SPECIAL IU SUPPLEMENT

Our Ingenuity Unlimited section has always been very popular with readers, so we have put the pres-
sure on Alan Winstanley to edit as many contributions as possible in order for us to provide you with a
bumper bundle in the December 1999 issue. Some that we hope to present for your delectation and dis-
memberment are: Serial Port Splitter; Elderly Person Monitor; Audio Limiter; Rechargeable PP9 Battery;
Shaky Dice; VCO Generator; Tumble Dryer Alarm; AA to PP3 Converter; Pulse Modulated Inverter; National
Lottery Predictor and, just for good measure, a TV system using a simple modulator based on a Nipkow disc
as made famous by one John Logie Baird some time ago.

MAGNETIC FIELD
DETECTOR
This very simple project can detect fixed magnetic fields or fields that are varying at an audio frequency.
Fixed or slowly changing field strengths are registered on a center-zero meter, which indicates the polarity in
addition to the relative field strength. Audio frequency fields, such as those produced around mains and au-
dio transformers, are detected via a crystal earphone that can be used to monitor the output signal.
The unit is not intended to provide accurate measurement of magnetic field strength, and is aimed at
those who like to experiment with something a bit different. Although quite simple, the unit is reasonably
sensitive. A small and not very powerful bar magnet can be detected by the prototype at about 100 millime-
ters from the sensor, and drives the reading to full scale at a range of about 30 millimeters.

TELECAN – A BRITISH FIRST IN

HOME VIDEO RECORDING
“There is a popular point of view, originated by Emerson, which assumes that building the first, or a bet-
ter mousetrap, results in people beating a path to your door – this must be the most pernicious fallacy ever
to misrepresent invention.”
Britain stands pre-eminent in creative science and engineering, but the depressingly long list of “lost”
British firsts in invention shows how often thwarted or disillusioned British inventors and innovators have ei-
ther abandoned their ideas or gone abroad, thereby reducing British competitiveness. Decades of British
under-investment in British ideas and British technologies has meant that other nations either independently
develop the same ideas, or directly capitalize on British technical creativity – and soon overtake us in our
markets.
Norman Rutherford and his partner Michael Turner have learnt this lesson and are quick to remind us.
They should know; back in the early 1960's they not only developed the first domestic video record and re-
play system, but also the first combined TV and VTR and the first Camcorder; but poor foresight by their
backers and investors lost them the edge. This is the story of their inventions.

PLUS: TEACH-IN 2000 PART 2

AND ALL THE REGULAR FEATURES

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