The Krokus 3 enlarger is an optical device for making prints by projecting and enlarging images on photographic paper in a photographic darkroom. For that purpose, the negative image film (with a size of up to 6 x 6 cm) is enclosed in a flat film carrier equipped with two pairs of built-in vertical and horizontal diaphragms. The diaphragms adjust the area of the image being copied onto the light-sensitive material, which is placed on the platform beneath the lens. Just below the carrier is a glass condenser for the even lighting of the negative film. It is embedded in the bottom part of the lamp housing container. Light is provided by a lightbulb. Below the negative carrier are extensible bellows with an optical arrangement equipped with a ring with red safelight filter (“lollipop”) – light-sensitive material does not react to this colour, which enables scaling and preliminary image processing to be adjusted before actual exposure. The desired enlargement is obtained through the spreading of the light beam and placing of the object in relation to the light source, while simultaneously moving it further or closer to the platform. To achieve this, the enlarger body needs to be raised relative to the column on which it is mounted. This is enabled by a sliding mechanism with three steel rods making up the supporting column. The rounded shape of the Krokus 3 housing is related to sheet metal extrusion technology. Due to the factory production, the body and other components are covered in a hammered texture coating, concealing the surface imperfections that would otherwise require corrections and polishing. This was a typical practice applied to mass-produced products in the 1950s and 1960s.
The Krokus 3 enlarger is one in a series of enlargers of the same name, manufactured from 1953 until the 1990s. This particular model (a version for processing black-and-white, and later colour photography), was one of the export products sold mostly in the West in order to earn hard currency. It was manufactured in the nationalised Warszawskie Zakłady Foto-Optyczne (renamed to Polskie Zakłady Optyczne in the late 1960s). The enterprise, established in 1899 as an optical instruments factory, was transformed into Fabryka Aparatów Optycznych i Precyzyjnych H. Kolberg i s-ka in 1921 by a group of industrialists that included Kazimierz Mieszczański, Georg Cora, Karol Hercyk and Henryk Kolberg – nephew of Oskar Kolberg, the researcher of Polish folk culture.

Author: Filip Wróblewski

His Master’s Voice 101 (HMV 101) is a portable box gramophone with a handle, enclosed in a wooden housing. It was manufactured in the United Kingdom between 1925-1931 by The Gramophone Company Limited, established in London in 1898 by Edmund Williams and William Barry Owen. The company had a strong presence on the phonographic market and mostly sold gramophone records. The records bore a logo representing a fox terrier listening to the voice of his master coming from the speaker cone. The HMV 101 complemented the product range of the company. The turntable mechanism on which the gramophone records were placed is set in motion by a crank-wound spring hidden inside the device. The gramophone head with a mica membrane, His Master’s Voice No. 4, is intended for so-called “hard records”, i.e., those made of hard rubber or shellac, played at 78 rpm. The gramophone has a built-in horn speaker, whose resonating cone doubles as a container for the adapter arm. Not only was the folding arm an innovation, but so was the design of the gramophone as a portable device. Wooden cases for keeping the HMV gramophone were usually covered with waterproof black leather and had metal fittings on the corners. Such a model cost £7.00, and for a little more – £7.50 – one could buy versions bound in red, green, or blue leather. On the inside of the cover there is enough room to store six records with the manufacturer’s logo, and the crank. Inside the gramophone box, on the plane to which the brown-felt-covered turntable was installed, is the triangular plaque of the Polish seller, which has a piano-shaped logo and the inscription “Konrad Kaim i Syn, Lwów, ul. Kopernika 11” (Konrad Kaim ran a store selling grand pianos, upright pianos, accordions, gramophones and records, and he was also the owner of the three-story tenement building at the address on the plaque from where he escaped during World War II). The case also contains other components of the gramophone, such as the moving gramophone arm, the turntable, the turntable speed dial (“slow”, “fast”) and a socket for the crank located on the right side of the case. The gramophone’s metal components were nickel plated, which gave them a glossy appearance and additional corrosion protection. It is worth noting that in the first model, the crank opening and socket was at the front. At the break of 1926 and 1927 the layout was changed by moving the crank and socket to the side. In the front right corner, there is a slide-out compartment for gramophone needles.

