Dale's Homemade Robots

Historical Photos 1

History | Photos 1 | Photos 2 | Photos 3 | Photos 4

Dale on his Windmobile at age 12

Yes, it actually worked.  In fact, once in a high wind it got up to about 25 mph before flipping over and crashing.  The driver, Guy Richards, walked away unhurt.  Note the crumple zones are the drivers knees and crotch.

Dale's Dad uses a milling machine at Heatherington Machine Corp

Flying spot scanner

A science fair project that generated TV images with old TV parts and a photomultiplier tube

Video Tape Recorder (1965)

Another science fair project.  It recorded moving images on 1/4 inch audio tape. Tape transport was homemade. A slot car tire was the pressure roller. A flying spot scanner picked up the images.  Click here to view a very large color photo of this wonder kludge.

Autodialer (1965-66)

Stored up to 7 phone numbers by sticking strips of tape to a coffee can.  The can rotated and brushes did make and break over the tape to create dial pulses.  No TouchTone dialing back then!

It was built to win a radio contest.  WLOF radio gave prizes to the first caller to notice 3 seconds of silence in their transmissions.  This device was connected to a radio and  telephone line.  After it detected silence on the radio for 1 second it started dialing.  If the silence continued for the full three seconds it completed the dialing operation.  If not, it aborted.   Dale won so many times he was banned.

It was also entered in the Orange County Florida science fair. The science fair judges liked it but didn't award a prize because it was more of an "engineering project" than a "science project".  I'm not sure if trying to win a prize with a device designed to win prizes is ironic or recursive.

Low power pirate TV station on Channel 4 (1963)

Dale's neighbors never knew what to expect when they selected channel 4 on their TVs.  Click here for a larger wide angle view.  He used a flying spot scanner and a WW2 drone camera (like this one) to make  video.

History | Photos 1 | Photos 2 | Photos 3 | Photos 4