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From the mid 1920's, a rare, unusual and unique early battery
set in many ways. First of all, it's compact size, measures only
17" X 7" with 6 tubes. Unusual in that the electronics is totally encased in
an aluminum container and each RF stage is separated by an
additional shield and the
RF coils
are plug-ins. The front panel features only two
controls (tuning & volume) plus an on/off switch. The main and
unique thing about this set is the tuning arrangement, it is
truly a
unique
slide rule
design with 1/2 of the tuning condenser sections mounted on a
stationary plane while the other is on a gear driven movable
plane geared directly from the tuning knob shaft. It work smooth
and efficient with a minimum of parts in very little space. The
movable half of the tuning condensers have the dials scales
mounted on it and are visible through two
small windows (one a 0 -
100 log scale, the other is in meters, 150 - 550 which
translates to 545 - 1900 KC) in the heavy cast front panel.
The physical design of this set is very advanced for the era but
is fairly flimsy and simple in the way its put together with
simple nuts and bolts (no lock-washers anywhere). The circuit
design is a strait forward 3 stage TRF with an additional audio
stage. It has the look of a prototype set that was constructed
under primitive conditions as all the parts seem to be
fabricated specifically for this set, sans the tubes and audio
transformers. The case is beautifully made of solid walnut.
After restoration I was anxious to see how it performed and was
amazed at the sensitivity and selectivity. It came to life,
receiving a station as soon as I applied power even before the
antenna was connected (which unheard of for any battery set to
do anything where I live without my attic antenna connected).
With all the shields in place this set was pulling in a Portland
station with only the 16" piece of wire for the antenna
connection.
Included with this great piece is the original owners manual |