Here's one that came up on Ebay -
An original Estes Electro Launch from around 1964. That would make this one 50 years old.
There were no plastic launchers then, everything was made from pine and pressed board.
The main battery box body may have come painted red from the factory. The later, first plastic Electro Launch systems were molded in red.The lead wires were the thicker brown "lamp" wires, very common in hardware stores back then.
Notice the asbestos pad "blast deflector" on the top.
On the side was a rotating panel. You can see the holes for the four "D" size Photoflash batteries.
Close the panel and contact was made with the battery end terminals.
The launch "button" wasn't much, but it worked!
Simply press down the spring steel strip and close the contact to launch.
I did bid on this one, up to $27.01
At the end, bigger bids were made. The unit sold for $220.29!
FYI - my Electro-Launch came in unpainted (& slightly warped) pine from the factory. I glued two of the pine "boxes" together, painted them white and wired them in series for 12 VDC.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the information Gary.
DeleteWhoever assembled and painted it red didn't paint everything.
The Masonite rotating end panel pieces were left the original light brown color .
That's what made me think the battery box might have come already painted from the factory.
Cool!!, I have attempted to clone that pad, never did figure out how the electrical contact was made on the opposite end.
ReplyDelete