Chapter 33

After dinner that night I started taking the industrial hairdryer apart. I was interested in how it was wired. In my notebook, I drew a schematic of the electrical wiring. I also noted the model numbers of the fan, motor, and switches.

The switching was the most interesting. It looked like it would be right at home inside an old vacuum tube radio I owned.

I wondered if the on-off, fan speed and heat controls I was thinking of could be transistorized.

I would like to have a high and low-speed fan, and the same for heat. That would give four combinations for the user.

I remembered the movie set makeup artists who dealt with many hairstyles needing options. They called themselves an artist and at first, I laughed, after seeing what they had to achieve I quit laughing.

For the on-off, the current would run through a basic dipole switch which is either on or off. From there current would have to be directed through a transistor that would send it to one of two resistors, this would then regulate the current sent to the nichrome wire which would control the heat generated. There would be a similar arrangement to the fan controlling the speed.

I knew I probably didn’t have the circuit completely correct but I knew someone who could help me. My electricity merit badge counselor Mr. Robinson would be the man. Mr. Robinson was an avid HAM radio operator and built stuff all the time.

I had a HAM license but he was far ahead of me in the actual building of electronics. He was my Elmer when I first started.

Later I went in for some lighter reading. That Russian novel or whatever the author wanted to call it; had just about done me in. I went back to one of my old favorites from my bookshelf. The two brothers doing detective work was exactly my speed tonight.

Saturday we met at the school at seven o’clock for the one-hour bus trip to the Northmoor Golf Club near Grand Lake St. Mary’s. I had to remember to tell Mary she had a lake named after her, she would like that. I hoped we weren’t spoiling her.

The match was never in doubt. Gary Matthews was the only member of the team who lost to his Celina competitor and that was only by one stroke. I tore the course up.

When I got to the dreaded six hundred and thirteen-yard 16^th hole of the Red Course I hit a drive which rolled and rolled on the flat hard fairway. It ended up being a three hundred and five-yard drive, my best ever.

Then my second shot with a three wood was over two hundred yards ending up two feet from the hole. It was an easy putt for my first ever Eagle.

By this time our team lead was so great that the Celina boys were even excited for me. After the match, while having a soft drink at the refreshment area named the nineteenth hole, the club pro told me that only happened once or twice a season. I ended up with a 67 which was four under par for the course.

Dad had good news at dinner that night. We had rented out the North Detroit Street house for seventy-five dollars a month. With this start, he now intended to start looking for duplexes in town that he could buy, repair and rent out.

I wondered if they could buy, repair, and sell them quickly making a good turn around profit. I brought this up to Dad, who after thinking about it for a moment turned the idea down. He would rather work towards long term income.

I continued reading old favorites, this time with a young inventor and his flying machine. I had chosen the original stories, they had been redone with the son of the inventor but I liked the original better.

Reading the story reminded me of my decision to learn to fly one day. I needed to check into that. I would go out to Tanger Field and see what lessons cost when the golf season was over.