Just wondering if anyone still remembers this model... Much discussion has been noted here about the ct-100 and 15gp22. Well here is a little talked about TV model from the mid 1960's. Early in the 1960's when the japanese were just starting build television sets many were licensed copies from American manufactures. Well the first Color TV set built by matshuista (Panasonic) was a "updated" CT-100 sold under the Sears label. The CRT has the japanese designation (ie the 15 was just to metric) and much of the tubes updated to later types. I saw one of these sets in 1970 for service. I measured the CRT compared diagrams to the CT-100 and it had the same electro-static convergence...wow! Anybody (maybe an old Sears tech) remember the model ?

Sometime in the mid 70's I got my hands on an old (old even then) Sears color set. (I've mentioned this before in another thread) I know it was color because we didn't have color at the time and I was excited at the prospect of getting it working (fat chance at that time :no: )

I can't remember much about it other than it was a roundie and it wasn't a 21" set!
I remember it being a squarish tabletop model with a large neck tube and a 50's looking chassis with big tubes in the sweep section.

Seems like this could be researched by someone with access to some Sears catalogs from the era? (Perhaps the Library would have them?)

I had one of those sets in the late 60's. Somebody had traded it in at the TV store, where I worked at part time. I think I paid the boss $75.00 for it. The chassis was very similar to an RCA set of the era, and it used a 15" picture tube with the same large round socket as popular 21" American TV's. It was quite deep, so it was probably a 70 degree deflection angle tube. The thing made a great picture. The smaller tube probably had a lot to do with that, since it reduced convergence error, which was still a big deal in 1968. My parents had a huge RCA color console in the living troom, and this set ran rings around it picture wise.

The downside was it was incredibly ugly. It was just a big black metal box with a small picture. None the less, it was the start of Japan's entry into the US TV market, which did a lot to improve over all color TV quality.

The downside was it was incredibly ugly. It was just a big black metal box with a small picture.

That sounds exactly like the one I had! Wish I'd kept it.

The history of Japanese color tv manufacture is very interesting. Toshiba was an OEM supplier for Sears in the 1960's for color sets, this included some early color portables (not really portable by todays standards!). Competing with Toshiba in domestic Japan, at that time, was Sony. Sony was not yet a household name in America. Sony battled with Toshiba for market share. This forced Sony to push their Chromatron color tv technology which became a technical flop and almost sent them into bankcruptcy in the late 1960's. Toshiba, on the other hand, was licensing RCA color technology to manufacture tv's in domestic Jaoan and for export to the USA....that is until Sony starting marketing the Trinitron in 1968 (Sony almost signed a licensing agreement with RCA - but backed out in favor of Trinitron development).

Toshiba was sneaky becuase it didn't have the technology to develop their own color CRT's. So, to beat Sony in the '60's they purchased 21FJP22 electron guns from RCA and attached them to smaller Japanese glass bottles back in Japan. The cost to domestic Japanese was reasonable since the CRT's were assembled in Japan locally. But, the export version back to the the good 'ol USA cost a lot more to ship. I have an early Toshiba color set with a 15" rectangular screen built this way. It does produce an excellent color picture and convergence errors are minimal. Strange set but it works great and has nice color. Yes, it too is very very ugly ...a large grey steel box with a tiny color picture and weighs a ton! No beauty awards for this one.

I think this is the set you guys are talking about. The neck of the crt looks like a round tube but it has a rectangular screen and is made by toshiba.
I also have the ugly black one too and they do have a nice picture.

I think this is the set you guys are talking about. The neck of the crt looks like a round tube but it has a rectangular screen and is made by toshiba.
I also have the ugly black one too and they do have a nice picture.


Could be, I swear it was a roundie but it's been a long time.

Yep that's the one, here's a picture of mine. Great picture. Steel cabinet (table top portable). Say, do you have the circuit diagram? I could use a copy. I could also use a UHF tuner assembly. Know where I could srounge either the schematic or tuner?

I think that was the Sears color set we had back in 1965-66 that was so awful. We had the repairman down about once a week, if memory serves. I've fussed about this thing before. It was a small consolette, my dad finally said the hell w/it & bought one of the 1st Porta-Colors, that l'il guy soldiered on for nearly 10 yrs w/o a burp...

Lots of thermal problems ...after the re-capping I added a small fan inside to keep the hotspots to a minimum.

