The Boy Mechanic, Book 2: 1000 Things for Boys to Do

by Unknown

A Homemade Wet Battery

Procure a large water bottle and have a glass cutter cut the top off so that the lower portion will form a jar about 8-1/2 in. high. Next obtain two pieces of carbon, about 8 in. long, 4 in. wide and 1/4 in. thick. Melt up some old scrap zinc and mold a piece having the same dimensions as the pieces of carbon. The mold for casting the zinc may be made by nailing some 1/4-in. strips of wood on a piece of dry board, forming a shallow box, 4 in. wide and 8 in. long. Remove all the impurities from the surface of the zinc when it is melted, with a metal spoon or piece of tin. Before filling the mold with the metal, place a piece of No. 14 gauge bare copper wire through a small hole in one of the end pieces forming the mold, and allow it to project several inches inside, and make sure the mold is perfectly level. The zinc will run around the end of the wire, which is to afford a means of connecting the zinc plate to one of the binding posts forming the terminals of the cell.

Cut from some hard wood four pieces a little longer than the outside diameter of the glass jar, two of them 1/2 by 1/2 in., and two, 1/2 by 5/8 in. Drill a 1/8-in. hole in each end of all four pieces, the holes being perpendicular to the 1/2-in. dimension in each case, and about 3/8 in. from the end. Boil all the pieces for several minutes in paraffin and stand them up on end to drain. Procure two 1/8-in. brass bolts, 3-1/2 in. long, which are to be used in clamping the elements of the cell together. The two smaller pieces of wood should be placed on each side of one end of the zinc, then the carbon pieces and the larger pieces of wood outside the carbon pieces. The carbon plates should be connected together and then connected to a binding post which forms the positive terminal of the cell. If unable to obtain pieces of carbon of the required dimensions, a number of ordinary electric-light carbons may be used. Get about ten 1/2-in. carbons, without the copper coating, if possible; if not, file all the copper off. Cut these carbons off, forming 8-in. lengths. File the top ends of the carbons flat and so that they all become equal in thickness, and clamp them in place by means of the brass bolts. If rods are used, they should all be connected together by means of a piece of copper wire and then to a binding post.

The plates may now be hung in the jar, the wooden pieces resting on the top of the jar and acting as a support. The solution for this cell is made by dissolving 1/2 lb. of potassium bichromate in 1/2 gal. of water, and then adding very slowly 1/2 lb. of strong sulphuric acid. More or less solution may be made by using the proper proportion of each ingredient.

This cell will have a voltage of two volts, a rather low internal resistance, and will be capable of delivering a large current. If it should begin to show signs of exhaustion, a little more acid may be added.

A chemical action goes on in this cell regardless of whether it supplies current to an external circuit or not, and for this reason the elements should be removed from the solution and hung directly over the jar when the cell is not in use. A simple device for this purpose may be constructed as shown. A cord may be passed through the opening in the crossbar at the top and its lower end attached to the elements. When the elements are drawn out of the solution, the upper end of the cord may be fastened in some manner. This frame can, of course, be made longer, so it will accommodate a number of cells.

