Portable tube record player with batteries
 

There where portable tube radios with batteries, but there where ever made portable record players with batteries?

RCA made one in the mid-60's. It had a 4 tube radio and battery operated manual 45 RPM turntable. The phono motor run on 4"D" cell and the radio-amp ran on a battery pack, 1.5voltA and 90voltB.

A number of portable tube radios had phonograph input such as some of the later tube Zenith transoceanic portables and my North American version the Grundig UKW concert boy. I've heard of some windup and battery motor accessory phonos designed to connect to portable radios or battery powered farm radios.

I remember seeing a picture of a Crosley that was a 4 or 5 tube portable radio that had a spring wound turntable ,78 rpm that was a pre-war model. I think it could be used on an AC/DC line as well.

Which likely sold poorly, as Philips (via Mercury Records) had their transistor phono, and many Japanese import AM/Phonograph transistor models were then popular.

The “Skipper” (6BY4) RCA 45 rpm tube radio/phonograph portable was part of the 1955 product line, not the mid 60s transistor era. It may have sold poorly as a result of its fairly high price ($59.95) and costly battery consumption.

jr

Places like Olsons was selling them out for $29.95 because the AC adaptor was NLA.
I had one and I scrapped it! :sigh:

Those two factors sure didn't help. And also the name was a turn off. Philco not too long after had a transistor portable phonograph, which was expensive, which made the RCA look positively ancient by comparison.

I have that one (Ingelen / Vienna), from Austria, transistorized amp with batteries.
https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/ingele..._tr_phono.html

Regards,
TV-collector:stupid:

Took a real marketing genius to label a record player ‘the Skipper’

In regard to the now-NLA AC adapter for this radio-phono, I wonder whether it would be possible to build an AC adapter for it. The player only needs two separate power supplies: one for the phono motor, the other for the radio.

BTW, what was or is so special about the original AC adapter? One thing (really, the only thing) I can think of is the unit would have to supply a large, even huge (!), amount of current for the phono motor, but not nearly as much for the radio. I would think the phono motor's batteries did not last long if the phonograph were heavily used. Even though it is only a single-speed turntable, I'm sure the motor drew enough current to exhaust a set of batteries in a hurry.

Would the original AC adapter for this unit be available elsewhere? If I had one of these players and wanted an AC adapter for it, before I built one myself I'd look around on eBay and other auction sites. Certainly, there must be a few such adapters still available on the used market. I can't imagine that (that the adapter is almost impossible to find anymore) unless, of course, there was something very special about the original adapter, such as the size of the transformer used to step down from 110-V AC to the voltages needed to operate the player. My best guess is the transformer in the original AC adapter must have weighed the proverbial ton, making the adapter itself very heavy.

The adapter supplies 3 voltages, radio "A" and "B" supplies and phono motor.

Proprietary RCA at its best...

I thought the AC adapter unit for this radio-phono would be quite large; the photo of the adapter attached to your post showed me it was. I still think an adapter could be built from scratch, if only three voltages are needed (as you said, A and B for the radio, the third for the phonograph motor). The transformer would be quite large, since it supplies all three voltages (unless, of course, the supply had a separate transformer for the phono motor), so I can see why the entire adapter would be the size it is. However, I would replace the selenium rectifier with modern rectifier diodes, as selenium rectifiers had a bad habit when they shorted of giving off a gas which smelled for all the world like rotten eggs (!).

If I had one of these players, I would operate it on AC power as much as possible due to the high current drain of the phono motor, not to mention the filament (A) and plate (B+) current drawn by the tubes. These players probably were the best available at the time but, as I said, due to the high current drain, I wouldn't think they were used as portables very much, except perhaps during power outages. I cannot quite imagine seeing anyone carrying one around as teenagers do nowadays with transistor portables (since those tube-operated RPs were so large), any more than I can imagine anyone having a large tube-operated RP with them at the beach, for instance.

BTW, I just saw the specifications for the AC adapter, and was amazed how short the output cable is (15 inches). That short cable did not allow the user much of a choice as to where to put the adapter; that is, the latter would almost have to be quite close to the player itself. I wonder if an extension cable was available so this wouldn't be a problem.

These players were not meant for high fidelity, RCA's "Golden Throat" logo of the 1950s notwithstanding, but that was probably just as well since the rock-and-roll music being played over the radio (and on records) at that time was nowhere near hi-fi to begin with. The phonograph cartridge was probably, almost certainly the cheapest available as well; after all, it would make little or no sense to to put a hi-fi cartridge in a record player which would be used to play rock and roll, not to mention other types of crazy music we hear these days.

Looking at the diagram there are no "bleeder" resistors on any of the supplies. I would imagine those 1.5 volt tubes could be damaged if the adapter were connected to the radio while charged up. Also, the instructions say to leave the radio power switch "on" and turn the system on and off with the switch on the adapter. Maybe that's why the cord was short, to make sure the adapter was near the radio for convenience. Could also be why the adapters are so hard to find, RCA got tired of warranty repairs when customers didn't follow the directions and stopped making the adapters.