID-11 Developer

5, 3 x Packets of Chemical B,  Sodium Thiosulphate Pentahydrate

Better known as “Hypo” fixer solution   

 

6, 2 x Small Packets marked C ,  Photographic paper

7, 2 x Large Chemical trays and one small Chemical tray for Developer Wash and Fix

8, 1 x Small Plastic Exposure frame  

9,  2 large Wooden Tongs , for holding the film or paper whilst developing  

10, 2 x small Plastic clips

11, 1 x small 15W safety lamp

12, Instruction leaflet, (Lost)                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

 

 

 

Focus 

The Focus is continuously variable with 3 setting points 4ft to 6ft -  6ft to 12 ft  &  12 ft- inf

 

Shutter has two settings B and I ,

The “B” setting holds the Shutter open for Flash bulb or low light

The  “I” setting opens the shutter for around 1/60 second 

 

 

 

Iris – F stop

  

A basic but function adjustment with three Settings

Sunny – Sun & Cloud - Cloudy

and it does work quite well

 

Loading the Camera

Obviously a dark room would be best or Film loading bag,

I used to load my Camera under the bed sheets with the room curtains closed 

 

 Flash 

 

The Flash uses standard PF style bulbs which are still available

It uses 2 pins to plug into the Camera 

While the Gun hides the batteries inside    

The little white plastic button ejects the spent Flash bulb

 

 

Top of the camera showing Flash socket 

 

 Comments

It worked well, I still have pictures to this day that have not faded with time

Timing and Temperature were the key  

 

N.B. this is now part of my collection

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Philips Electronics EE8 and E20 Kits

 Philips Electronics EE8 and E20 Kits   

It was a dark mid winters Christmas morning back in 1964 in the days of snow drifts and coal fires when my life changed forever. 

 

Having tired of playing with my crystal set built from a circuit in Practical Wireless 

Radio Construction for the Beginner Page 584 November, 1960, with the one transistor amplifier powered by a 3v No8  battery described in Decembers copy,

N.B. All the parts were purchased from Stan Willets Spon Lane shop.

 

 

I awoke to see this electronic's EE8 kit.

I later brought the A20 add on kit and the LW coil pack purchased from Wulfrun Camp shop 

in Carters Green, also long since gone

 

Not forgetting a Short wave coil I made which allowed me I listen to the HF linked Gemini and Apollo missions from Spain and Australia .

                                                    EE8 Original box cover

          I replaced the Polystyrene with a set from a known internet sales site 

                                  

            Replacement polystyrene interior with New or original components 

                                           A new green lamp shade was obtained to 

                               With New Transistors and a period Diode from my own stock 

                                                                  Semi Conductors

                AF 116                                          OA79                                          AC126

Listed as RF (it was back then)             Germanium Diode                    Germanium Alloy

TO-7 case Germanium P-N-P         for FM detector Circuits       Medium Power AF Transistor

Alloy diffused junction Transistor      Max Reverse Voltage                         VCB   -32V

VCB  -20  Ic 10mA  hfe 150              Peak 45V Ave  30 V                            Ic 100mA

Power gain                                    Max Forward Current 100mA    Ptot max T= 75C  = 500mW

 (f =10.7 Mc/s = MHz ) 25 dB                   Average  4mA

 

It must also be remembered the AF  family of Transistors were also susceptible to the tin plating on the inside of the TO-7 can developing tin whiskers  which slowly grow until they touched the junction destroying the transistor from within 

The Manual

                                                          The Base Board 

                                                  Which 4 little plastic legs were fitted 

PARTS LIST

                        One of the 8 overlay Cards Marked “C1  a one Transistor Radio"

                         This is  a clever little circuit which amplifies the signal twice

 

 The ferrite Rod has two coils, one  is tuned to resonance (the frequency we want) by a Coil (t1&t2) which is connected to a variable Capacitor

The Coil and variable Capacitor gives a tuning range for the whole of the MW

 

 

A second Coil ( t3& t4) is the signal coil and the desired radio signal appears at the base of the transistor and gets amplified , appearing at the collector.

 

However this amplified RF signal cannot go through the choke ( inductor) as its gives a high impedance path to RF .

So the RF amplified signal takes the easier route through C11 and the diode where the Radio signal demodulated with any remaining RF filtered through C12 to ground

 

This new Audio signal goes through the second Coil ( t3&t4) again and again it gets amplified.

This new Amplified Audio signal appears at the collector but this time as at a much lower audio frequency, so  it can go though the choke ( inductor) and the signal can get to the ear phone

 

 

Enjoy 

 

 

 

                                          Source :- My own collection 

                                 and a few odds and ends from the Net 

Does it work ? Yes, Radio 1 has long gone from MW but the music is exactly the same