Fountain Pen Radio

Post Number 124 ~

Note:  No restoration this past week, as I have been traveling for my real job….so, I found this old advertisement and thought it would be worth sharing….

Over the years, I have accumulated some ephemera related to Fountain Pens which make for interesting conversation and reading. From time to time I like to share these and this weeks post is a very humorous look at how to make a radio out of a fountain pen.

This tutorial is from an article in a 1954 issue of Science and Mechanics Magazine.  Science And Mechanics was published from 1929 to 1984 and the title is self explanatory.

I am not an electrical engineer and have no idea if this would have worked in 1954, but the most interesting thing to me, from the fountain pen perspective, is on page 2 in the Materials List ~  The first material needed is:  1 cheapest grade ballpoint pen, or discarded fountain pen.  I laughed when I read this as I took it as a comment which reflected what was happening to the fountain pen in 1954.  To make the radio, you would either need a cheap ballpoint (don’t use a nice one) or one of those old fountain pens you no longer need and have discarded.

If I was really adventurous, I would attempt this, but I am not.  I suspect that many of the materials would be difficult, if not impossible, to find.

Looking at the photo of the young lady listening to the pen reminds me of the iPod of today.  Who knew the pen radio was the precursor to the iPod?

They should have named it the iPen.

Edit (May 11, 2010): A reader, John, was kind enough to send this photo from a 1938 issue of Popular Science.  It shows a Fountain Pen sized receiver that covered up to 75 miles.  Thank you, John, for the link.  As it states , it was handy for the hiker or cyclist….