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Looking for one in any type of condition! They were made in Louisiana and were sold from the early 1970's to about 1976 or so! I guess that the developement of the VLF/TR put them out of business! They claimed to be one of the 1st to develope the discriminator! I saw one over 30 years ago, it was a BFO that discriminated thru its meter!................If you have one for sale send me a PM........................HH............Joe
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Treasuretronics
there is one ebay
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TreasureTronics BFO
.................I saw this one that was on ebay!!...................It sold for $150.00 to about $200.00 ................too steep for my blood!!...............I would like to find one that doesn't even work........................in the $40.00 range or below............JOEOriginally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
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Joe, I know all about that metal detector.....
Joe (Tx),Originally posted by Joe(TX) View Post
I know all about that metal detector. I was one of their dealers, through the National Treasure Hunters League (NTHL), run by Ray Smith, who I believe died from cancer, around 1976. After that, the NTHL was taken over, by the former salesman who worked for Bounty Hunter, who eventually ended up representing those Australian gold metal detectors when they entered the United States market.
The claim that they were the first to have meter discrimination or meter identification was true. It was developed in 1967, and was before everyone else. It was the fore runner of what we have today. Everyone copied him, just changed things here and there, and came out with their own patents. It was an innovative metal detector.
I became a dealer in 1973 for that S.S. Treasure Pro Selectmatic. I used it extensive for several months in the Cripple Creek ghost town area, testing it. It would pick up a copper penny on the ground, about 8" up in the air, even on mineralized soil! You would adjust the beat of the oscillator to compensate for the mineralized soil.
I first used it in the former ghost town of Mound City, and found lots of coins there. If the coin was under your coil, you found it. If it was not there, you found nothing. Just like any metal detector today. It had its pros and cons. I sold it, and then became a dealer for Garrett, Compass, Gold Mountain, and Whites, and others later on.
Its pros were that it was very sensitive. This was done to the meter, by a part, which made the thumb wheel adjustment, very sensitive. Thus it could see a very "slight inflection" of sound, and then would move to the right on the center of the meter, if it was a good target, and to the left of the center of the meter, if it was a bad target. It had a softer squeal than the Garrett BFO squeal which was louder. The Garrett BFO was a better built detector. The needle actually never centered on the meter, it was a D.C. meter, but a adjustment knob, permitted you to move the needle up to the center area. If it drifted a bit, you had a knob to re-center the needle.
The metal detector was actually designed in 1967, and while it was not a true discriminator, where you could reject something you did not want, it acted like a discriminator with that meter display. It would see different kinds of targets in the ground, and give you some kind of intelligent indication on the meter as to good or bad target.
It used voltage variations, to affect the meter display. Rance designed it to be self sufficient for the consumer, but he listed variations to the parts, that someone could perform, to enable them to have more control over the electronics. I have the technical things stored somewhere in my computer or files. I am speaking from memory right now.
It obviously impressed Charles Garrett, he must have bought one of the kits that Rance sold, as he was in the act of creating an new BFO machine, and he listed Edwin Rance as his first listing, in the listing of former patents. Since Garrett and Rance received their patents, so close together, Garrett had to have prior knowledge of the Selectmatic machine. Garrett had a patent the same year, but his was after the Rance patent, because of Rance having a prior filing. Rance patented it, while he was still located in Houston, started his patent in 1968, achieved it a few years later, almost at the same time Garrett got his patent, but by that time he was building the units, and he was located in Louisiana. At that time, he was selling the detectors by mail, in kit form.
Ray Smith encountered the machines, and talked Rance into selling the machines through the NTHL dealer franchises. That is how I became a dealer for Rance's machines.
The metal detector, was so sensitive, that Rance had to design a special shielded coil, but it did not solve its problems, as I found when I moved from shade to a sunny location, the BFO's oscillations would change. It would change even if I stayed in the sun. I was forever adjusting it for changes in drifting of the oscillator. Thus the fine tune adjustment knob on the upper part of the frame work, which could be reached by the index finger of the right hand, was used to continually change the beat of the oscillator. While I loved the lightness of the detector, and the sensitiveness, and the ability to see on the meter if it was good or bad, I was turned off on the constant need to adjust the machine. For left handed people, they would have to run it with their left hand's thumb.
It had a coarse adjustment tuner knob, that fine tuner knob I mentioned, a meter center knob, and several other knobs. Later on, he had a discrimination control, but by then, I was no longer a dealer for that machine. I found the Garrett BFO detectors to be better in the field of saleability, because they were more stable machines, with less drift, and also you had many more coil options.
For example, you could select a 2" coil, a 3.5" coil, 5" coil, 8" coil, and so on, upward to a 24x24 inche coil. Furthermore, Garrett made his BFO's so easy to handle, you had a switch where you could switch between coil figurations, already installed on the metal detector, and ready to be used at a moments notice. All you had to do, was switch to the other coil configuration, a light re-tune of the oscillator, and you were using a different coil configuration. Then you could change back again, the same way, to the other coil configuration. Thus you could switch from larger coils immediately to smaller coils.
On the TreasureTronic Selectmatic, the 6" coil was hardwired into the shaft, so you could not switch coils, even though Rance mentioned the feasibility of a larger coil. He never came up with a larger coil though. And since there was no coil connector that you could remove, and then switch to another coil, the incentive to make your own coils was diminished.
