Calibrated Crickets

[Argus25]

I wasn't sure whether to put this in component & circuits, or vintage technology, but in this case since the cricket has become a "system component" good for seven days with a tolerance of +/- 0.7 Deg C, it is posted here.

It is a two page article by H. S. Woolff from the Institute of Industrial Entomology published in Electronics Australia June 1969, but it was first published in a UK science bulletin in April 1969.

The article shows how Crickets can be used as temperature control devices. As shown in the article, these calibrated crickets were supplied by C.C.C. Ltd, Cornwall, UK. There is an interesting historical photo of their premises in the article.

It is possible because the cricket's chirp rate is linearly related to its temperature, the equation is in the article. It makes an interesting read (I hope the scans attached are clear enough)

(I may have to find a way to re post these to get them clear enough, the original files/jpeg images were readable)

[Station X]

Originally Posted by Argus25

it was first published in a UK science bulletin in April 1969.

That explains everything! I know of several cases where April Fool jokes have been reprinted in months other than April. Perhaps whoever decided to reprint it wasn't aware it was a joke?

[Refugee]

So is there a "June" fools day down under?

I may have to find a way to re post these to get them clear enough

I have always thought that for a forum like this where printed matter is often posted a bit more resolution for .jpg would be good. Repost as a .pdf and then is all well. And,no I can't read them.

[Dave Moll]

Printed out as a pair of A5 images, I find they're just about readable, though something of a struggle. And yes, I immediately thought this must have been originally written as an April Fool.

By the way, I'm not quite what it is about the picture of the building and vehicles that makes it look like a model.

[MrBungle]

Definitely an April Fool.

However, tangentially related, you can get a cyborg kit for cockroaches! https://backyardbrains.com/products/roboroach

[Boater Sam]

Maybe an April fool, but remember that parrots can now watch flat screen TVs.

[Argus25]

Well spotted all, the tiny bit of critical information I deliberately left out was the original publication was April 1st. Its a very funny article. Especially they way the stick the crickets down with "Cricket Pitch" and created the idea of putting them in a chamber to make a feedback loop.

If there is enough interest I could try posting it as a pdf.

[G4_Pete]

This article reminds me that in the 80’s as I did some reverse engineering on the chirping bugs , crickets or cockroaches? that lived in the electronics workshop false ceiling. These could be mimicked quite realistically with a 5 Khz tone modulated at 40 Hz and then gated on for 0.75 sec and off for a few seconds.
The whole package then fitted quite neatly round one CMOS 4093 Schmitt trigger chip driving a piezo sounder. I also added an ORP 12 LDR and delay capacitors to ensure the device only worked in the dark. The delay caused the device to wait in the dark before "chirping" with a diode discharge off the LDR to instantly silence the chirp (sic) if a light was turned on. A good pp3 battery could power it for months.

This later got published by Maplin magazines and I often wonder if the multitude of kits around around today that appear to use a near identical circuit stem from my original design or if it is a case of parallel engineering.



Pete

[MrBungle]

I think they eventually evolved into these: http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/kmnr/

[dseymo1]

This reminds me of the equally unlikely sounding, but actually true, research carried out in the 60s involving the use of bedbugs as detectors of human beings for military purposes.