In his words about this 1903 photo: "Those glass tubes (not visible) are Mexican spice tubes that wealthy people in Manchester, Massachusetts used. I found them in Dad’s bosses dump on the estate. I filled them with salt water and used tobacco tin foil on the outside. Believe it or not my spark was louder and steadier.

I worked all one Saturday afternoon for 40 cents mounting lamps in the back room of the electric company and bought the wire for the 50,000-meter tuning coil. I wanted to make sure I covered all wavelengths. The Coherer end plugs were turned out by the rich family’s chauffer on a foot-operated lathe so the plug would fit in a little glass tube perfectly. I caddied for 20 cents a round at the famous Essex County Golf Club in Manchester. And for 80 cents I bought the 80-Ohm fone. Note the brass headband. A 50-foot by 1-foot chicken wire was the antenna, and a motorcycle dry cell was the powerhouse. Motorbikes in those days did not use magnetos."