This Spectra-Physics model 1077 "Level-Eye" laser light detector was made in the early 1980s. After setting-up a laser-emitter a construction worker could use this detector to take readings and check for level on a job site. The unit has both a visual display and an audible tone to tell the worker when the detector is centered on the signal. It has two accuracy settings, plus or minus 1/8 of an inch or 1/16 of an inch.
The term “home-made laser” almost seems a contradiction but that is not the case. This gas laser was built by high school student Stephen M. Fry in 1964, only four years after Ali Javan made the first gas laser at Bell Labs. Fry followed plans published in Scientific American's "The Amateur Scientist" column in September 1964, (page 227).
The glass tube is filled with helium and neon and, as the magazine reported, "seems to consist merely of a gas-discharge tube that looks much like the letter 'I' in a neon sign; at the ends of the tube are flat windows that face a pair of small mirrors. Yet when power is applied, the device emits as many as six separate beams of intense light."
The discharge tube is the only piece of this particular laser that remains. The flat windows (called "Brewster windows") are square instead of round, and the electrodes are parallel to the gas tube instead of perpendicular. Otherwise it resembles the drawings in the magazine. Fry later earned a Ph.D. in physics with a dissertation on lasers.
Harris-Dracon model TS21 telephone test set. Used by telephone personnel to test lines and other equipment. Unit made with touch-tone keypad and is capable of testing both tone and pulse (rotary dial) equipment. Used by a lineman employed by C&P Telephone but was manufactured by an independent supplier, not by Western Electric. Label: “TS21 Test Set / Harris-Dracon Division / D-258,061 and Other / Patents Pending”, switches labeled: “-X89 / Mute / M251-1”, “Polarity”, “Keypad / Out / In”, “Mode / Tone / Pulse”.
Mallory model BC15 battery charger for "Duracell" rechargeable alkaline batteries. Types AA, C, and D may be recharged in pairs. Four batteries maximum. "Use only Duracell Rechargeable Alkaline Batteries should be charged in this charger. Warranty will be voided if other types of batteries are charged. DO NOT CHARGE NEW BATTERIES until after the have been discharged." Patents 3237079 and 3371302 noted on plug.
As people adopted smaller and more portable electrical devices, battery technology to power them advanced markedly during the past century. Some batteries can be recharged, saving consumers money and reducing environmental degradation. Different types of batteries require different types of charging units. This charger, made by battery manufacturer Mallory (trade name Duracell) was designed to recharge nickel-cadmium (NiCad) batteries.
The Magellan Corporation, founded in 1986, worked to develop a handheld, battery-powered GPS receiver for the civilian market. Launched in 1988, the NAV 1000 was the first hand-held receiver introduced to the consumer market. Magellan anticipated that people would use these devices for hiking, boating and other recreational purposes.
This is the prototype "Butler In A Box", an electronic home controller system created in 1983 by professional magician Gus Searcy and computer programmer Franz Kavan. The idea was to couple emerging computer technology with novel wireless devices and make a product that could control a variety of electrical devices in a home. Searcy reportedly conceived the idea after friends asked him why, if he could pull rabbits from hats, couldn’t he just tell lights to come on instead of physically operating a switch. Soon thereafter, Searcy and Kavan developed “Sidney,” an electronic controller to do that and more.
This is a commercial version of "Butler In A Box", an electronic home controller system designed by professional magician Gus Searcy and computer programmer Franz Kavan. This unit sold for between $1500 and $3000 depending on the accessories needed to meet a customer’s requests. Butler In A Box required microphones for users’ voice inputs, and different controllers for thermostats, light circuits, alarm systems and telephone access. Aside from sales to luxury-home owners, Mastervoice also marketed the product to physically challenged people who might have difficulty operating traditional electrical switches and controls.
As the 1980s progressed, more companies began marketing compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). This modular unit was made by Janmar Lighting around 1987. The ballast that controls the electrical arc in the lamp is contained in the base adapter. The globe-shaped cover serves both to diffuse light and to make the lamp less unusual looking. Some consumers dislike the non-traditional shapes of many CFLs and refused to purchase them for that reason.
It is not known if the Philips tube assembly is original to this piece or if it's a replacement. However it does demonstrate that the new plug-in bases developed with CFLs became standardized within a few years of the technology's 1981 introduction.
This unit is a modular CFL with three components: a tube assembly, an adapter, and a cover. Lamp characteristics: Tube assembly is a Philips model PL-7/27. A 7-watt twin-tube unit with connecting bridge-weld mounted on a G23 plastic base with aluminum skirt. The adapter has a brass medium-screw base-shell with retainer. The insulator is part of the plastic skirt that houses a magnetic ballast. A G23 socket is on top and male threads to attach the cover. Cover is a G-shaped, white-glass envelope with black plastic collar at bottom, threaded to mount onto adapter. Electrical ratings are 120 volts, 60 hertz, .18 amps.