General Information

Serial #

224

Part Number

1

Total Parts

3

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

METAL BASE, CHIMNEY & COMPONENT PIECES/ GLASS TOP ON FUEL RESEVOIR/ MICA WINDOWS IN CHIMNEY

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

24.0 cm

Width

14.0 cm

Height

34.6 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Energy-electric

Category

Generation

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

3M

Country

United States of America

State/Province

Minnesota

City

St. Paul

Context

Country

Unknown

State/Province

Unknown

Period

Unknown

Canada

ACCORDING TO MR. WEBB THIS EXAMPLE IS 'ALMOST CERTAINLY THE ONLY ONE IN CANADA'. FEW WERE PRODUCED, BUT NRC'S INVOLVEMENT IN THERMOELECTRIC RESEARCH ENABLED THEM TO ACQUIRE THIS UNIT. (WEBB, PP. 1-2)

Function

`IT REPRESENTS THE US (CIA) RESPONSE TO THE FAMOUS RUSSIAN OIL LAMP THERMOELECTRIC GENERATOR WIDELY USED IN ASIA (RUSSIA & CHINA) TO POWER HOME RADIOS.' (WEBB NOTES, p.1)

Technical

ONLY VERY FEW AZTEC LAMPS WERE ACTUALLY MFD. RUSSIAN DESIGN WAS MORE PRACTICAL IN TERMS OF LIGHT PRODUCED, & THE ARTIFICIAL PRICE OF 25.00 MADE RUSSIAN TEGS MORE ATTRACTIVE. TECHNICALLY, THE AC/DC CONVERTER CIRCUIT (AT ONETIME COMMERCIALLY CONFIDENTIAL) `IS REMARKABLE IN HAVING ONLY 1 TRANSISTOR & NO DIODES'. (WEBB NOTES, P.2)

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

'3M/ COMPANY' APPEARS IN LARGE WHITE PRINT ON DECAL ON BASE FRONT.CAST IN RAISED PRINT, BELOW: '3M BRAND THERMOELECTRIC GENERATOR/ MODEL 12 'THE AZTEC' MADE IN U.S.A.'; ON OPPOSITE SIDE OF BASE, CAST IN RAISED PRINT IS: 'MINNESOTA MINING AND MANUFACTURING COMPANY/ SAINT PAUL 6, MINNESOTA'. LABEL ON UNDERSIDE OF BASE READS: '3M/ BRAND/ THERMOELECTRIC GENERATOR/ MODEL NO.12 "THE AZTEC"/ VOLTAGE RANGE 3 TO 9V D.C./ NOMINAL POWER OUTPUT 100 MW/ PATENTED UNDER ONE OR MORE OF THE/ FOLLOWING U.S. PATENTS/ 2,790,021 2,811,440 2,811,441/ 2,811,569 2,811,570 2,811,571/ OTHER PATENTS PENDING'/ ‘MINNESOTA MINING AND MANUFACTURING COMPANY/ SAINT PAUL 6, MINNESOTA'/ ‘EAGLE' APPEARS IN RAISED PRINT ON WICK COVER/ ‘224' INCISED ON CHIMNEY BASE/ ‘P. & A. MFG. CO. THOMASTON, CONN./ MADE IN U.S.A.' INCISED ON WICK ADJUSTMENT KNOB/ "UNDERWRITERS' LAB" LABEL ON WIRE CONNECTING CHIMNEY TO BASE PRESENT BUT ILLEGIBLE./ PT.: CARDBOARD BOX MARKED ‘3M/ COMPANY' ON 2 SIDES, IN GREEN INK/ ON 3RD SIDE BOX PRINTED ‘FROM/ 3M/ COMPANY/ SHIP TO/ RETURN/ REQUESTED'/ ‘THIS SIDE UP' PRINTED IN GREEN INK ON BOX LID/ ‘AZTEC' HANDWRITTEN IN BLACK INK ON LID/ ‘4D+/ B374/ 4' HANDWRITTEN ON BOX/ 3M MAILING, RAILWAY EXPRESS AGENCY RECEIPT, CN CUSTOMS, AND EXPORT LABELS AFFIXED TO BOX.

Missing

NONE - COMPLETE

Finish

BLACK BASE WITH CLEAR PATTERNED GLASS TOP/ SILVER- COLOURED CHIMNEY HAS BLACK METAL THERMOPILES.

Decoration

N/A