Be the 1st in your neighborhood to blow up your neighborhood

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Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Laboratory

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The Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab is a toy lab set produced by
Alfred Carlton Gilbert and sold between 1950 and 1951.

The set originally sold for $49.50 ($379.92 in 2005 US dollars)
and contained the following:

• * U-239 Geiger counter
  * Electroscope
  * Spinthariscope
  * Wilson cloud chamber
  * Low-level radiation sources:
  • o Alpha particles (Pb-210 and Po-210)
    o Beta particles (Ru-106)
    o Gamma particles (possibly Zn-65)
  * Four Uranium-bearing ore samples
  * Nuclear spheres for making a molecular model
  * Prospecting for Uranium — a book
  * Gilbert Atomic Energy Manual
  * "Learn How Dagwood Split the Atom" comic book
  * Three C batteries
  * 1951 Gilbert Toys catalog

[Beyond]

THAT kit must be the really small version. Ya got a reallyBIG version around

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U-238 Atomic Energy Lab

<<This as got to be the scariest toy ever created. Talk about the age of atomic fear brought straight into your living room. This must have been the perfect gift for the young terrorist in your family. Because nothing says "I Love You" more than giving your loved one their own Atomic Energy Lab kit, complete with radioactive material.

In 1951, A.C. Gilbert, creator of the Erector Set, introduced his U-238 Atomic Energy Lab. That's right kiddies! Your own radioactive learning set, that would make you the envy of the science club. Gilbert, was allegedly, "often compared to Walt Disney for his creative genius," must have believed that nuclear power could capture the imaginations of the children of the world, and what better way could there be than to package it, and sell it as a learning tool. Kind of like... in the same way a rock polishing kit, or microscope set is sold. For a mere $49.50 (which would equal around $350.00 today), the kit came complete with three "very low-level" radioactive sources, a Geiger-Mueller radiation counter, a Wilson Cloud Chamber (to see paths of alpha particles), a Spinthariscope (to see "live" radioactive disintegration), four samples of Uranium-bearing ores, and an Electroscope to measure radioactivity. The neighbor kids must have been glowing with envy.

Your child's personal nuclear lab came with an Atomic Energy Manual, that was partionally written with help from the director of the Manhattan Project, General Leslie Groves, and also included a comic book entitled "Learn How Dagwood Splits the Atom" because anybody who can construct a sandwich like Dagwood should have no problem splitting an atom. Plus an added feature... a government manual "Prospecting for Uranium." Hand to God, I can't make this kind of stuff up!

Apparently, nuclear physics didn't rank as high as cap guns on the kid's interest scale . The atomic lab toy was only sold for one year. No one really knows what effects the Uranium-bearing ores might have had on those few lucky, yet unassuming children who's parent actually bought them the set, but we do now know that exposure to the U-238 isotope has been linked to Gulf War syndrome, cancer, leukemia, and lymphoma, among other serious ailments. Even more uncertain would be what the longterm impact on a generation of children who were being raised by the kind of parents who would give them an Atomic Energy Lab. Can I get a "Holy Shit?"

By far, this was the most elaboratetake home Atomic Energy educational set ever created. OK it may have been the only one ever on the market. But I think it may have been a blessing, that it was only available from 1951 to 1952. After all its was very expensive for the time ($50.00 which is equal to $350.00 today) probably because even back then Geiger counters and radioactive isotopes weren't cheap. I'm pretty sure, it may have been a tad sophisticated for the average child.Today, it is so highly prized by collectors (and maybe small countries) that a complete set can go for more than 100 times the original price. Yeah, I'd like see someone try to ship out this kit, in our current Home Land Security climate.

Gilbert offered another set, as well, the No. 11 Atomic Energy set. Which included the spinthariscope, the radioactive ore and the manual. The Geiger counter could be purchased separately.

Gilbert had high expectations for America's youth, and he tried his best to help mold a future of engineers, doctors and leaders by providing the proper toys to feed the imaginations. He was inventor of the Erector Set. He saw its commercial appeal, and then he set higher goal for his company. His company became the leading manufacturer of scientific toys (chemistry sets) and construction sets (Erector), all were highly prized and widely acclaimed at the retail level.

I'm sure this was just family fun by the boat load. Radiation sickness family fun.>>

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Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

<<A Spinthariscope is a device for observing individual nuclear disintegrations caused by the interaction of ionizing radiation with a phosphor (see radioluminescence) or scintillator.

The spinthariscope was invented by William Crookes in 1903. While observing the apparently uniform fluorescence on a zinc sulfide screen created by the radioactive emissions (mostly alpha radiation) of a sample of radium, he spilled some of the radium sample, and, owing to its extreme rarity and cost, he was eager to find and recover it. Upon inspecting the zinc sulfide screen under a microscope, he noticed separate flashes of light created by individual alpha particle collisions with the screen. Crookes took his discovery a step further and invented a device specifically intended to view these scintillations. It consisted of a small screen coated with zinc sulfide affixed to the end of a tube, with a tiny amount of radium salt suspended a short distance from the screen and a lens on the other end of the tube for viewing the screen. Crookes named his device after the Greek word 'spintharis', meaning "a spark".

It is said that for a short time after its invention, spinthariscopes were very popular among the social upper classes who gave them as gifts and used them in demonstrations to appear up to date with the most modern scientific advances of the day. Spinthariscopes were quickly replaced with more accurate and quantitative devices for measuring radiation in scientific experiments, but enjoyed a modest revival in the mid 20th century as children's educational toys. They can still be bought today as instructional novelties, but they now use Americium or Thorium.>>

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPb0hFtd ... dded#at=33[/youtube][youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHfO14Bt ... dded#at=23[/youtube]

[Beyond]

Ummm....No, still tooo small. Ya got a BIGGERER ONE