[Thursday] Latest RI Find

[Arzoo623 WebRight]

Chris

What was your grandfathers first name?

Len

Sent from my iPhone

> On Feb 10, 2020, at 4:32 PM, Chris Prata <chrisprata at live.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> I've mentioned before that my grandfather owned a battery shop in the 1920s in Olneyville or Federal Hill if I recall correctly. He rebuilt batteries and delivered them to tenement houses etc. so they could power their radios etc.
> 
> I can only wonder which battery shop if any of them in this book may have been his.  The battery shop was owned by somebody else and he worked there part-time and he told me the owner "ran off with a girl" and he just kept it going and eventually took it over. But our families main business eventually took him away from that.
> 
> he told me all about rebuilding the batteries and melting the zinc and the lead on a gas stove, pouring the tar to seal up the box after reloading it with new plates and soldering the straps, and adding acid and then delivering the batteries with I think he said a model t that had heavy springs under the back.  the battery boxes were made of wood so I wonder what the liner was, I don't recall that.
> 
> Only battery shops that also sold radio parts were listed in that book and he never mentioned anything about radio parts.
> 
> I wonder if the city has archives of businesses in their licensing archives that may contain information about this battery shop. But I don't know if it was ever formally put in his name either...
> 
> Maybe I'll check it out someday because if the battery shop can be identified, then it's possible there are street photos possibly also in the city archives that may show it...
> 
> 
>> On February 10, 2020 10:25:00 AM Arzoo623 WebRight via Thursday <thursday at newsm.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Found the following Rhode Island Radio Fan Handbook from January 1925. These types of finds open up a wealth of leads to other Rhode Island Radio history.
>> 
>> http://61thriftpower.com/riradio/pdf/RIRFHBJanuary1924_compressed.pdf
>> 
>> Len
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
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