The Construction of a Simple Wireless Telephone Set
By A. E. Andrews

In Two Parts—Part II

If two coils of wire be placed parallel to each other as shown in Fig. 6, and a current be passed through the winding of one of them, say A, a part of the magnetic lines of force created by this current will pass through the other coil B. These lines of magnetic force must cut across the turns of wire of the coil in which there is no current as the magnetic field is being created, and as a result there will be an electrical pressure produced in the winding of the coil carrying no current. When the current in coil A is discontinued, the magnetic field created by this current is destroyed or it contracts to zero, and the magnetic lines again cut the various turns composing the winding of coil B. The direction in which the magnetic lines of force and the winding of coil B move with respect to each other is just the reverse, when the current in the winding of coil A is increasing, to what it is when the current in the winding of the coil A is decreasing. Any change in the value of the current in the winding of coil A will result in a change in the number of magnetic lines of force linked with the winding of the coil B, and as a result of this change in the number of lines linked with the winding of coil B there will be an induced electrical pressure set up in coil B. The direction of this induced electrical pressure will depend upon whether the current in the winding of coil A is increasing or decreasing in value. When the current in the winding of coil A is increasing in value, the electrical pressure induced in the winding of coil B will be in such a direction that the current produced by this induced electrical pressure will pass around the winding of coil B in the opposite direction to that in which the current passes around the winding of coil A. Or the current produced by the induced electrical pressure tends to produce a magnetic field opposite in direction to the one created by the current in the winding of coil A. When the current in the winding of A is decreasing in value, the induced pressure in the winding of the coil B is just the reverse of what it was in the previous case and the current produced by this induced pressure passes around the winding of the coil B in the same direction as the current passes around the winding of coil A. The current produced by the induced electrical pressure aids the current in the winding of coil A in producing a magnetic field. In general the current resulting from the induced pressure always passes around the circuit in such a direction as to produce a magnetic effect which will oppose a change in the value of the magnetic field causing the induced electrical pressure.

Fig. 6

There will be an induced pressure in the winding of coil B, due to a change in the value of the current in the winding of coil A, as long as the coil B remains in the magnetic field of the coil A and its plane is not parallel to magnetic lines; or, in other words, coil B must always be in such a position that some of the magnetic lines created by the current in coil A will pass through the winding of coil B.

If a telephone transmitter and a battery be connected in series with the winding of coil A, a fluctuating or varying current can be made to pass through the winding by causing the diaphragm of the transmitter to vibrate by speaking into the mouthpiece of the transmitter. This varying current will set up a varying magnetic field and there will be an induced electrical pressure set up in coil B, if it be properly placed with respect to coil A. A receiver connected in series with the winding of coil B will be subjected to the action of a varying current due to the induced electrical pressure in the winding of coil B and as a result, the diaphragm of the receiver will vibrate in unison with that of the transmitter, and speech can thus be transmitted. The connection just described should be somewhat modified and a little more equipment used in order to give the best results.

Fig. 7—Sending and Receiving Equipment

Figure 7 shows the complete sending and receiving equipment, a complete outfit of this kind being required for each station. The transmitter T and the receiver R may be an ordinary local battery transmitter and receiver, although a high-resistance receiver will give better results. The induction coil with the windings, marked P and S, may be any commercial type of induction coil as used in a magneto telephone instrument, but a coil with a high-wound secondary will give better results. The push button K is to be used in closing the transmitter circuit when the set is being used for transmitting, the key being depressed, and for shorting out the high resistance secondary winding when the set is used in receiving, the key being in the normal position. Ten dry cells should be connected in series and used to supply current to the transmitter circuit, as shown by B in the figure. The receiver R, secondary winding of the induction coil S, and the winding of coil A used in transmitting and receiving the magnetic effects, are all connected in series. The winding of the coil A consists of two parts, D and E, as shown in the figure, with two of their ends connected together by means of a condenser, C, having a capacity of about 2 micro-farads. Each of these parts should consist of about 200 turns of No. 22 gauge silk-covered copper wire, wound on an ordinary bicycle rim. The inside end of one winding should be connected to the outside of the other by means of the condenser, the two coils being wound in the same direction. The condenser C can be procured at a small cost from almost any telephone company.

To talk, two of the instruments are placed 25 or 30 ft. apart, and they may be placed in different rooms as walls and other ordinary obstructions that do not interfere with the production of the magnetic field about the transmitting coil, have no effect upon the operation. Pressing the button K at the transmitting station, closes the transmitter circuit and removes the shunt from about the secondary winding of the induction. Any vibration of the transmitter will cause a varying current to pass through the primary winding P, which in turn induces an electrical pressure in the secondary winding S, and this pressure causes a varying current to pass through the coil A. The varying current in the winding of the coil A produces a varying magnetic field which acts upon the receiving coil, inducing an electrical pressure in it and producing a current through the receiver at the receiving station.

A filing coherer, adapted to close a local relay circuit and ring an ordinary bell, may be used with the sets just described for signaling between stations.