PW Fresnel lens

[Vintage_RC]

Has anyone else still got their free gift of a Fresnel magnifier from Practical Wireless? I've had this for years and I have no recollection of the issue of PW it came with. It's actually quite handy, it slides back into the protective cover and is so thin you can keep it in your wallet.

[Roger Ramjet]

I must have missed that one... then again I stopped buying PW in the early 70's. I do recall the free gift of trimming tools in a mid 60's issue though.


Rog

[Nickthedentist]

Also given away in some AA maps of the 70s ISTR

[Restoration73]

Overhead projectors usually have a 30 x 30 cm Fresnel in the lid. You can use them
to make your own telescope !

[KeithsTV]

October 1977 issue had the pocket magnifier free gift. I've still got one ....... somewhere.

Keith

[Phil__G]

I had a business card given to me recently, I didn't realise at first but its actually a Freznel magnifier, keep it in your wallet, very handy!

[Vintage_RC]

Originally Posted by KeithsTV

October 1977 issue had the pocket magnifier free gift. I've still got one ....... somewhere.
Keith

Thanks for the details of the issue that included the magnifier. All my old PW's got ditched with a house move, the magnifier survived because it is actually quite useful.

[duncanlowe]

This does remind me of Proops in Tottenham Court Road who had quite a stock of Fresnel lenses back in the eighties. The film Brazil featured these extensively and I do wonder whether the Proops stock had been used....

[Vintage Engr]

I still have my original PW one, still useful.
At one time I worked for Rank, & they threw out a number of OHP fresnel lenses, they have proved very useful indeed.

As usual, I have a story...

This time it's about a very learned professor whom I knew, from Oxford University. Apparently, he absent-mindedly left one of these larger OHP fresnel lenses, propped up in the window of his shed. It had been there for some time. Summer came along...

By the time he returned home that evening, the fire brigade had been called to extinguish what remained of his shed! It was in the local paper at the time. So be warned, even the small lenses can easily can unwittingly causese a problem.

Related, to lenses & fire warnings but not fresnel types. I nearly had a similar conflagration with my illuminated bench magnifier a couple of years ago. I'd been using the lamp magnifier, switched off the lamp & of course my soldering iron.
I went over to the house for a coffee, & on my return there was smoke in the workshop!
The sun had moved round, & was now focussed via the lens on to the back of my chair, which was foam-filled. There was a large black hole, with flames dancing around it..
Sufficient to say that my magnifier lamp now has a black cloth bag over it when not in use.

David.

[duncanlowe]

Not quite the PW Fresnel lenses, but I remember in the mid 80s (though TBF they probably had them FS for years) that Proops in Tottenham Court Rd had a stack they were selling. They also appeared in a film of the time, as magnifiers in front of tiny CRTs, and I still reckon they sourced them from Proops.

[Dave Moll]

Originally Posted by Vintage Engr

Sufficient to say that my magnifier lamp now has a black cloth bag over it when not in use.

I take the simpler (though probably less reliable) approach of ensuring that it is always angled away from the window - i.e. the upper surface points into the room.

[m0cemdave]

Originally Posted by Dave Moll

I take the simpler (though probably less reliable) approach of ensuring that it is always angled away from the window - i.e. the upper surface points into the room.

Mine has a bag that fits over it, a bit like a tea cosy with a zip around the rim...

[McMurdo]

I think I had one from a magazine but I don't remember which one, not PW as I never had it. I didn't use it.

[Cobaltblue]

Can we stay on topic please and no more automotive.

Cheers

Mike T