On February 13th, our class met Mr. Tom Vales at the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology, which is an affordable urban college for students in need of resources and who aspire to specialize in technological fields. Mr. Vales is an inventor, designer, fabricator, expert machinist, and most recently an educator and business owner, who has earned a reputation on mastering hand and power tools.

Throughout his presentation, Mr. Vales showed us many exciting gadgets. Some of them were built by himself, others were created many centuries ago, and he has enabled adaptability to be able to incorporate them in the modern world. Among the different gadgets he presented, the coin shrinking, red radioactive plate, and the violet-red machine were the ones that attracted me the most.

To begin, although we weren’t able to see the quarter shrinking, he was able to explain and show us shrunken coins he had on hand. From what I understood, the coin shrinking process is made through pulsed power engineering, which is a strong electrical and magnetic force released over energy compression. The high velocity of electromagnetic forming leads the surface features to plow underneath another, and eventually shrink.

Next, we were presented the radioactive red plate, which is also known as, “Fiesta Dinnerware” This piece of pottery is something you would commonly find at your grandmother’s house. The dish provides a vivid red color, and it is used as any other dinnerware. What makes this antique piece “radioactive” as its name says, is its color, as it contains uranium oxide and exposes the human body to high levels of gamma and alpha radiation. According to Mr. Vales, while the color is attached to the pottery, it is safe to use. However, if there were a piece of the plate that became unattached and ingested, it would create adversity in the human body, and most specifically, to the bones.

Lastly, Mr. Vales presented the violet ray machine. This machine was utilized in the 20th century for electrotherapy, before the depression era. People used to believe that by exposing their bodies to the violet ray, it would cure diseases and get rid of infections. During the presentation, he was able to simulate how the machine would be used in the early days and demonstrated the power of the ray by touching the radiation with lighting bulbs.

Overall, I was impressed with the presentation. I was impressed with Mr. Vales expertise and felt intrigued with all the inventions he was able to show us. Personally, my favorite was learning about the radioactive red plate, also known as “Fiesta-Poppy” as it is an item that I’ve seen in stores like Pottery Barn and Macy’s, and something I hold at my own house.