The Śląsk tabletop receiver with a built-in gramophone (a so-called “radiogramophone”) was manufactured by Dolnośląskie Zakłady Wytwórcze Urządzeń Radiowych in Dzierżoniów in 1956-1959. According to the designers’ concept, it was an exclusive receiver targeted at a narrow group of buyers. Work on the device began in 1953 and a limited trial production was launched two years later. It is the first radio developed in Poland in which a button range switch was used instead of a rotary switch; it is also one of the first radios in Poland to be equipped with a UHF-FM module. Its head operates in a super-reaction arrangement. The Śląsk allows reception of radio signals in ultra-high frequency, short, medium, and long wave bands. It comprises frequency modulation (FM) and amplitude modulation (AM) systems. In terms of electrics, it is an AC-powered superheterodyne using vacuum tubes. The radio has automatic amplification adjustment, which makes the Śląsk less sensitive to waves fading out or being overdriven. The entire device was enclosed in a box housing of polished wood. At the bottom of the front wall there is a row of button switches, behind and a little above them there is a glass scale with rotary switches on either side. Above that there is a rectangular board covered in fabric, behind which two magnetoelectric GDWS speakers are installed. There is an electron ray tube tuning indicator in the upper right corner. The top surface of the box is a lid under which there is a recess for the GE-56electric gramophone made in the T-4 factory (later renamed to Fonica).
The receiver was manufactured in two slightly different versions, and 2345 units of the first version and only 390 units of the second were produced. Over time, it turned out that such a design did not fulfil the expectations for it so the electric gramophone addition was abandoned, giving rise to production of the Podhale, which had an electrical arrangement identical to that of the Śląsk. During its production, in 1957 the Dzierżoniów plant was given the name “Diora”, which was submitted by Jerzy Brzoski and selected in a competition. Jerzy Malanowski and Michał Tyburkiewicz created the new company logo, which is shown at the front of the receiver, next to the bottom right rotary switch.

Author: Filip Wróblewski

The Soviet, portable, two-way (transmission-reception) field radio RBM 1 (Rus.: РБМ-1) is a battery-powered superheterodyne designed for military communication. The device enables telephone (cable), telegraph, and radio communication over simplex. The radio was widely used towards the end of World War II and was later used for training young radio operators and in enterprises and the state-owned economy of the USSR. It was also one of the means of communication for armies of the Warsaw Pact.
The RBM-1 radio was developed at the Central Institute of Science and Research of the Red Army by a team of engineers headed by Alexandr Vladymirowich Sawodnik and Alexandr Fedorowich Oblomov. They were supported by Konstantin Vasilyevich Zakhvatoshin, Evgeniy Niklayevich Genishta, Isaac Samuylovich Michner, and Ivan Artemevich Belyayev.
The RBM-1, which was manufactured from 1942, is an evolution of the RB (3-R) radio from 1938. RBM-1 is a military radio, working in the shortwave range between 1.5 and 5 MHz (200-60 m; divided into two sub-bands, the first being 5.0-2.75 and the second: 2.75-1.5) with an amplitude modulation (AM) system, which enables reception of ultra-low (ULF) and ultra-high (UHF) frequency waves. The device has a telephone channel (TLF) and two telegraph channels (TL GR I, TLGR II). It uses a progressive superheterodyne circuit, as well as a detector and a local telegraph oscillator. Switching from reception to transmission mode is achieved by switching the glowing of vacuum tubes, so there is a delay of several seconds. The design of the device allows telephone communication at a distance of up to 2 kilometres using a cable. For a small whip antenna (an antenna assembled from six segments with a total length of 179.5 cm, ending in a bristle) radio communication has a range of 10 kilometres, and telegraph communication – up to 15 kilometres; both ranges progressively increase with a horizontal dipole antenna, reaching a radius of 17 and 35 kilometres, respectively. The use of a 7 m communication mast (with a set of stabilising lashings allows radio communication to be established over a distance of up to 30 kilometres, and telegraph communication over up to 50 km. The use of a whip antenna allowed communication while in motion, while the other two were used as stationary equipment.
The radio was enclosed in a metal housing resembling two cuboid cans: the first has a cover on the control panel side, and the other contains the receiver battery. The device does not have a built-in speaker, so earphones are needed to use it.