Author: Filip Wróblewski

The history of Polish cooperation with Fiat goes back to before World War II. In the 1930s, the Fiat 508, the exclusive Fiat 518, and the Fiat 621 truck were produced on the basis of a license from the Italian company. In the period immediately after World War II, the Polish-Italian collaboration was not renewed due to political pressures. In the late 1960s, when the communist Polish government wanted to modernise domestic car production, it sought ways to establish international cooperation and the Piedmontese company was a natural candidate.
The Polski Fiat 125p is middle-class passenger car produced between 1967-1991 under a licence purchased from Fiat. The vehicle was developed by the Italians strictly for the needs of the Fabryka Samochodów Osobowych. It was to be the successor of the Warszawa. Components of the 1300/1500 and 125 models were used for its production. The four-door sedan body was a monocoque. An inline four-cylinder petrol engine was used to propel the car, and was connected to a four-speed transmission. The driving force was transmitted to the rear axle. All wheels had servo drum brakes. The independent front suspension was of a multi-link design and sprung on coil springs and telescopic shock absorbers, while the rigid rear axle was suspended on leaf springs and telescopic shock absorbers.
The body was designed by Dante Giacosa who had previously designed high-selling Fiat models from the 1950s and 1960s, including the Fiat 500 and 600. When it entered production the Polski Fiat 125p was in line with the current trends in the European automotive market. The launch of production resulted in a quantum leap modernisation of the national automotive industry and a sea change in vehicle production methods. The car presented here is a modernised version of the design, marked as MR75, launched into production in 1975, and developed in connection with the change in type approval regulations for export markets. Walter de Silva was responsible for the design of the modifications.
A total of 1,445,699 “large Fiats”, as they were commonly called, were produced in the Zeran FSO factory. Their quality changed between one production phase and the next. In the 1970s the cars were highly praised in Poland and abroad, but over the next decade, due to material shortages, strikes, and the ageing of the design, the “large Fiat” gained a bad reputation among drivers. The last car left the Zeran plant on 29 June 1991.

The Ramona 62118 radio receiver, manufactured in 1960-1964 by Zakłady Radiowe Diora in Dzierżoniów, is one of four types of the receiver (apart from 62132, 22241 and 22244). The Ramona, fondly nicknamed the “piglet”, is a mains-powered superheterodyne, designed to receive long, medium, short and ultra high frequency waves, and was equipped with amplitude modulation (AM) and frequency modulation (FM) systems. Electrically, the receiver has a similar system to the Calypso and Rumba radios that were also manufactured at the time – it uses six vacuum tubes, three germanium diodes and a selenium rectifier.
Design work on the device was done by a team that included metalworker Jan Kowalczyk, who was responsible for designing the appearance of the housing. Its bilaterally convex, lens-like shape created a trend in Polish industrial design of the 1960s. In recognition of its originality, the radio was awarded a gold medal for the most impressive model in the Polish collection at the 30th Poznań International Fair in 1961. That success led to the Ramona being exported to the United Kingdom and other European countries. It also contributed to manufacturers becoming more willing to cooperate with artists to improve the aesthetics of devices, both in terms of form, and of the materials and finish applied. In Lower Silesia, Diora was a pioneer in that respect.
The radio’s chassis was enclosed in a wooden housing that was supported on four narrow feet in the form of cut off cones. The housing was made of veneered wood. In the sidewalls, behind a mesh of cream-coloured plastic, two oval Tonsil GD 18-13/2 speakers were placed in a parallel layout. The front panel was slightly slanted and covered in a tightly woven fabric, framed by narrow, enamelled slats. In the middle there is a horizontal, rectangular cutout in a frame of angled panels of wood, rendering a sense of depth. Inside there is a backlit scale behind a glass pane. On the sides, two rotary switches are placed symmetrically: a volume and tone knob on the left, and the AM and FM tuning knob on the right. Above the left knob there is a volume indicator, and above the right one there is a magic eye tube and the Diora logo. Below the scale there are five rounded button switches with descriptions used for turning on the device or for switching radio bands. On the back of the device there is a knob for adjusting the built-in ferrite antenna, as well as input sockets for an antenna, ground, gramophone, external speaker, and the mains power cord.

