Show I I Babbel Counter Continued from first page pages I Instruments Instruments mum lum content is Their ments Indicate only that some y somewhere hot thing Is somewhere Is hot In 1910 that Mr Babbel Bab Babbel It was bel a high school graduate with radio ham experience I I decided to tackle the problem I never could get very excited excited ex ex- cited about radio he said but when nuclear electronics electronIcs' came alon along well along well J-well well that's what I was waiting for At the time tim he was mining I vanadium and uranium near Moab Utah and exploring the area with a 30 pound 30 pound GeIger Gelger counter lIe He didn't like to carry that much weight and he was dissatisfied with the vague results re re- suits It gave After several years of study and hard work he built his first counter a model designed design design- ed only for prospecting It weighed three pounds had a counter control control to to enable the operator to get a rough idea of ot the impulse strength strength strength-an an off off- on switch and earphones It was more accurate and useful use ful tul than any field instrument then built Mr Babbel said Life Magazine printed a story about It In 1948 1998 and Mr Babble had to hire a girl full time full time Just fo to o address my mall mail That story made Mr Babbel a For two years Mr Babbel I I built hoist the counters in Moab where his home his wife Moab-I Moab and five children still are and are and sold them to miners miners and prospectors prospect ors all over America Everyone one was satisfied with his counters except counters except Mr Bab Bab- BabI be bel He lIe wanted an Instrument which would be small enough for field work and yet as Mac ac accurate accurate curate as any used in H n labora laboratory bora tory where ore samples are arc Isolated in a lead sheath before before be be- before fore testing lIe He designed his own circuits I hand and also equipment for L testing 1 variations in me maue radio parts he used Radio parts have awfully coarse tol tot he said Early in 1950 he completed the improved counter Advantages Advantages Advantages claimed for It are 1 It Is accurate within 2 per percent percent percent cent and saves time money and effort by eliminating the heed need for chemical assays In Infield infield infield field work 2 It records Impulses on a dIrect reading direct readIng dial In the top of ot the counter Without No computations are requIred required re re- the apparatus is not affected by sun rays rays rays-as as some models are are and and It can compensate compensate com com- for background radiation ra ra- ra which is always present where need for counter exists 3 It is versatile with five ranges for different grades of ol ore are It can detect the radioactivity radioactivity of a watch dial on dial on the most sensitive setting an lager Inger soil drives it crazy crazY or r It assay the richest ore Jf can covered Yet m ds dis One application seen fo for Mineral Counter th the Its to mercial name Is ln In civil corn rode It can tell not only de radiation Is that present but er rr It is s present In dangerous amounts a virtue not found most counters In Mr 1 Babbel is building about one counter a week when mm part are arc available for m marke marketing by Minerals Engineering to government agencies and n ani 1 I have be been Z U built and parts for 50 fi have been ordered ion Inore Since coming to Minerals En Grand Junction Z Zearly sho shel early this year Mr Babbel fi hal not stopped designing C net ner counters His latest Is for airplane ex er exploration to replace the oni one he has been using in his own owl plane The new model is m pp times more sensitive than the theold theold theold old one he said and hast has detector tube some five fog feet f t long Having combined all the fhe skills of an electronics phys phy phys and electrical engineer s an electrical engineer a In his work Mr Babb Babbel l still sill has not solved one problem For all its advantages iu hi hij counter Is no good without an operator |