Thanks to Richard for alerting us this important piece of Knack history. Not bad for 1910. You can see Tom's shack and antenna in the cover image (above). I don't think he was going for a fan dipole. He built the kind of multi-wire antenna that was in fashion in the early days of radio.
The full text of the book is avaialble free on-line. The radio fun begins in Chapter 20:
Bless my door knob, this was a lot of fun!
Bill,
I am certain I missed the origin of “the knack” as used on your blog. I, wonder, however, if in your youth you read Tom Swift novels? Although now they seem somewhat politically incorrect, I feel that the word may have, for our purposes, evolved there.
In the first novel, “Tom Swift and His Motor-Cycle” (sic) Tom repairs a butter churn’s “system of cogs and handles.” When praised for his abilities he declares, “It’s just a knack.” Stick with me.
In a later novel, written around 1910, “Tom Swift and His Wireless Message” Tom is shipwrecked on an ebbing volcanic island. He saves the day by constructing a transmitter and receiver from the wreckage of his plane, even though he “did not have the magnets, carbons, coherers and needles” needed. He strings “ wires from the top of the dead treed, to a smaller one, some distance away, using five wires, set parallel, and attached to a wooden spreader, or stay. (Fan dipole?) The wires were then run to the dynamo, and the receiving coil, and the necessary ground wires were installed.” Then,”once the impulses, or electric currents, are sent out into space, all that is necessary to do is to break, or interrupt them at certain intervals to make dots, dated and spaces.” He sent “C.Q.D. (come quick—danger) even though a “new code has been instituted for them, but I am going to rely on the old one, as, in this part of the world, the new one may not be so well understood.” Needless to say, a ship hears, responds and rescues the crew.
That”s “the knack", alright!
Never give up, and 73.
Richard, KD0NPM