Now I believe the price of $299.50 killed that metal detector. In fact, Ray Smith kept lowering the price, to make the sales continue. But the other electronic advances, of companies like Garrett, Whites, and of course, Compass, and the higher prices of that S.S. Treasure Pro Selectmatic machine, added to its demise.
Also at that time, in 1975, Whites came out with the Whites Coinmaster V Supreme, which was the first GEB ground balance machine, and it was extremely sensitive, and made the TreasureTronics look like a toy. While I liked the sensitiveness of the Selectmatic, it was still a BFO that drifted, and it was not in the ball park with the Compass machines, or the new Whites V Supreme. And at that time, Bounty Hunter was a fantastic newcomer into the market, as well as other manufacturers. High prices, lack of options, and competition killed the S.S.T. Pro Selectmatic machine!
Also in its early inception, he sold it in kit form, through classified advs in magazines like Popular Science. It was not a $299.50 metal detector. Even the cheaper Yukon IB models of Compass, ran rings around Rance's metal detector. All Rance had was a simple meter indication of the target in the ground.
MELBETAComment
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an man of internet in mexico have an old bfo discriminator, how much money you pay for these? this is in subast! first propost 500 dollars
your propose?
soon i do question is he have whit he today, and brand and year model
these is blue, heavy, of aluminum, whit analogic needle, four knobs, two plates, box carrier, excelent conditionComment
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may be isnt of lousiana, i go seeComment
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No, your photo is not the S.S. Treasure Pro Selematic metal detector. This is a small photo, but it shows what the S.S.T. Pro detector looked like. They sell for about $20 to $40 used, if they work good. Much less if they are defective. I would buy one myself, if the price was low enough, but just to experiment with it, as I know what the parts are inside, and know what the coil wiring is, and have an old schematic for it stored somewhere. Maybe I can make it "stable" so that it does not drift. Would have to use circuits from better stable BFO machines designed like Garrett's BFO machines. If one can make it go much deeper, then it might be worth experimenting with it. Other than that, other older machines just work better. And yes, I am a fan of Compass, Teknetics, Bounty Hunter, Garrett, and Whites metal detectors. They were the best back then...Originally posted by detectoman View PostComment
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This was one of his mail order advs back then...
This was one of the mail order advs, that the TreasureTronics placed in the magazines, this one was a classified adv, in Popular Mechanics, in May, 1969. This clearly shows that he had a saleable BFO metal detector, with an meter, that identified the target, back then in 1969. He actually completed his machine in 1967, from papers that I have stored.
Now you can see from this adv that he sold "kits", and also sold "finished" models, but I have no idea what his prices were back during his mail order sales. If anyone knows, I would be interested in knowing.
I first encountered this metal detector during the summer of 1973, and at that time the retail price was $299.50, which I felt was a very high price for the metal detector. But Ray Smith talked me into buying one of them to try, the normal wholesale price for a dealer then was $179.70, and Ray Smith paid the shipping to me. However, he gave me a slightly lower price for this first machine, just to try it, so I tried it. I gave it a good test for about 2 months, then sold it to a local person. I ordered no more of these machines, as I was not crazy about it at that time.
Later on Ray Smith, due to slow sales, began to lower the retail price, and eventually before they were all gone, the retail price was $220.00, which meant that the dealer price was $132.00 for just one machine. I imagine that the price would drop further, if you wanted more than one of those metal detectors. The only advantage or pro this detector had, was meter identification, and it was not always correct. The deeper coins, gave less of a meter needle reflection, due to less power from deeper objects. It was fairly accurate in the top 3" to 4" of the ground, but the deeper the object, you really had to watch that needle change position. That is why I would like to experiment with it today, to see if one can make it go deeper, with more needle variation from a target indication.
Whoops, posted the wrong photo, this was Ray Smiths sales flyer. I will post the photo of the mail order adv next!Comment
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This was May 1969 mail order adv....
This was the adv in May 1969, in Popular Mechanics, and as far as I know for sure, this may have been his first mail order advertisement, but do not know that for sure now... Enjoy!Comment
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Hi Melbeta,
at which frequency it works?Comment
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400 KC
It used an inductor and capacitor to produce a tuned circuit at a low radio frequency of 400 KC (kilocycles).Originally posted by WM6 View PostComment
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Very interesting info... I have an SST Pro in my collection.Comment
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And Carl, how about some photos of the insides of the unit? The one I tested, I did not recall it haveing the discriminate button on the rear, where the batterys go. Maybe it did, but I just do not remember it being there...Originally posted by Carl-NC View Post
And another question, I know it is a collectible unit, but how do you like it, when using it?Comment
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hello, if in your bfo first step, are npn, may be you can put very stable your bfo, only put in step transistor of oscilation, an bc548 but reversed, and the other of reference in right position
the transistor bc548 work too reversed, then is the oposite direction to other transistor, result in equilibre
to me succes in an saxon bfo, are not to you
too i put 2 1 n cap in any part, how stabilization bridgesComment
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too an little special spring iron wire conect in coil reference of bfo's help very much how antena, for put most sensitive, too and indicatior analogic help much due to what magnetite and coil interactuate help trap major the waves, existing so interactions whit all other coils, by total 3 coils
very stable bfo, the bfo not detect little trash very necesary in modern fields
so an large coil in bfo, not detect medium objetives
if you put and special sparks in down coil, these work how white sound indicator of nearby of objects
the bfo was an error the suspension of these production, bfo is good, not toy
bfo for presidentComment
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