By Richard A. Coyle
Now we move on to the phaser one. In this case we will examine many versions including a couple of the working models.
The classic phaser one most resembles an electric razor, a fact not missed by the cast and crew as seen in an out-take on the blooper reel where, after stalking puposefully towards the camera, the men suddenly start “shaving” with their phaser ones. 
First of all, we’ll describe the working features. Yes, Virginia, there was indeed a rising plate on the top of the phaser one. Man-o-man, can I remember in the early days how we used to debate these features! These functions were just snuck into a scene and rarely high-lighted by any close-ups. This up-down plate showed up in the very first aired show “The Man Trap”.
Watch the tops of the phaser ones that Captain Kirk and
Mr. Spock have in the scene where they beam down to the planet to find Prof. Crater. Captain Kirk says to Mr. Spock, “Set your phaser on one quarter, I’ll leave mine on stun.” Watch Mr. Spock..he thumbs his phaser one’s setting knob on top on his phaser two and the top pops right up. Then they separate to hunt Prof. Crater. As they are hunting for him, the scenes keep cutting from Cpt. Kirk to Mr. Spock and back, note the tops of the phasers. As they circle around Prof. Crater, when we can next see Mr Spock’s phaser he now has a phaser with the top down. A second later when Cpt. Kirk shoots Prof. Crater, his phaser’s hood is up. Common continuity errors, but fun to catch. Note the flapping communicator grill in this scene too. 
There were a couple of these little bits in later episodes, in a “Private Little War” Doctor Mc Coy heats up a few rocks and we get a great close up of a dark gray phaser one with the grill up. Later the witch woman gets one of the phaser ones and attempts to use it, and again a couple of loving close ups. A third season show, “Is there in truth No Beauty” when Miranda Jones companion tries to kill the Gorgan we see a close up of the phaser one.
All right, what did work and how? Well, starting with the plate on the phaser one, it was a piece of brass plate with a aluminum embossed foil glued to it or an aluminum diamond imprinted plate. Just behind and partly under it was a 3/4″ wide «” round plexiglas rod. This is what most of us have been mistaking for the trigger bar.
Behind that was a thin round knurled knob protruding as a thumb wheel. Opposing that was a «” round lens for the read-out of the settings. You raised the plate by rotating the thumbwheel with, well… your thumb.
As you turned this knob, a link inside the body
connected from the wheel to the 1/2 round Plexiglas rod that sat partly under the top plate (which was fashioned in the front with the Plexiglas at its rear) would turn into the plate, forcing it to slide across the face of the Plexiglas rod and thus it would raise as it slid up. This action would raise the plate about 1/4″. Wait, there’s more. . . after the plate was at its fullest height, if you continued to turn the knob, a small Plexiglas rod 
telescoped out of the brass tube in the front and just below center on the phaser one’s body. But the best is yet to come.
This one’s a dilly. Then and only then at the very end of the rotation, at the highest setting, only then could you turn it a little further to light the light, to fire the phaser one.
That means it could only fire on its highest setting which
makes for a serious, possibly fatal, design flaw. Maybe that is why the witch could not fire it??
But we know that it did fire on other settings for we “saw” it do it.
These mechanical facts have been right in front of us for so many years. If you have the old paperback book “The Making of Star Trek” with those poor old black and white photographs in it, take a second look at the open phaser one. You can make out the knob, the link to the Plexiglas and the battery holder.
One final “urban myth” to clear up: the trigger or knob on the bottom of the phaser one.
There was a small raised round aluminum button/rod there on some models. No one knows why it’s there. A mock trigger? A knob to help hold on to the phaser one? (Very likely, as the little darlings were slippery) Or simply a knob to help remove the bottom when servicing it? Who knows?
The non-working models of both the pistol and hand phasers were mostly cruder than the above described. They had poor detailing, that is, when detailing was even remembered, and misshapen bodies, Velcro-glued for “invisible” holsters, etc.
Funny thing, I have seen a very clean copy of the phaser one with a fixed raised plate mounted on it. Why? Maybe for a close-up model.
Well, that’s it, every detail known to human and Vulcan on the history of the black and white classic phaser.
