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February 1967 Electronics World
 Table
of Contents
Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles
from
Electronics World, published May 1959
- December 1971. All copyrights hereby acknowledged.
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Read short bio on John T. Frye, by Jeff
Duntemann, K7JPD (right column near page bottom).
Of the scores of Mac's
Service Shop stories I have read and posted here on RF Cafe, this is the first
that deals with a subject near and dear to author John Frye - the plight of
handicapped people. If you don't know, Mr. Frye was confined to a
wheelchair for most of his life. "Electronics and the Handicapped" is
essentially the story of his life, though he does not say so. Mac: "When I was a
kid growing up in a little Arkansas town, I knew a crippled boy whose dad ran
the local garage." Guess where John grew up? Yep, Arkansas. His father owned a machine shop,
and made gadgets to help his crippled son. "I had never heard the term 'respo'
until you told me about a month ago it was the nickname for a victim of
respiratory polio." Born in John, born in 1910, contracted polio at 18 months old.
No confirmed new cases of polio have been reported in the U.S. in many decades.
Modern treatment, where needed for long-suffering patients of paralytic polio,
include both positive-pressure (CPAP) and negative pressure (iron lung)
assitance.
Mac's Service Shop: Electronics and the Handicapped
 By John T. Frye
Numerous special devices have been developed to help make life easier for those
with severe physical disabilities.
It was a slushy mess outside as a February thaw temporarily loosened the icy
grip of winter; but, even though real spring weather was still many weeks away,
there was something heart-lifting about the tinkling sound of running water undermining
the rotten ice and snow packed in the gutters.
Perhaps that is why both Mac and Barney hummed happily to themselves as they
worked at the service bench. Finally Mac finished checking out the new TV tuner
he had installed and lit his pipe for a few moments of relaxation.
"Barney," he said to the younger man, "did you ever notice that after you learn
the meaning of a new word, you're almost certain to run across that word again in
a short time?"
"Sure, Boss; but what brings this up?"
"I had never heard the term 'respo' until you told me about a month ago it was
the nickname for a victim of respiratory polio. But last week, when I was installing
a pillow speaker for a bedridden shut-in so that she might watch the late-late shows
without disturbing the rest of the household, I noticed on her bedside table a stack
of magazines bearing the unlikely title of the Toomey j-Gazette. At her invitation,
I leafed through a copy and discovered the non-profit magazine was published once
a year in Chagrin Falls, Ohio by a group of 'horizontal,' or severely disabled people,
and their 'vertical,' non-disabled, volunteering friends. Mrs. Gini Laurie is the
vertical editor, and the magazine is distributed free to 'respos,' other 'quads'
(those having four useless limbs), and to 'multiplegics' (those having two or more
useless limbs ). Donations are invited from the non-disabled.
"I became so interested I borrowed a couple of copies. This is not one of those
spiritual-uplift publications that try to tell the handicapped how to endure their
burdens. Instead, it encourages the readers to do something about their difficulties
and concerns itself chiefly with disseminating practical information on how particular
people have succeeded in overcoming their own severe handicaps so that they might
earn a living and lead useful, productive lives."
"Where did it get that oddball name?"
"The magazine is named in memory of the late Dr. J. Toomey, director of Toomey
Pavilion, Cleveland's former Respiratory Care and Rehabilitation Center.
"My first reaction on reading the magazine was to feel appalled at how severely
many people were disabled. I think of a crippled person as one who must use crutches
or even a wheelchair to get about, but many of the people in the TjG would be tickled
pink if they could push themselves around in a wheelchair. Some cannot feed themselves
or turn the pages of a book; others are entirely paralyzed except for being able
to move their tongues or roll their eyes; still others cannot even breathe without
mechanical help. Yet they are painting by holding a brush in their teeth; they are
conducting a phone-answering service through the use of special telephone attachments;
they are studying with an electric page-turner to turn the pages of their books;
and they are writing by using their breath and solenoids to operate an electric
typewriter."
"Those guys must have lots of guts," Barney said in a husky voice.
"That was my second reaction," Mac admitted; "and then came a desire to help.
As I've mentioned before, I believe anyone given a supply of specialized knowledge,
such as we have in electronics, also has an obligation to use that knowledge for
the benefit of others. If all a man can do with his knowledge is make money, he
has furnished his mind with pretty shoddy material.
"We are in a particularly fortunate position to help. When I was a kid growing
up in a little Arkansas town, I knew a crippled boy whose dad ran the local garage.
This mechanic father was always making things to help his crippled son get about
better and do things for himself, and I often thought to myself that the best friend
a crippled person could have was a good mechanic. Now I believe an electronic technician
is the best friend a severely handicapped person can have. Most of the helpless
person's needs are concerned with communication, remote control, and power amplification,
and those are fields in which we shine."
"Surely some big companies must feel as you do and are already busy."
"I'm proud to say that those in electronics, big and little, are showing a desire
to help. The 3M Company over the last three years has quietly developed their Community
Business Service Associates aimed at bringing self-employment and independence to
severely disabled persons. They equip and train such a person to perform such services
as copying, sending out monthly statements, and making up mailing lists; and they
do everything they can to help him launch that business and keep it going.
"The Technical Utilization program of NASA has come up with several devices and
ideas that can be used almost 'as-is' by the severely disabled. Their 'lunar walker'
designed for remote-controlled moving about on the surface of the moon is being
evaluated at the University of California's rehabilitation center as a possible
means of locomotion for limbless or crippled individuals. Powered by battery motors,
its mechanical legs are operated by hand or foot and can actually climb steps. Then
a slightly modified wireless telemetering system developed for astronauts is now
being used in one hospital's intensive-care cardiac-monitoring unit.
