Clock [Automatic Radio Receiver]
Maker and role
Meccano Limited, Manufacturer
Vern Butcher, Assembler
Production date
1939
See full details
Object detail
Accession number
2012.31
Maker
Production period
Description
Automatic Radio Receiver Clock / Meccano controller. A component from the Robot Radio Conceiver Clock (Arthur Vernon Butcher). Made from pieces of Meccano with an electronic mechanism for operating parts. Meccano frame parts are green and red.
Brief History
In 1939 the late Arthur Vernon (Vern) Butcher, then a 20 year old second year Christchurch engineering student, wowed the world with his Meccano model of an Automatic Radio Receiving Clock. Chief amongst its multiple clever functions was its round breaking ability to programme an evening's entertainment with stations selected, timed and tuned automatically.
Displayed here is the brain of his robot radio receiver which is the only part of the clock to remain intact, kept by Vern until he passed away in 2004. No need to get up from your armchair to twiddle for stations, with remote in hand you could settle down for the whole evening.
Vern's extraordinary Meccano model was about five feet tall, it contained 1000's of parts and took twelve months to build. The remarkable clock radio was exhibited on the Meccano stand at the local Christchurch Industries Fair, and also won him a five guinea cheque as first prize in Meccano Magazine's autumn model building competition announced in their February 1940 issue.
The prize-winning model featured:
- A clock telling the time in any part of the world
- A short wave indicator which lit up when programmes were available from Germany, England, etc.
- Five knobs for pre-selecting programme start times
- Push buttons for manual selection
- A remote control for station selection and volume
The invention drew an enthusiastic response from New Zealand's radio industry at the time and a patent was applied for. A provisional patent was duly received for the Auto Radio Tuner, but World War ii intervened and the blueprints were mothballed.
[References: Meccano Magazine, vol. XXV no.2, February 1940, page 89, NZFMM Magazine, vol.28, no.5, October 2004, page 10]
Displayed here is the brain of his robot radio receiver which is the only part of the clock to remain intact, kept by Vern until he passed away in 2004. No need to get up from your armchair to twiddle for stations, with remote in hand you could settle down for the whole evening.
Vern's extraordinary Meccano model was about five feet tall, it contained 1000's of parts and took twelve months to build. The remarkable clock radio was exhibited on the Meccano stand at the local Christchurch Industries Fair, and also won him a five guinea cheque as first prize in Meccano Magazine's autumn model building competition announced in their February 1940 issue.
The prize-winning model featured:
- A clock telling the time in any part of the world
- A short wave indicator which lit up when programmes were available from Germany, England, etc.
- Five knobs for pre-selecting programme start times
- Push buttons for manual selection
- A remote control for station selection and volume
The invention drew an enthusiastic response from New Zealand's radio industry at the time and a patent was applied for. A provisional patent was duly received for the Auto Radio Tuner, but World War ii intervened and the blueprints were mothballed.
[References: Meccano Magazine, vol. XXV no.2, February 1940, page 89, NZFMM Magazine, vol.28, no.5, October 2004, page 10]
Media/Materials
Credit Line
Meccano Limited et al. 1939. Clock [Automatic Radio Receiver], 2012.31. The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT).
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