new hamfest finds

These sort of units were quite common at one time (and often used lead-acid 'wet cell' accumulators). Actually, I'd not be suprised if the batteries were still available somewhere.. Sometimes there were 2 or 3 plastic balls of different densities inside. They floated or sank depending on the density of the eletrolyte, which in turn depended on the state of charge of the cell. Interesting idea. Getting the HT for the 'electronic flash' tube was something of an entertainment before transistors (which took all the fun out of it, due to the ease of making an oscillator that would run off a 6V battery). Some manufacturers used a mechanical vibrator, like the one in a car radio [1] to chop up the DC from a battery to feed it into a transformer. Others used HV (250V or so) batteries. The Voigtlander Vitrona, one of the first cameras to have built-in electronic flash, did this -- a handle containing an HV battery plugged into the bottom of the cammera. [1] I am showing my age. This was how they got the HT (B+) voltage for valves (tubes) in car radios about 50 years ago... -tony