Are we sure there were not Sears roundie 15" sets made?
If there were then we have other possible crt's. Could that Sears rectangle crt possibly be used in the RCA CT-100's in place of the round 15GP22's?

Hmm, those don't look anything like the one I had, I'm sure it was square not rectangular and it looked more 1950's, I think it had a "Color" emblem under the screen.

I had a Japanese Sears similar to yours but it had a regular small neck tube that wasn't very deep.

I ... compared diagrams to the CT-100 and it had the same electro-static convergence...! That'll be one for the history books if/when confirmed. In '54 there was a drive to get away from the pressures brought about by the high-voltage static/dynamic convergence challenges of the 15GP22 and 15HP22 tricolor CRTs. We know Rauland experimented with a '15GP22' built without a G4 (convergence) element for use in magnetic convergence development.

It seems unlikely the Japanese would have bothered with static convergence by that time when the magnetic method was so entrenched. But then I would have said the same thing about a Japanese three-CRT color set from the same era, which as we know now, was a reality.

I was recently give a tour by an important but "under the radar screen" television collector and was pleased to see his Sears Silvertone Rectangular Color Set - a set I had not seen since its introduction.

This is a historically significant color receiver as it was the first import from Japan and was one of the first rectangular receivers.

Doing some research in my files, I have now found an article (in a Sam's special issue on Color Television) on the Sears set, named a Silvertone, and built by Toshiba. The article (at that time) claimed it was the first Japanese set to enter the U.S. market and the first to get U.L. approval. It came out in 1964-65. List was 349.95 while U.S. 21-inch rounds started at $380.00. There are color pix of the chassis in the article. They called it a 16-inch rectangular - it had a small compact floor standing cabinet - it looks like a small toy TV. I remember a trip of mine to Sears to see that set.

I have added that Sears set to the pioneering color receiver data base that Steve McVoy and I edit and maintain at:

http://www.earlytelevision.org/color_database.html

I am pleased that "roundscreen" also has one and will add his set to the list - his set will make two of these known. I would appreciate a model number and copies of any documentation that he has.

Yes, Sears did bring out an early 15GP22 color set in 1954. If the owner/collector of that set ops to come forward he can confirm it with photos.

Thanks,

Ed Reitan
"Colortel"

Yes indeed, Sears (Silvertone) did field a 15" set in 1954. I do not know how many of these sets were made, but this set and the spare set of chassis I have were production sets. I also do not know if the sets were sold to the public, or just for display in the stores.

The set is a unique design, not a CT100 "clone". The small chassis on the side of the cabinet is the color processing circuitry, and the main power supply (not pictured) is a separate chassis mounted below the main chassis at the bottom of the cabinet. All the static and dynamic convergence controls are accessible from the front of the set, which makes it handy for set-up.

The set perform pretty well, though the hue control has a very limited range. I don't think Sears fielded another color set until the 1960s. I contacted the corporate historian at Sears about the set, and they were clueless.

John,

Thanks for supplying the photos of the 15" Sears-Silvertone color set. I might be wrong here, but it seems hard to imagine that Sears,not a manufacturer of tv sets, invested the money to design and build a unique color chassis for a pilot run. As you mention, it is not a CT-100 clone, nor is it a Sparton, Stromberg-Carlson or Westinghouse clone. Certainly, several other companies produced 15" color receivers in early '54. So John, perhaps you, Steve McVoy or Ed Reitan can determine who built and supplied this chassis to Sears.

Thanks,

Steve D.

Wouldn't it have been Warwick?

Charles

Wouldn't it have been Warwick?

Charles


Warwick did supply b&w tv chassis to private label sellers including Sears. But again, whould either Sears or Warwick make the groundup investment in color that early for so few sets? Perhaps Warwick with some Sears backing did build a color chassis to gain experience in color design. Arvin, who also, supplied b&w sets that were Sears-Silvertone branded, also produced a 15" color chassis in 1954. Model 15-550KB. So perhaps Arvin supplied a few to Sears.

-Steve D.

Steve D,

The Sears 15" set was built by Warreck Mfg (spelling?), who built sets for Sears. Here is a photo of the power supply chassis.

The set has a paper label with model number (model 4160), and I have a full set of schematics for the set, and a setup/adjustment/allignment instructions. The set even has one of the metal labels on the back of the chassis with a number stamped on it and instructions to refer to the number in all correspondences with Sears.

