Amusing story

pete black

Well-known Member
An older gentlemen told the story of
his wedding day back in the fifties:
he had an old chevrolet with the old
tube type radio in it, leaving the
church for their honeymoon he said
they "jumped in the car, thumped the
vibrator and lit a shuck". I bet a few on here know the know the meaning of the two phrases?
 
Tube type radios had a high voltage supply, usually supplied by a vibrating reed, switching 6volts on and off, which could then be upped by a transformer, and rectified by a diode tube for high voltage for rest of tubes.

Suspect that if vibrator didn't start vibrating on its own, a thump aside the radio case got it going.
 
"Lit a Shuck" comes from old time when going from one cabin/home to another a corn shuck was used as a torch to light the way.
 
Back in the 70's Charlie Daniels was "tokin' on a number and diggin' at the radio" in his Chevrolet as he was crossing the Mississippi line on the way out to LA.
 
My first car was a 49 Studebaker. It had the vibrator in the radio.
I had a chunk of wood in the car to whack the dash to get it going.
Later I took the radio apart and cleaned out the vibrator and got it going without having to whack the dash.
It was still working for the next two years when I sold it.

Never heard the term "lit a shuck."
 
very correct ! I repaired hundreds of 'tube' car radios back in the day, mostly installed new vibrator or the OZ4 rectifier.
 
(quoted from post at 22:26:10 04/19/17) "Lit a Shuck" comes from old time when going from one cabin/home to another a corn shuck was used as a torch to light the way.

And you had to hurry cause the shuck didn't take long to burn up.
Elmo
 
(quoted from post at 03:15:35 04/20/17) I have cut the can with a hacksaw and adjusted the contacts on a many of them.

54 years ago I took one and removed the vibrater jumped the socket and powered it with a 110v to 6v transformer and used it at home.
Elmo
 
(quoted from post at 22:26:10 04/19/17) "Lit a Shuck" comes from old time when going from one cabin/home to another a corn shuck was used as a torch to light the way.

And you had to hurry cause the shuck didn't take long to burn up.
Elmo
 
My radio won't work! (Common comment)

Does it humm?

No!

Get a new vibrator.

Does it humm?

Yes!

Get a new OZ4.

I repaired several 6 volt radios back then and that was about all I knew.
 
When I got my driver's license I used mom's car, a '51 Ford 2 door custom with v8 and Ford-0-Matic tranny. Radio didn't work. Took it to a repair shop and the guy replaced the vibrator (dc to ac converter can, 4 plug in terminals).....cost me 5 bucks. Lot of money then but I had a part time job and it was my earned money.

On the shuck, guessing you are talking about a corn shuck. We smoked.....puffed on...grapevine back then. Talk about hot...burn the end of your tongue big time, but we were playing "all grown up" and you had to take the heat.
 
(quoted from post at 06:40:00 04/20/17) ....................
On the shuck, guessing you are talking about a corn shuck. We smoked.....puffed on...grapevine back then. Talk about hot...burn the end of your tongue big time, but we were playing "all grown up" and you had to take the heat.

Thanks for bringing that memory back! :lol:
 

thumped the vibrator.. to get it going..

and then the tubes started glowing as it fired up... hence it lit up like a shuck....

corn shucks were used to start the kitchen stove every morning.. and they lighted up quickly with a single match and burn quickly, to start the kindling up...

so at night,, the tubes lit up like a shuck..
 

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