The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1941-07-17
YOUR DOLLAR
Bv Consumers Union

Personal and Portable Radios

Personal and Portable Radios
If you want personal" radio, Gu
tests can guide you to good buys at
around $40. Some of the $40 mod
els, in fact, are better than some OF
the higher priced sets. The Lafay-
cite and Knight radios retailing at
$40 for example, gave better perform
ance than the Garod Model BP-2O at
$2495. But none of the tiny "per-
sonal" radios can compare in any way
except portability with larger porta-
bles or with small home radios retail
ing at around the same price.
The more expensive personals" are
usually equipped for three-way opera
tion-that is, they can run on their
own batteries or on so ac or dc house
current. Unless you plan to plug
them in, there's little point in paying
for three-way equipment.
The newest development in porta
bles is the General Electric radio with
storage cell which can be recharged
froma car battery or from ac house
current. This saves buying new bat
teries and also produces more uni
form volume and tone than can be
had with ordinary battery sets.
Some of the larger portables COM
pare well with average midget radios.
But as general rule it's still best to
buy portable only where you really
want portability and are ready to ac-
Il: -, OF
If you bay personal" portable,
make sure that batteries are readily
| accessible so that you can make re-
placements without calling in serv-
iceman. And examine the set care
| fully to n h" sure it's in good order.
Among 'he Best Buy personals"
tested were Knight No. 1871 (S9.95);
Lafayette, Cat. No. EB-164 ($9.95);
Zenith Model Ak GOO ($l995 list
| price,; Firestone Cat No. S 1871
| $19.69).
Radio Labor
Put Emerson Radio Corp. on your
unfair list. Recently, the United
Electrical, Radio and Machine Work
ers (CIO) called strike there against
low wages, speed-up and other anti
union policies. After picketing had
hurt the sales, the company promised
10 per cent increase and rehiring of
all strikers "within reasonable
time" Six weeks later, states the
union, all strikers had not yet been
rehired and new workers were being
taken on instead.
The following portable radios test
ed by Gu are made, under con-
tract with the Int'l Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers (AFL): Detrol /;
Farnsworth; Garod; Lafayette Mod
els C-125 and EB-1G4; Pilot; Wards
672 f.
The following are union-made, un-
der contract with the United Electri-
cal, Radio and Machine Workers
(CIO): DeWald; Fada; General Elec-
thric; Lafayette JS-1l4-Bl; Philco; =;
RCA Sears 656l; Westinghouse.
Kitchen Knives
If you're in the market for a kitch-
en- knife, better buy as soon as posi-
Bile. Due to defense demands, manu-
facturers may substitute inferior
grades of metal in the blades and riv-
cts so that you may not get the same
quality few months from now as
you can get today.
1t pays to spend little extra for
knife. You'll get much longer and
more satisfactory service from a good
knife selling at SOC to 75c than from
~ Of Ln l,,,a -
riety.
Look for a forged steel blade. II
holds a sharper cutting edge and has
more spring than stamped steel. Test
the knife for it's "sprng" before you
buy. Hold it point down on piece
of wood and press on the handle. If
the blade is forged the top third
should remain rigid, and the rest
should curve. A blade which curves
all the way up to the handle under
pressure won't be good knife.
Consumer Union tested 2l brands
of knives to measure the sharpness
and the extent to which each knife
would keep it's edge after sharpening
Among the better buys (prices fol
, pairing knife size) are: Case Chrom
ium plated 75c; Cattaraugus chrom
ium plated 40c; high carbon steel soc
Universal Crobalt Stainess-35c tt
Toe depending on the store. Price!
; vary greatly from store to store.
; Knives-I.abOr
The following brands of cutlery arr
union-made. kutmaster Utica Cut
lery Coz Under contract with th
Steel Workers Organizing Committee
(CIO); Universal Uanders, Frary 4
Clark under contract with the Unite'
= Electrical, Radio and Machine Work
ers (ClO).