Author: Filip Wróblewski

The Apple Lisa is the first commercially available personal computer with a graphical user interface. In the early 1980s, after the market success of the Apple II computer, Apple sought new solutions to enable market expansion beyond the 8-bit computer segment. The company focused on advanced solutions for professional users. It is believed that inspiration for the Lisa, and the source of many of the solutions applied in it, was derived from the prototype series of Alto computers, produced and tested in 1973 by Xerox but never launched on the market. The Alto computer was equipped with a graphical user interface (GUI) with a desktop represented on the monitor screen. Convenient control of this interface was enabled by the use of a three-button mouse.
Concept work on the Lisa began in 1978, and the design team comprised more than 90 people managed by Wayne Rosing, Larry Tesler, Bruce Daniels, and – initially – Steve Jobs. The finished computer was launched in 1983. It was advertised in colour magazines and television commercials starring Kevin Costner, who was at the beginning of his acting career at the time. Due to a high price of almost $10,000, the computer did not achieve commercial success and production was discontinued in 1986.
In Apple’s design, running the graphical user interface required significant processing power, which is why the Lisa was equipped with a Motorola 68000 CPU and 1 MB RAM. The 8-bit computers manufactured at the time had only tens of kilobytes of RAM. The Lisa was sold in two versions. The first was equipped with 5.25-inch floppy disk drives (fondly nicknamed “Twiggy”) placed to the right of the monitor. The external hard disk drive in this set was optional. The second version went on sale a year later: it was half the price, had some components modified, and was equipped with a single 3.5-inch floppy disk drive.
Some solutions developed in the course of designing the Lisa were used for designing the much cheaper Macintosh computer, which was launched on the market in 1984.
Officially, the computer’s name was an acronym of the words “Locally Integrated Software Architecture”. However, popular belief is that the computer was named after the daughter of Steve Jobs, who was the company’s CEO at the time.

Authors: Marek Więcek, Filip Wróblewski

The presented protractor is a device for measuring angles in relation to geographic directions when working in the field. Due to its design and function it is a device in between a steel square (which only allows plotting of 45° and 90° angles) and a classic optical theodolite (allowing any angles to be measured). Instead of a scope, the device has two vertical sights, enabling readout of the angle between the observed object and a given direction thanks to a compass in the bottom part. The instrument presented was made around 1900 in the Specjalna Fabryka Instrumentów Geodezyjnych i Rysunkowych Gustawa Gerlacha in Warsaw. The establishment operated from 1816 until World War II and it specialised in the production of surveying instruments such as theodolites, levellers, range finders, steel squares and topographic tables. The company also produced other, small accessories for land surveyors. Instruments from the G. Gerlach factory were considered to be on par in terms of quality with products of the most renowned German manufacturers, such as Zeiss. The company’s strong position was evidenced by international awards and the presence of its branch offices and sales outlets in several cities.

References:
M. Kluza, Polscy wytwórcy instrumentów naukowych w XIX wieku [in:] Polscy twórcy aparatury naukowej, ed. A. Strzałkowski, Monografie series, vol. X, Kraków 2006, pp. 277–285.
G. Gerlach najstarsza polska wytwórnia sprzętu geodezyjnego, prepared by S. Walczak, exhibition catalogue of the Museum of Technology in Warsaw in accordance with the programme prepared by the Main Commission for Museums and Exhibitions of the Polish Surveyors’ Association, Warsaw, October 1973

In 1953-1954, two Polish designers, Tadeusz Fedko and Romuald Iżewski, designed an engine on the basis of the British JAP design (a late 1940s model). Fedko and Iżewski were associated with the motorcycle division of the Stal Rzeszów sports club: the motorcycle’s name, FIS, is acronym of Fedko-Iżewski-Stal.
The Polish design contained a series of improvements on the British model: different materials were used, and the cam sizes, valve diameters, and valve timings were modified. The first tests demonstrated that the engine was no worse than its model. Initially, the engine was built into the frame of the British Excelsior speedway motorcycle. In May 1954, the first test rides were held on the track in Rzeszów, which confirmed the initial favourable impressions of the engine. In the following year the Excelsior frame was replaced by a frame built on the model of the British Rotrax speedway motorcycles. The resulting motorcycle was put into mass production, which began at the Polskie Zakłady Lotnicze in Rzeszów. Frames were produced in the Wytwórnia Sprzętu Komunikacyjnego in Mielec, and wheel rims were initially imported from the United Kingdom and later produced in the steam engine workshops in Ostrów Wielkopolski. The first mass-produced motorcycles were built in 1955.
For several years, the FIS speedway motorcycle became the main vehicle of the Polish national speedway team and Polish sports clubs with speedway divisions. In 1958, 300 contestants competed in three speedway leagues, 90% of them on FIS motorcycles. The motorcycle was favourably received, but in the opinion of contestants and of the speedway community it needed further improvement. Unfortunately, collaboration between the clubs and the manufacturer was far from seamless. In the meantime, in Divišov in Czechoslovakia, Jaroslava Simandl’s ESO (later known as Jawa) motorcycle designs were being developed and prepared for outstanding future successes.
In the end the production of the FIS was halted in 1959 and the Polish design was replaced with imported motorcycles. Today just a few examples remain of the only speedway motorcycle model produced in Poland – one can be found in the collection of the Museum of Urban Engineering in Kraków.