This would lead one to think that Sears did build this set with the intent to sell it to the public, and integrate it into their service organization. I expect that Sears, like many other manufactures who fielded 15" sets, realized quickly that color TV was not going to blossom into a money maker, and retreated from the color TV marketplace for some years until conditions improved.

Thanks John for confirming that Warwick did indeed supply the color chassis to Sears. And a nod to Charles Murray for his quick response mentioning the Warwick connection.

-Steve D.

Hi
I think I would much rather have Mr Folsoms set. That is one cool set.
Did warwick change there name at some point to wells gardner? I have a sears roundie and I thought it was a wells gardner chassis? {I must have thought wrong.}
Here is some info on this sears 16". I picked this set out of the trash in 1985, Replaced some caps and had it in service for two years. The only numbers I can find at this time are the ones in the pictures. I have the back to the set and the sams somewere around here and when I find them I will post the model and serial numbers. I was surprised to hear that this is a rare set.
What is the difference between the black cabinet and this one? {wood cabinet?} The chassis seem to be the same in both. The black set I have has skinny legs that screw in to the bottom of the set or it can be put on a table.
I need to clean and soft start this set as I have not turned it on in many years. When she is up and running I will post some screen shots.
Tom, When I find the sams I can try and take some close up pictures and send them to you. Tim told me that posting them on here is a no no. {Copy rights} I did it for a radio buddy and he could read them.
Ed

OK! I see a chassis but what does the cabinet look like!


polaraman

Go to page 1. I posted a picture of it a couple days ago.

Warwick did not change their name. Wells-Gardner was another manufacturer.

Off topic here, but since Wells-Gardner came up: Did they, or did the not make the chassis for Sentinel, Airline, and the other "trapezoid" 7" portables from the late 40s? I had a debate with another collector about this a few years ago. They're still in business today, and they make color monitors for video arcade games and security monitors.

Charles

We have alot of w-g monitors in the games at my work and they used alot of the crap zenith crts in the 90s. { I have replaced most of them.} The chassis is not to bad but they do get some weird problems after they have been under hard use for a couple of years. I know I have a 50s b&w set with a w-g chassis in it but the set was made under another name.
Now I am wondering what chassis is in my 60s sears color set. When did warwick stop making tv chassis?
Ed

Now I am wondering what chassis is in my 60s sears color set. When did warwick stop making tv chassis?
Ed

They made the console Sears sets at least through the end of the tube-type years. The portables (color and B&W) started going Toshiba and Sanyo in the 60s, but there were also portable Warwick color sets at the same time. The newest Warwick I can think of at Sears would be a VERY few solid state Warwicks with modules in the early-mid 70s.

There IS an exception to this: There were a bunch of RCA-built color chasses in Sears TVs in the late 50s-early 60s. But the newest I ever saw was a CTC-12. And I mean a true RCA chassis; not a Warwick copy with the big round shield can on top of the HV cage.

To directly answer your question, I say probably 1973 or 4.

If you put a picture or drawing of your set, I bet I, or someone here, can tell.

Charles

see
http://www.tvhistory.tv/1960-2000-TVManufacturers.htm

Off topic here, but since Wells-Gardner came up: Did they, or did the not make the chassis for Sentinel, Airline, and the other "trapezoid" 7" portables from the late 40s? I had a debate with another collector about this a few years ago. They're still in business today, and they make color monitors for video arcade games and security monitors.

Charles

Here's the current Wells Gardner web site:

Company Wells Gardner Electronics Corporation
Address:http://www.wellsgardner.com/company/

-Steve D.

I remember the last of the W-G sets at Sears when I worked there. Lots of burned connections under the Hz output tubes, and lots of maintenance agreement replacements due to parts being NLA... 1992-94 with Sears, while things were slow at my TV shop for awhile... Never closed shop, but was open in the evenings.

