Popular Electronics Magazine, December 1955
The charming cover from December, 1955, Popular Electronics shows a father
and son building one of the electronic toys featured in that issue.
Four simple construction projects were laid out in the article. The
"Winking Clown" was a plywood clown face with orange eyes that
blinked in alternation. The "Gadget Box" contained several lights,
buzzers, and bells, with switches to turn them on and off.
The "Electronic Piano" showed how to mount a crystal phonograph pickup
inside the case of a conventional toy piano and send that output to
a small amplifier. Finally, the "Electronic Maze" was
similar to the familiar "Operation" game. A maze was cut from sheet
metal or metal foil pieces, and the challenge was to move an
electrified probe through the maze without touching the sides
and setting off a buzzer.
The cover artist took a few liberties with safety for the sake of making an eye-catching
picture. The painting portrays a pleasant
father-and-son moment, but no technician in his right mind
would recommend building electronic projects while squatting
on the floor in front of the Christmas tree!
Other magazines in my collection with a Christmas theme include the
December 1954 QST,
December 1925 Radio News,
January 1929 Radio News,
January 1935 Short
Wave Craft, and
January 1936 Short
Wave Craft.
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