Author: Filip Wróblewski

“Tefag” is a marketing abbreviation of the name of the Telephon-Fabrik Berliner AG group, founded in Hanover in 1898 by Joseph Berliner – an entrepreneur of Jewish origin, brother of Emil Berliner (inventor of the gramophone and gramophone record). From 1927, the headquarters of the company was in Berlin. Due to the Great Depression and the economic, social, and political disturbances in Germany at the break of the 1920s and 1930s, the ownership structure of the company underwent several transformations. Tefag primarily manufactured telephones, cables, and other telecommunication devices, while the production of loudspeakers was a side branch of their operations.
The 1920s are the period in which the first radio receivers appeared in shops, and radio itself, as a new means of communication, gained popularity. The first devices were, however, designed in a way that listening to the radio involved the necessity of earphones. Solutions were sought that would ensure broader reception of the broadcast programmes. To that end, attachable horn speakers were designed. The first models appeared in Europe around 1922 when (for lack of other sockets) they were connected to earphone outputs.
Horn speakers consisted of two components. The sound source was an induction/magnetic converter system, as used in telephone receivers. The device’s system allowed sound volume to be adjusted using a screw with a permanent connection to the coils and magnet. Turning the knob allowed the magnet to be brought closer to the membrane, and thus for its vibration to be adjusted. An acoustic horn, made of aluminium or, less often, wood, was installed on the housing of the transducer. The horn had a shape similar to that of a cone or pyramid with a fan-like lip on the edges at the wider end, which was supposed to increase voice amplification. An expressive description of the strengths and weaknesses can be found on pages of Katalog Działu Radjotechnicznego, which reads: “essentially, horn speakers are larger earphones with a horn making the voice fuller and more expressive. The speakers provide a so-called objective reception, which means that the reception is available for the majority of listeners. Unfortunately, their disadvantage is that they produce a voice similar to that of a gramophone, with a trace of metallic undertones”.
The Cornet 1278 horn speaker (Trichterlautsprecher, or “funnel speaker”) was included in the Tefag product range in the 1928/1929 season, and it cost 28 reichsmarks. The range also included horn speakers with different profiles, such as the Goliath 1275 and the Fanfare 1279, as well as conical speakers in which the aluminium horn was replaced with a paper membrane – the Conus 1257, Ultra-Conus 1254, and Secundus 1253.

Author: Filip Wróblewski

The Fiat 127 is a small displacement passenger car that was awarded the title of 1972 European Car of the Year. It is considered to the be the precursor of today’s compact cars and was manufactured in many countries between 1971-1995. In 1973-1978 in Poland it was known as the Polski Fiat 127p.
The car has a two-compartment, two-door fastback body, with a monocoque, steel structure. It was intended to carry four or five passengers. An inline, four-cylinder, naturally aspirated petrol engine drives the front wheels of the vehicle through a four-gear transmission. All wheels are independently suspended: McPherson struts and transverse links are used at the front, with transverse links and a single transverse spring and telescopic shock absorbers at the rear. The vehicle has hydraulic servo brakes: disk brakes at the front, and drums at the rear. The system is a two-circuit arrangement equipped with a braking adjuster. A rack-and-pinion gear is used in the steering system.
The innovative form of the body was designed by Pio Manzù (Pio Manzoni’s nickname). Production of the Polski Fiat 127p was episodic – only around 6,200 cars were built. It was, however, important as a propaganda tool and it allowed precious foreign currency to be obtained for the economy. The vehicle was offered solely on the domestic market within the framework of “internal export”. Interestingly, the assembly of the cars had little to do with manufacturing – often, the finished vehicles arrived from Italy and only the labels and some pieces of equipment were replaced in Poland.

