Rochester NY game and toy manufacturer, E. E. Fairchild, was featured on page 16 of the Rochester NY Democrat & Chronicle in a story announcing that their engineers had developed two kit radio sets. Set No. 1 was a crystal radio set which required no power supply of any kind and set No. 2 was a “Sun Battery” Transistor radio kit. Priced at $8.50 it was an earphone-only regenerative circuit 1-transistor amplified version of their No. 1 crystal radio. The company’s stated purpose in creating these radios was to stimulate scientific interest among children. And most certainly it did! The graphics on the box cover are particularly appealing and make the point well. This was one of only three known commercially offered solar radio kits available in 1957 (the Acopian 457 C-H and Lafayette KT-132 being the others). These excellent graphics, obvious educational value, and the thrill of accomplishment that is so evident and well presented on this box cover make it one of my favorite of all the solar radio kits from then to now!
From the Bill Burkett collection
