Am going to be in Chicago the end of August and if I have time thought I'd check out the former Zenith and Rauland plants.....and any other regional makes of TV that anyone may suggest.

Is the Rauland factory even still standing? Would appreciate addresses, tips, etc. Thanks!

Anthony

What about Motorola?
I know they were and still are Chicago based, but wonder if any of there plants were here?
Did they make there later TVs in the 60s here in Chicago, or somewhere else in America?

There's also Admiral:

Admiral Corporation
201 E. North Water St.
Chicago, IL

This is the address I see on some service docs from circa 1960. That might have just been the service division address though. The old 'postal zone' (the precursor to zip codes) given with that address is "Chicago 11", whereas the identifier on the letterhead/company name says "Chicago 47" (but gives no street address). So, I dunno where the actual factory would have been.

...and then there's the recently-mentioned Muntz:

Muntz TV
1000 Grey Ave.
Evanston, IL

[Evanston is a nearby suburb just north of Chicago. BTW, on the few Muntz docs I have, I see both the address given as both "Grey Ave." and "Grey Street"; I dunno which one is actually correct.]

Have fun!

Here's the Motorola address, from a UHF convertor made in the mid 50s...
Motorola Inc.
4545 Augusta Blvd,
Chicago 51, IL

and Hallicrafters...

The Hallicrafters Co.
4401 W. 5th Ave.
Chicago, IL

Not many TVs, but they did make a few nice sets in the late 40s...

I should check out some of these address myself, since I live in Chicago.

Motorola has a museum near Chicago. I do not know if it is open to the public, but would be interesting to visit if it is.

Originally posted by Whirled One
There's also Admiral:

Admiral Corporation
201 E. North Water St.
Chicago, IL

This is the address I see on some service docs from circa 1960. That might have just been the service division address though. The old 'postal zone' (the precursor to zip codes) given with that address is "Chicago 11", whereas the identifier on the letterhead/company name says "Chicago 47" (but gives no street address). So, I dunno where the actual factory would have been.

...and then there's the recently-mentioned Muntz:

Muntz TV
1000 Grey Ave.
Evanston, IL



[Evanston is a nearby suburb just north of Chicago. BTW, on the few Muntz docs I have, I see both the address given as both "Grey Ave." and "Grey Street"; I dunno which one is actually correct.]

Have fun!


:scratch2: "Interesting avitar"
Amana radar range, Looks like an RR-4

I actually picked up an old RR-4 from the trash earlier this year. It was in pretty bad shape, but did still work. I saved the magnetron which was made by Raytheon (who owned Amana). It's about twice the size of the common Japanese design that's been used since the late 70's. It has the antenna mounted in a glass bulb on top and you can see the filament glow through the perforations in the wave guide. Interestingly, my RR-9 which was made in the same year as this RR-4 uses a typical Toshiba magnetron. I guess this RR-4 was very late production. Does anyone have the first one they sold in the 60's (RR-1?)?

Originally posted by glen65
:scratch2: "Interesting avitar"
Amana radar range, Looks like an RR-4

Close, very close! It's actually an RR-2. [It's hard to see on the avatar image, but if you look carefully you might note that it lacks the RR-4 "defrost" switch at the top, or the similar-looking manual lock latch switch of the RR-3.]

I'm working on a Radarange-related web site, y'see. :) That image came from the Radarange cookbook edition that originally came with an RR-3.

The only reason I brought it up is because I have serviced them.
The last one I worked on was an RR9. "I think"
I had to replace the touch control assembly. The new one they send you is not an exact replacement. You have to do some mods to the oven for it to work right. It was a big PITA to complete. But the customer didn't want to buy a new one.