"The 'Sight Switch' developed by NASA to aid an astronaut in space who finds
his arms pinned useless at his sides seems a natural for use by the completely paralyzed.
In this device, a tiny cylinder mounted on the earpiece of an eyeglass frame contains
an infrared light source, an infrared sensor, and an amplifier. Inconspicuous wires
lead to a battery pack and a control relay. The 'Sight Switch' is operated simply
by looking at it. The iris of the human eye is an excellent absorber -- and therefore
a non-reflector -- of infrared energy, absorbing up to 80% of such energy striking
it. Light from the infrared source is directed toward the eye and is reflected back
to the sensor -- unless the iris is turned toward that source. When this happens,
the decrease in infrared energy reflected to the sensor causes it to close the associated
relay and actuate an electric motor or other device.
"Two of these units, one mounted on either earpiece, permitted the wearer in
a demonstration to completely control the movements of an electric wheelchair simply
by moving his eyes right or left. Other exciting possibilities of the 'Sight Switch'
include raising or Lowering a hospital bed or typing on an electric typewriter.
"Getting down to a more individual basis, non-handicapped Bill Orr has collaborated
with his handicapped friend Don Rugg, a research engineer in the Electromagnetic
Propagation Division of the Denver Research Institute, in the development of a self-propelling,
self-reclining wheelchair that is in current production. Dr. Vernon Nickel and his
associates at the Rancho Los Amigos Hospital in California, operating under a grant
from the Vocational Rehabilitation Administration for investigating 'externally
powered orthotitic devices,' have developed an electrically powered mechanical arm
that permits an otherwise helpless feminine wearer to feed herself, put on makeup,
control her electric wheelchair, hold letters and papers, turn pages, lift and replace
a telephone receiver, salt food, turn light switches on and off, and even throw
dice and play cards. And she does all this by operating seven switches with her
tongue!"
"It certainly shakes you up to be made to think of these taken-for-granted movements
as highly prized and painfully achieved privileges," Barney commented. "But what
can a lowly electronic technician do to help ?"
"He can do a lot," Mac answered quickly. "You see, every one of these severely
handicapped people is unique. No two persons suffer precisely the same kind of paralysis
or have exactly the same needs. A knowledgeable technician working with the handicapped
person can tailor various kinds of electronic equipment to the peculiar needs of
the handicapped person. The technician does not necessarily have to invent the equipment,
but often he can alter existing equipment slightly or combine various pieces of
apparatus so as to adapt them to the physical limitations of his customer.
"Here's an example," he said, taking two little white plastic cases, each about
the size of a shirt-pocket transistor radio, from a drawer. Each had an a.c. cord
coming out the bottom and a tiny pilot-light jewel at the top. Otherwise they were
identical except that one had a standard a.c. plug receptacle beneath the pilot
light, while the other had a rocker-type on-off switch in the same location. Mac
took the one with the receptacle into the front office and plugged it into a wall
socket and plugged a desk lamp into the receptacle. Back in the service department
he plugged the other unit into a socket and pushed the rocker switch to 'On.' The
lamp in the other room came on instantly but went off when the rocker switch was
pushed the other way. Both pilot lights went on and off with the light.
"This," Mac explained, "is Lafayette's new 'Wire-Less' remote control. In this
unit a step-down transformer, rectifier, and filter furnish 14 volts d.c. for a
transistorized r.f. oscillator operating at around 80 kHz. The output of the oscillator
is capacitively coupled to the a.c. line.
"The receiver out there has a similar power supply. The r.f. signal from the
a.c. line is picked off with capacitors and fed through a tuned circuit to an amplifying
transistor. The tuned output of this transistor feeds a rectifying diode, and the
d.c. voltage thus developed changes bias on a second transistor whose collector
circuit contains a relay that closes when a signal is being received. Relay contacts
feed the line voltage to anything plugged into the a.c. receptacle. Neon pilot lights
show when the transmitter is turned on and when power is applied to the receiver
receptacle.
"A bedridden person can use this wired/wireless control to turn on and off a
radio, TV, lamp, hi-fi, etc. anywhere in the house without running unsightly and
dangerous wires across the floor. The receiver plugged in anywhere in the house,
basement, or yard can be made to sound a bell, buzzer, or 'Sonalert' when the bedridden
person needs help."
"Hey! I can use it to start the coffee perking before I get out of bed!"
"The receiver unit is only rated for devices drawing up to 300 watts," Mac warned,
"but you could use it to control a heavy-duty relay to operate such things as coffee
makers or air conditioners. Also, a stepper relay controlled by the receiver would
permit several different devices to be operated with the remote control."
"How far will it work ?"
"I don't know, but it works beautifully from our house to the one next door,
a wire distance of at least 400 feet. Of course, transmitter and receiver must both
be connected to the same secondary winding of the pole transformer."
"Well," Barney said, "I'll do a little brainstorming and see what I can dream
up with selsyns, photocells, light-activated switches, magnetic reed switches, grid-controlled
rectifiers, and even garage-door controls to help these people be a little more
independent. Courage deserves help."
Mac's Radio Service Shop Episodes on RF Cafe
This series of instructive
technodrama™
stories was the brainchild of none other than John T. Frye, creator of the
Carl and Jerry series that ran in
Popular Electronics for many years. "Mac's Radio Service Shop" began life
in April 1948 in Radio News
magazine (which later became Radio & Television News, then
Electronics
World), and changed its name to simply "Mac's Service Shop" until the final
episode was published in a 1977
Popular Electronics magazine. "Mac" is electronics repair shop owner Mac
McGregor, and Barney Jameson his his eager, if not somewhat naive, technician assistant.
"Lessons" are taught in story format with dialogs between Mac and Barney. There
are 129 stories as of January 2026.
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