NEW “A” ELIMINATOR

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 409, 18 July 1928, Page 14

NEW “A” ELIMINATOR

THERMATTAIX ARRIVES One of the greatest bugbears of radio in the past has been the heavy bulky accumulator, or A battery necessary to supply filament current for a wireless set. E\fen where charging stations are handy the carrying of accumulators, owing to their weight, has always been a source of annoyance and in country districts with charging stations further away, the problem of charging the accumulator has been even greater. Many devices have been invented to overcome the use of accumulators and have been used with varying degrees of success, but a little device known at Thermattaix, which has been placed on the Auckland market by Spedding, Ltd., should solve listeners’ most difficult problem. “Thermattaix” is a thermo-electri-cal generator, made up of a number of compound flat metal strips, all connected in series. Two differently composed metals are coupled together, one thermo-couple, is heated and the other remains cold, and the difference in the two temperatures sets up a flow of electric current. As long as this difference of temperature exists, so long will the metal strips generate current. As there are no wearing parts there is nothing to wear out, and theoretically Thermattaix should be everlasting. The output is comparatively small, but more than sufficient to operate any wireless set employing modern valves of low consumption. Thermattaix is operated by any heat practicable of being applied direct to the plates, gas, petrol, electricity, hot water, heat of the exhaust of an engine, etc.

The gas heated Thermattaix will appeal to most town people where gas is . available, as while the device is being heated the room can be warmed at the same time without extra cost In the country districts, where neither gas nor electricity is available, Thermattaix can be heated with petrol or some other agent, and will give just as much satisfaction as it does with gas or electricityThe advantages of Thermattaix are briefly.- (1) No hum; (2) no shocks;’ no fluctuations in output; (4) it never runs “down” or “out” as do accumulators; (5) it has no valves, no transformers to replace of any description; (6) it is fool-proof and anyone can use it; (7) its consumption is low and so is the initial cost, and the first cost is the last cost. It seems to me that Thermattaix offeis many advantages over the cumbersome accumulator, and once they become better known will no doubt be very widely used.