old telephone crank magneto

[Radio TexMex]

On our way back from her parents house Sunday in Houston, we decided to stop
by a little antique mall somewhere between Houston and Austin. There I
found an old Western Electric crank shaft telephone magneto still complete
with the oak enclosure and in pretty nice condition. After testing it out
on my stepson (he got a kick out of it), I decided I couldn't live without
it and gave the lady $40.

We got it home and Joe, my stepson seemed more interested in it than me and
was hooking it to all sorts of little FM/AM radios, light bulbs and other
little appliances. I also hooked it to a little test meter and saw it
generates up to around 100v AC with a really good wind.

I've been looking around the web for some ideas but haven't had much luck,
so I thought I would drop this group a line. Does anyone know if this
little novelty might have any practical use? If I were to rig up some sort
to windmill or something to it to keep it spinning and connect it to a
converter or some other power supply, is it possible to use one of these to
power, say, a small ham radio?

- Matt

 

[Tom Biasi]

On our way back from her parents house Sunday in Houston, we decided to
stop
by a little antique mall somewhere between Houston and Austin. There I
found an old Western Electric crank shaft telephone magneto still complete
with the oak enclosure and in pretty nice condition. After testing it out
on my stepson (he got a kick out of it), I decided I couldn't live without
it and gave the lady $40.

We got it home and Joe, my stepson seemed more interested in it than me
and
was hooking it to all sorts of little FM/AM radios, light bulbs and other
little appliances. I also hooked it to a little test meter and saw it
generates up to around 100v AC with a really good wind.

I've been looking around the web for some ideas but haven't had much luck,
so I thought I would drop this group a line. Does anyone know if this
little novelty might have any practical use? If I were to rig up some sort
to windmill or something to it to keep it spinning and connect it to a
converter or some other power supply, is it possible to use one of these
to
power, say, a small ham radio?

- Matt

Hi Matt,
You could power a lot of things with it. I don't know its limits but you
could experiment to find out.
Keep in mind, the more power you take from it the more power you need to put
in.
It will get harder to crank as the load increases.
Have fun learning what it can do.
Regards,
Tom

 

[John Fields]

On our way back from her parents house Sunday in Houston, we decided to stop
by a little antique mall somewhere between Houston and Austin. There I
found an old Western Electric crank shaft telephone magneto still complete
with the oak enclosure and in pretty nice condition. After testing it out
on my stepson (he got a kick out of it), I decided I couldn't live without
it and gave the lady $40.

We got it home and Joe, my stepson seemed more interested in it than me and
was hooking it to all sorts of little FM/AM radios, light bulbs and other
little appliances. I also hooked it to a little test meter and saw it
generates up to around 100v AC with a really good wind.

I've been looking around the web for some ideas but haven't had much luck,
so I thought I would drop this group a line. Does anyone know if this
little novelty might have any practical use?

 

[Radio TexMex]

I *did* find that application on the web for this lil' shocker. I might try
that, but here in Austin, I don't think the ground has very many night
crawlers. Its pretty rocky. I also saw some folks talking about using them
on fishing trips to "stun" the fishies. Sounds like an invitation for a
hefty fine, hehe.

 

[John Fields]

John Fields wrote:


I *did* find that application on the web for this lil' shocker. I might try
that, but here in Austin, I don't think the ground has very many night
crawlers. Its pretty rocky.

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

That's because you keep replying to Rich. ;-)


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[Roger Dewhurst]

On Tue, 18 Apr 2006 09:39:59 -0500, Radio TexMex

Old fashioned meggers do that very well!

R