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Model 1923 was Introduced in the 1935
catalog. Since much
of the rural areas of the USA was not electrified in until the late 1940's, the
above is one of a plethora of farm
(or battery) radios made for rural use by all major manufacturers.
Unlike the home radios that were first introduced in the
early 1920's that required several banks of individual batteries
of 3 or more voltages, these used a special
battery pack made for that particular model. Notice all the
vacant space inside the cabinet rear, this was for the battery
pack. Some (including this model) required more than one. The "B"
supply pack went in the bottom section, the "A" batteries mounted
in clips on either side of the chassis.
Nostalgia
If you you are of my generation
(I was born in 1940) and lived in the country or visited relatives
in the rural countryside when you were young, you most
likely have listened to a home radio operated by batteries. You
can probably remember the disappointment when the battery "conked out" during
your favorite radio program.
Collectable?
Most collectors avoid radios like
the above because they don't think they will never come alive again
since those battery packs have long since been extinct.
Eye catcher
I was instantly attracted to this
radio when I found it in an antique shop in the Long Beach area of
Washington state about two years ago. The inside were reasonably
clean (very important to me), the cabinet was in great shape
(although the finish had severely deteriorated) and I loved the
colorful dial and the architecture and veneer work of the cabinet.
I'm one of those who usually did not give a second look
to a "Farm Radio" but decided that this one was going home with me.
Some technical remarks
I was already aware that these sets
are special, they are not only designed to draw a much lower
current level that do their AC operated brothers
and they have extra
circuitry that makes them more sensitive and selective than a
comparable priced AC radio. For example, the subject model
has 7
tubes and sold for $37.95. The comparable 7 tube AC model sold for
$35.75. However there is a big circuit difference between the two
radios, the battery version has 3-tuned stages and 2 IF stages.
The AC set has only 2 tuned stages and 1 IF stage. Reason, more
sensitivity and selectivity was required for reception in the
rural areas.
One thing these battery sets did
not have was a lot of audio power. The farm and battery sets used
a permanent magnet, high impedance speaker in order to conserve
power consumption. AC operated receivers of that era incorporated larger electrodynamic
speakers that requires a fair amount of energy to energize the
magnet. That would be a serious drain on a battery radio. Although
the volume
level was ample for normal listening, you did not have the
power or a lot of bass to rattle the pictures on the wall.
Reception coverage in 3 bands: Broadcast band - 540 - 1650 KHz; LW
band - 225 - 400 KHz & Shortwave band - 6 - 16 MHz.
Making it live again!
I decided to restore this set and
make it work again by electrifying it. It would be easy enough
(but
cumbersome) to rig up an external bank of batteries or power
supply. So I decided to restore all the electronics to it's
original design and operation and add an internal AC power supply. When I completed the restoration, I
rigged up the necessary voltages from my work bench power supplies and
applied power, it came to life and worked very well and after an
alignment, it worked exceptionally well. Afterwards I examined the
existing chassis space and found an area where I could add the
necessary components to make it work from our modern power. This
was done by adding a small power transformer and accompanying
circuitry. It is now a fine playing radio pulling in difficult
to tune stations that many AC radios of lesser design will not
touch. The Shortwave and weather bands work equally well.
Chassis images?
For those of you that are
technically oriented you may want to look at the chassis images
and see the added AC power supply circuitry.
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