CD V-726DX Prototype (1960-1962) |
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What a neat idea, two essential fallout shelter items packaged together. A combination radio-civil defense meter! This Lionel prototype, the CD V-726DX, used the same type of GM detector as the CD V-726AX, another Lionel instrument. This is the same Lionel company that made toy trains. For an article about Lionel's entry into the nuclear business, click here. Even though it employed a GM, the CD V-726DX had a relatively high range: up to 100 R/hr (the highest rate recommended by the Office of Civil Defense for the public). Unfortunately, I have no information about the "tricks" that were used to extent the GM's range this high. |
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The GM detector, located inside the case, operated continuously while the radio was turned on. The meter, seen on the left end of the case in the photograph, employed a non-linear scale - there was no range switch. For what its worth, the radio was a General Electric Eight Transistor. That's how they described radios back then, by the number of transistors. My first radio was a Seven Transistor - a beautiful red and gold plastic job. In 1956 the Sylvania company produced a combination radio-geiger counter called the "Prospector" that also included a compass and sundial in case you lost your way and needed to know the time. The model number was U-235. Cute. At one time, Westinghouse, General Electric, Heath and RCA had expressed interest to the OCD/OCDM in marketing this instrument. Donated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency courtesy of Carl Siebentritt Reference How Civil Defense Measures Harmful Radiation, Nucleonics, January 1962 p. 67-68; |
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