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Precision Model 111 "Scintillator" Portable Scintillation Counter - $150 (ALBUQUERQUE)
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🛠️ Device History & Context
• Manufacturer: Produced by Precision Radiation Instruments, Inc. (PRI) out of Los Angeles, California. The original Model 111 "Standard Scintillator" debuted around 1952–1953.
• The "Uranium Boom": During the 1950s, the US government offered hefty cash bonuses and guaranteed purchase prices for domestic uranium discoveries. This sparked a massive civilian prospecting rush across the American Southwest (particularly New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado). PRI capitalized on this by marketing high-end detectors to amateur prospectors looking to "strike it rich."
• How It Works: Unlike standard Geiger counters which use gas-filled tubes to detect radiation, a scintillation counter uses a dense, highly sensitive Sodium Iodide (NaI) crystal coupled with a photomultiplier tube. This technology made it up to 200 times more sensitive than a standard Geiger counter, allowing prospectors to detect deep underground radioactive anomalies from a moving vehicle or plane.
• Design Features: This setup features the classic aluminum "ray gun" probe handle connected via a coiled rubber cord to the heavy-duty metal battery box base. The face displays a circular 3-inch milliroentgens-per-hour (MR/HR) intensity dial.
🌲 The Wooden Case
The custom angled wood carrying box is highly characteristic of early-1950s PRI equipment. It features a heavy metal latch, an upper leather or plastic carrying handle, a metal alignment plate inside the lid, and a rugged leather toggle tie on the front latch to prevent the box from accidentally popping open while hiking through rough terrain.
Vintage radiation gear from the 1950s uranium rush has a passionate following among cold-war collectors, scientific historians, and "retro-futurism" enthusiasts.