Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Carbide Battery Radio from 1930's
#2

It occurs to me that an early maker of radio batteries was the Union Carbide and Carbon Company. I think they used the name Eveready then; I know they did later, because in the 1950s my Dad worked for them making radio batteries at their plant in Charlotte, NC. Could your mother have remembered the name "carbide" from the battery and mixed it up with the "carbide" of a miner's lamp?

A carbide miner's lamp does not operate on electricity. Instead it uses a chemical reaction between water and calcium carbide to produce acetylene gas, which burns with a very bright flame. The process is described on this web site.

http://www.showcaves.com/english/explain...Lamps.html

Early cars, before around 1915, used carbide headlamps. You would often see a brass cylinder mounted on the running board. This cylinder had two chambers. The driver would put calcium carbide pellets in the lower chamber and water in the upper one. Water would drip slowly into the carbide compartment, and a hose would carry the resulting acetylene to the headlamps. It is hard to see how this process could run a radio.

John Honeycutt


Messages In This Thread
Carbide Battery Radio from 1930's - by bigdog - 07-01-2007, 04:38 PM
[No subject] - by Raleigh - 07-01-2007, 05:21 PM
Carbide Battery Radios - by bigdog - 07-03-2007, 11:46 AM
[No subject] - by Raleigh - 07-04-2007, 10:36 AM
Carbide Battery Radio - by bigdog - 07-05-2007, 12:39 PM



Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)
[-]
Recent Posts
Jackson 715 not working
Mrfixr55, its working now. I cleaned the switches and sockets with spray cleaner. Thanks for helping on this one.daveone23 — 06:26 PM
Jackson 715 not working
Now that you posted the schematic, I don't know why that Sprague electrolytic cap is across the meter, as it is not indi...MrFixr55 — 05:51 PM
HiFi (Chifi) tube amp build - but my own design.
What may be lacking in the PP Tube amps may be the 2nd harmonics, which some, especially RCA back in the day called &quo...MrFixr55 — 05:32 PM
Jackson 715 not working
Usually in an emission tester, the tube under test is measured as if it were a diode. So, some testers connect all the g...RodB — 04:17 PM
Restoring Philco 37-604C
Yep. F5 is green, D5 is Red. Red is Bad. Green is Clean.morzh — 01:30 PM
Jackson 715 not working
I did start to do that but I stalled out because I could not figure out how the grid and plate get voltage. In this diag...daveone23 — 11:52 AM
Restoring Philco 37-604C
(Insert Homer Simpson "DOPF" Here.) When all fails, look at the can. Took the Ron Ramirez advice, red Caig D...MrFixr55 — 09:23 AM
Philco 91 Speaker Replacement
From your text I am not sure if you intend to use the existing speaker with a resistor instead of the field coil. It wo...morzh — 08:44 AM
Philco 91 Speaker Replacement
My field coil is bad. I am still hoping to find an original, but if I can't I will go with a fitting Philco speaker, 125...dconant — 08:34 AM
Philco 91 Speaker Replacement
As Rod said, it is OK to use a fitting speaker, and then look for an original one. If you buy a Hammond 125 output tr...morzh — 08:15 AM

[-]
Who's Online
There are currently 3928 online users. [Complete List]
» 1 Member(s) | 3927 Guest(s)
Avatar

>