A transmission electron microscope allows analysing ultra-thin strips of slides with a maximum magnification of 30,000x. Observation using this type of microscopes is made using a beam of electrons instead of light, which enabled greater resolution than is achievable in a classic optical microscope. Such devices are widely used in natural science, allowing, for example, observation of cellular organelles, which is impossible with light-based microscopy.
The model presented here was made in 1954 in the Czechoslovak Academy of Science (CAN), by a team of designers headed by Armin Delong. It is the first miniaturised device of this type, which was designed to operate on a separate table, unlike previous free-standing models of large dimensions. Furthermore, voltage was increased in comparison with prior devices, which improved the parameters of observation. Unit production of the device was done in CAN’s own workshops, and mass production was conducted by the Tesla factory in Brno, where the model was designated as BS 242. Overall, more than a thousand units were built over the twenty years in production. The main part of the microscope (in which the observed object are placed to be subjected to the operation of a beam of electrons in vacuum) is connected by cables with a high-voltage power supply unit feeding current to the electron gun. The microscope was awarded the gold medal on the EXPO World Exhibition 1958 in Brussels, which gave rise to the international recognition of the device.

References:
R. Pašek, Electron microscopy, the pride of Czech Republic, Czech Invest website 24.03.2017, http://www.czech-research.com/electron-microscopy-pride-czech-republic/, accessed: 2.06.2021.
The history of Czechoslovak electron microscopy, website of the Czech Academy of Science, http://www.isibrno.cz/~mih/muzeum/muzeumen.htm, accessed: 2.06.2021.

The beginnings of urban transport in Kraków date back to 1875, when the horsebus was implemented. Even back then it was an outdated means of transport, of little attraction for passengers due to the cobbled streets. From the beginning, therefore, alternative forms of public transport were considered, which the rapidly developing Krakow was in dire need of in the late 19th century. In 1871, the British and Foreign Tramways Company of England put forward an initiative to build a horse-drawn tram line in Krakow, which was followed by numerous other offers from all over Europe. As a lot of concern and doubt grew around the project (predominantly expressed by the conservative milieu concentrated around Krakow’s “Czas” magazine), and the conditions demanded by prospective contractors were difficult to fulfil (they requested tax exemption for decades and the assignment of land for free), the contract for the horsecar implementation was not signed until 1882. It was awarded to the Belgian Compagnie Générale de Chemins de Fer Secondaires, which represented the Bank of Belgium. According to the contract between the Municipality of the City of Krakow and the Bank of Belgium: “The line upon which the Bank of Belgium is required to build and maintain the horse-drawn railways, shall be as follows: from the Podgorski bridge, via Mostowa, Wolnica, Krakowska street, Stradom, Grodzka street, the Market Square along the eastern side next to St. Mary’s church, Floryanska street and gate (without interfering with the latter), Basztowa street, Lubicz, to the northern Ferdinand railway station (…)”. The length of the first tram line was a mere 2.8 km, and cars moved on 900 mm gauge tracks.

The cars traveling on the route described above came in two versions: winter and summer. The summer car presented here has partial side walls (some of the cars were completely open). The inside of the car was divided into two classes, 1st and 2nd. Fares were four and three cents per ride, respectively. Running boards were installed along the entire sides of the tram, below the floor level. Uncovered platforms were also placed at the front and rear of the vehicle. The tram driver had a handbrake, operating on the first axis in the direction of travel.
The cars (which later became part of the electrified rolling stock) remained in operation until 1917. After decommissioning, only one PW1 car, number 112, was preserved, and after World War II it was used for tourism – carrying visitors around the Main Market Square. In the 1990’s, the MPK (municipal transportation enterprise) refurbished the car, which allowed the original division into classes to be restored, as well as entry from the running boards on the sides. From 2001 it has been a part of the Museum of Urban Engineering’s collection.