More important, this experience resulted in the crude prototype of one-half of a maxim, namely: never buy the cheapest version of anything.

After having secured his father's financial backing, Vail refined Morse's crude prototype to make it suitable for public demonstration and commercial operation.

Almost immediately he visited a nearby merchant, Domingo Peraza, from whom he bought some crepe paper to build a crude prototype.

The crude prototype worked, but it was too expensive a design to replicate repeatedly: the device sells for upward of $180.

The crude prototype of this device appeared in Popular Science Magazine in 1978 and has since been improved and operates automatically in its current incarnation.

As soon as the engineering staff had built enough smoothly operating copies of Pickett's crude prototype, the classes began.

He whittled crude prototypes from wood.

Experts point out that the T-50 is a rather crude prototype, and its engine is still in the development phase.

Dr. Lieberman said a crude prototype had been tested on animals, but added that he had to build a more precise model before beginning tests on humans.

"Our scientists had created a few crude prototypes, which were used in laboratories on remote research stations, but then the wars intervened and most of their work was lost."