A leveller is a land survey instrument allowing measurement of the difference in height (geometric levelling) between points in the field. The instrument has the form of a horizontal tube with a scope and a spirit level, which allows horizontal positioning of the device. A leveller is mounted on a tripod base, on which the whole device is mounted on a tripod. The altitude difference read out involves observing values, using the horizontal leveller, on the so-called level staffs set vertically in the targeting axis of the instrument. Modern, automatic levellers do not require very precise manual levelling, as they are equipped with a mechanic/optical system called the compensator. Its purpose is to maintain a horizontal cause of the targeting axis in case of minuscule deviations of the instrument. The presented instrument was made in the Specjalna Fabryka Instrumentów Geodezyjnych i Rysunkowych Gustawa Gerlacha around 1930. The establishment operated from 1816 to the World War II, and it specialised in producing land surveying instruments such as the theodolites, levellers, rangefinders, steel squares, and topographic tables. The company also produced other, small accessories for land surveyors. Instruments from the G. Gerlach factory were considered to be on par in terms of quality with products of the most renowned German manufacturers, such as Zeiss. The company’s strong position was evidenced by international awards and the presence of its branch offices and sales outlets in several cities.

References:
M. Kluza, Polscy wytwórcy instrumentów naukowych w XIX wieku [w:] Polscy twórcy aparatury naukowej, ed. A. Strzałkowski, Monografie series, vol. X, Kraków 2006, pp. 277–285.
G. Gerlach najstarsza polska wytwórnia sprzętu geodezyjnego, prepared by S. Walczak, exhibition catalogue of the Museum of Technology in Warsaw in accordance with the programme prepared by the Main Commission for Museums and Exhibitions of the Polish Surveyors’ Association, Warsaw, October 1973.

The Underwood 5 is a manual, type-bar typewriter with a Central European QWERTZ standard keyboard. It was manufactured between 1900 and the early 1930s by the Underwood Typewriter Company, with its registered office in New York in the United States. It was established in 1895 by John Thomas Underwood, who had previously been in the business of manufacturing carbon paper and tapes for Remington typewriters. His enterprise began operation in 1959 and was acquired by an office equipment manufacturer, the Italian company Olivetti. The Underwood Typewriter Company was successful thanks to its use of an innovative typewriter design developed by the German/American designer Franz Xaver Wagner (and patented by his son, Herman Lewis Wagner). Moreover, the company created a well thought-through marketing strategy. Both these factors allowed it to dominate the office equipment market.
The Underwood 5 model is considered to be one of the first fully modern typewriters. The device conceived by Wagner set 20th century design standards. Although the typewriter concept appeared in 1714 in the writings of British engineer Henry Mill, and the first patent for it was awarded to Christopher Latham Sholes, Carlos Glidden, and Samuel Willard Soulé in 1868, it was Wagner’s device that combined the functions most desired by users. The typewriter used a four-row, stepped layout of keys to which a separate modifier key was added for typing capital letters (shift). The most important innovation, however, proved to be the horizontal placement of the type bars, which allowed the platen and the sheet of paper on it to be uncovered, thereby providing the typist with control over the text being typed. In earlier models of typewriters, the typed text could only be checked after the sheet of paper had been taken out of the machine.
The Underwood 5 used a design based on a semi-enclosed, painted metal chassis, which allowed access to parts of the mechanism thanks to the open sides. The entire device has a cuboid shape. There is a short carriage with a platen and two sockets for ink tape above the front plate, which is covered with gilded inscriptions. The unit presented here bears the name of the Gerlach company, which deals in the production of and trade in steel products, as well as imports of Underwood machines to Poland. Also inscribed on the machine is information about the enterprise of S. Aksman in Kraków, which sold and repaired these devices.

Author: Filip Wróblewski

In 1971, production began at the Wytwórnia Sprzętu Komunikacyjnego PZL-Świdnik of a motorcycle from the family of new, unified 125/175 class motorcycles designated as M21. The S-1Z3A Lux engine was installed in a new chassis. The motorcycle was given the designation M06 B3. Design work was led by mgr inż. Jerzy Rebajn, and the frame structure was developed by inż. Stanisław Czobot. One of the versions of the M06 B3 model was the WSK M06 Pic presented here.
It is a light touring motorcycle of the 125 cc class developed at the Wytwórnia Sprzętu Komunikacyjnego in Świdnik and intended for foreign markets.
It was based on the basic M06 B3 model produced in Świdnik from 1971. In order to make it more visually attractive, it was modified with components taken from a series of motorcycles named after birds and positioned as luxury items designed for younger consumers. Apart from the Pic, the plant also produced the Gil, Lelek and Bąk models.
Mass production began immediately after the development work ended, but the motorcycle’s poor performance and outdated design solutions resulted in little interest abroad, despite an attractive silhouette with many polished and chrome parts. About 100 units were built, many of which remained in Poland and were sold on the domestic market within the framework of “internal exports”.