Pedal Powered Radio
The Pedal Powered Radio Was Invented So That People Living In The Outback Could Have Communications In An Emergency
Before there were satellite dishes or other electronic forms of communication it was difficult for people living in out back Australia to keep in contact with other people. Alf Traeger helped change this situation.
Alfred Traeger was the son of a Victorian farmer. By the time he was twelve he made a telephone set so he could communicate from the work shed to the family home. After Traeger had gained a Diploma of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering he worked as an electrical engineer. In 1926 Traeger met Reverend John Flynn. Flynn was responsible for setting up the Royal Flying Doctor Service. The people living in those isolated parts of Australia needed an immediate method of getting in touch with medical help in times of a emergency. Flynn offered Traeger a job to develop a radio communications system.
Traeger developed a machine which could receive and send morse code and was powered by a battery. Traeger thought he should develop a machine that had permanent energy instead of energy that was going to go to waste. Traeger invented a new machine that could be powered by pedalling. He also developed a new, simpler method of using morse code by making a morse keyboard. To use the morse keyboard you just had to press a letter on the board and it would sound out the morse of that letter automatically. By the 1930’s Traeger had invented a machine to send voice messages.
