View Full Version : Early '50's GE 17T4 17" B&W TV


radiotvnut
09-18-2012, 05:15 PM
I picked up this GE from the same place where I got the Sparton. Two evident problems is that the cabinet is coming apart (side panel fell off as I was moving the set) and needs to be glued back together, as well as the 17BP4A CRT being weak. At first, the CRT tested dead; but, after rejuvenating it and letting it cook for several hours, it came up into the low end of the "GOOD" scale. With a brightener, I think it will last long enough for me to come up with another CRT.

I also picked up another similar set with a good CRT; but, I may use that tube in the Sparton that I posted about yesterday and I'll make do with the tube that's currently in the GE that I want to restore until a strong one comes along.

As you can see, this GE does not use a power transformer and it appears to be a cheaper set; but, I think it will be a decent restoration project.

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff341/radiotvnut/17T4%20001_zpsb65622b8.jpg

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff341/radiotvnut/17T4%20002_zps6870fe37.jpg

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff341/radiotvnut/17T4%20003_zps855429c9.jpg

Sandy G
09-18-2012, 06:29 PM
What's the NASTY lookin' Icky White Stuff runnin' down the inside of the cabinet ? Eeeuuuwww...

radiotvnut
09-18-2012, 06:44 PM
I'd like to know myself.

DavidGoncalv
09-18-2012, 07:59 PM
Looks similar to the 16T1 chassis I am working on. Be sure to post alot of photos, and I'll do the same.

6GH8cowboy
09-18-2012, 08:18 PM
Likley hyde glue from cabinet assembly. It's factory, Used to laminate and secure joints in a cheap, sloppy way.

Jeffhs
09-18-2012, 08:38 PM
I hope you can get this TV working. My grandmother had a set just like this one in 1951. Hers lasted 20 years, until she got a color set, then she gave me the GE and I used it another couple of years until my dad and I moved in 1972. The only thing wrong with the GE set (it wasn't working when I got it) was an open resistor in the power supply. That set had a very good picture for its age, operating on the attic TV antenna in our house at the time. It was the first TV I ever saw in my life with two RF amplifier tubes in the tuner (a predecessor to single-tube cascode RF amp stages which appeared in the latter part of the '50s into the sixties, for use in fringe areas; remember, most TV reception areas outside major cities were fringe areas in those days, requiring large antennas as well, due to the lower power of early TV transmitters -- not like the 1-megawatt ERP UHF-TV giants back in the NTSC analog era).

My grandmother's GE TV did not have the same problems, however, with the cabinet falling apart like yours did; it made the trip from her apartment in Cleveland to my home at the time in the suburbs (about 15 miles) in one piece. Perhaps your set's cabinet just had weak joints, old glue, who knows? :scratch2: However, I don't think all GE TVs in this style cabinet had the same problem. Was your set in hot environments at any time before you got it? That's the only thing I can think of, besides the glue simply giving up and turning into sticky, gooey mush after 60 years, that could have caused it to actually run down the sides of the cabinet.

radiotvnut
09-18-2012, 08:47 PM
That set had been sitting in a warehouse for at least 40 years. There was no heat or A/C in this warehouse.

David Roper
09-18-2012, 09:15 PM
It's no 630, but GE apparently considered the locomotive chassis an engineering success and continued using variations of it for several years. It made the tiny profile of the locomotive sets possible. That its design goal was maximum compactness is very clear when you see how it's kind of swimming inside a conventional cabinet.

earlyfilm
09-18-2012, 09:32 PM
. . . . . . However, I don't think all GE TVs in this style cabinet had the same problem. Was your set in hot environments at any time before you got it? That's the only thing I can think of, besides the glue simply giving up and turning into sticky, gooey mush after 60 years, that could have caused it to actually run down the sides of the cabinet.

Those yellow drip trails are left over from the hide glue being slapped on at the factory during the cabinet manufacture. If you want proof, notice how the droplets go under the inside stuck on label and not over if the run had happened late in the set's life.

Hide glue comes apart easily with a gentle whump with a mallet or with a little steam heat. That is why I usually use it in any furniture or cabinet repair that I do. To use it, you do have to heat it and it takes quite a while for your glue pot to melt before you can use it. (The other problem is most hardware stores no longer carry it.)

James.

John Marinello
09-19-2012, 07:58 AM
What's with that cap crammed sideways under the CRT? I hope that's not factory... 'Bout as aesthetic as that glue job.

DavGoodlin
09-19-2012, 10:09 AM
That's good project. The control door is intact. The series string heaters and the selenium rectifiers were unusual for a set of that vintage.

I got one of these in 1977 from a neighbor's attic.
It had been in service until she bought a 1967 RCA color set. It worked when I got it home with little intervention. I was quite surprised as many sets 10 years newer needed many caps replaced before they would work right.

Jeffhs
09-19-2012, 10:53 AM
What's with that cap crammed sideways under the CRT? I hope that's not factory... 'Bout as aesthetic as that glue job.

I noticed at least one terminal on that capacitor alarmingly close to the bell of the CRT. I can't help thinking of the potential for HV arcing; this could also be a fire hazard if the set's line fuse (if it has one) doesn't blow when the arcing starts. :eek: Looks to me like a slap-dash repair job. GE's design engineers of the '50s wouldn't have laid out the chassis such that a capacitor (or any other component carrying B+) in any of their TVs would be that close to the picture tube; one would hope not, anyway.

jr_tech
09-19-2012, 11:25 AM
What's with that cap crammed sideways under the CRT? I hope that's not factory... 'Bout as aesthetic as that glue job.

It appears on a photofact (set141 folder6) for a similar 17" set as the standard factory location for C1. (jaunty angle and all)
C1 is the input cap for the selenium voltage doubler... power line (and fuse) connected to the negative terminal, 4.5 ohm resistor connected to the positive terminal feeding the two rectifiers. The other side of the line connects directly to the chassis, through the power switch,so be careful!
jr

Perhaps it is not as close to the CRT as it appears in the pix?