1970 Official Sea-Monkey Handbook
For those of you who have a current Sea-Monkey Handbook, you'll notice that the cover of this one looks quite different. There are a number of changes that have since been made to the content and the artwork inside, but I'm still somewhat partial to this one... likely due to my love of nostalgia.
Observe the Growth Guarantee on the back of this handbook, and how it is differs from the current one. Notice that Sea-Monkeys of old use to require 12 weeks for full growth to be achieved. The current Growth Guarantee only requires that you wait 4-5 weeks for them to grow to full size. Also note the New York shipping address which was the former home of Transcience.
Probably my favorite part of this handbook, is the section where creator, Harold Von Braunhut, describes the amazing "Ovatron". What's that you say?... you've never heard of the "Ovatron"? Well, most of you haven't... as it is no longer included in the text of the current handbook. But for those curious, here's an excerpt:
Since Sea-Monkey eggs are so scarce, we have been asked by many how they are obtained. Until our Patents were applied for, we were unable to disclose our technique, but at last, we can make our friends happy and reveal the long-kept secret.
To separate Sea-Monkeys that are found intermingled with Artemia and other species in a ratio 1-4,000, our engineering staff devised an incredibly ingenious new kind of machine - the "Ovatron" that performs this formerly impossible task by means of very sophisticated electronic technology. Occupying a space no larger than a clothes closet, the "Ovatron" processes literally billions of eggs that are fed into it on a conveyer belt. The eggs first pass between electrodes mounted on the conveyor that charges them with a harmless, minute electrical current. Because of the difference in density and resistance, the Sea-Monkey eggs only receive a postive (+) charge. All other eggs are negatively (-) charged. The eggs enter a separation chamber containing the "Ovatron". This consists of a six foot tall column of perforated stainless steel, encircled by three polished glass discs, each two inches thick, and four feet in diameter. The steel column is called a "stator", the glass discs - "rotors". While the rotors are rapidly spinning on the stator column, a "blizzard" of eggs swirls around the machine, and all of the Artemia and other eggs are sucked into a collection room by a poweful vacuum. The Sea-Monkey eggs however, are attracted and cling to the surfaces of the whirling glass rotors, each of which contains a magnetic field pattern that was formed when the glass was cast in a molten state filled with millions of tiny metal particles that were subjected to tremendous magnetic forces that formed their shape while the glass was molten. Thus they attract postive (+) eggs only, and repel negative (-) eggs. After a full day of operating "around the clock", the "Ovatron" will extract only a few pounds of Sea-Monkey eggs from ten or more giant barrels of assorted crustacean eggs. However, even these few precious pounds contain countless thousands of your amazing live Sea-Monkeys.
|