Hi Guys
Sorry it took me so long to post. My work has been vary busy and I wanted this 16 inch sears working. Also, Thank you for the info on the sears roundie. I posted a picture of the chassis that I took of it when I first got it. {Thank you Tim}. From what I was reading, I think it is a warwick chassis??
I did a soft start on the 16 inch sears and all went well. After about 10 minutes of run time the horz went off frequency. Way off, The picture did the christmas tree thing. I found a bad 100pf cap and also replaced the other caps in the horz osc circuit. The horz lock is now solid and stays that way after warm up. This tv is weird :screwy: It looks like the heinz 57 of tvs. Some of the caps are wax-paper and others are mylar, The low value ones {pf} look like resistors. Same thing with the tubes. Most of them look like rca but there are some that I never seen. {3- 6r-p22- color demod and a 5642 -focus rect.} Plus some of the transformers look like the ones in my german radios. All in all this is a really neat set and I still have a lot more work to do to it as I have to get rid of all the wax- paper caps. { I will take pictures of the chassis when I replace them} There is a piece of trim that is missing and was between the front legs on the bottom. I think I would still have it if it was with the set when I picked it out of the trash but I don't recall seeing it.
Sorry about the horrid legs but I wanted the set up off the floor so I could do the convergence. { I was laughing at how funny it looks.} The next thing I am going to do is replace the caps on the convergence board. I did find the sams for this set and doubled checked the # on the chassis with the sams. The model # is 5170 and made in 7-65.
I did go to the etf site and I will give the numbers and info to them when I know for sure this is the correct mn. { Still need to find the back cover to this set.}. The black sears is the other one I have and I thought this set has the same chassis as the wood one but now I am not too sure.
When winter gets here I will dig the black set out and check the chassis #.{ There is a stove and ge b&w in the way.}
Have a good weekend
Ed

Here is a picture of the black sears

I'm confused, (common for me) Is this a round tube masked off to be rectangular??

Here is a picture of the black sears

Another question, What is the set on top of the black Sears?

I have the same set, built by Raytheon but no name anywhere on it.

I'm impressed by the picture, especially considering that this set was "bottom of the barrel" for color sets when it came out. I agree, that looks like a masked round tube, something I somehow overlooked until Eric mentioned it.

Today I found copies of the 61 & 67 Sears catalogs at the flea market. Too bad, no color sets in the older one but many in the 67. Will have to do some scanning one of these days.

Eric H
The pictures should answer your question . The set on the top of the black sears is a silvertone but I am not sure what year.
bgadow.
I thought the same thing. {bottom of the barrel} but toshiba is a good set.
Also I think the small screen is something that the people did not like about it.
I had a modern 32" toshiba set that I gave away five years ago and it is still going strong and has a real nice picture.

That set is incredible. I am surprised nobody seems to know more about it. It looks to be a roundie with a rectangular mask. I think that set is a very special one and well worth preserving.
Can that CRT be used inplace of the 15GP22?

Roundscreen:

Frankly, you're generating some confusion here. The chassis shot two posts above this one shows the back of the little console from which the screen caps were taken. The chassis shot in your post at the top of the page--to the right of the screen caps--is of a different set with a round tube. Can you post a picture of the front of that set?

Sorry about the confusion. Leave it to me to mess things up.
The chassis at the top of the post is a sears roundie with a warwick chassis. {I think}
I had asked a question about it early on in this thread and I will post a picture of the front of the set when I get home from work tonight. All the other pictures are the 1965 sears toshiba set.

Ed

I moved the sears roundie pictures here. Tim gave me this set to me a couple years ago. It works perfect but the channel master rebuild crt makes this humm noise when warming up. The cabinet is in nice shape and kinda fancy.
Vary nice roundie.
Ed

So, just to make it clear to everyone, the CRT in the Sears/Toshiba IS rectangular, and is magnetically converged, and cannot be substituted for an electrostatically converged 15GP22.....right? Or am I still confused?

So, just to make it clear to everyone, the CRT in the Sears/Toshiba IS rectangular, and is magnetically converged, and cannot be substituted for an electrostatically converged 15GP22.....right? Or am I still confused?
A square peg won't go into a round hole

Well, as long as we're discussing Silvertones...

If anyone has--or comes across--one of these they'd want to sell, please let me know.

That black one looks nicely similar. :D

I have NO idea why I want one of these, other than I like the style for some odd reason.

veg

Roundscreen,

Does your Sears roundie have a plastic chassis? I have a Sears roundie set that has a plastic rather than metal chassis. It is the cheapest thing I have ever seen. I have the cabinet, chassis, convergence board and tuner. The tuner had all the wires cut between the chassis and tuner. It is a project for later on.


polaraman

Now I've heard it all! I love to hear of "modern technology" being used way back whenever! I am very surprised at that and I hope to see photos!

Roundscreen,

Does your Sears roundie have a plastic chassis? I have a Sears roundie set that has a plastic rather than metal chassis. It is the cheapest thing I have ever seen. I have the cabinet, chassis, convergence board and tuner. The tuner had all the wires cut between the chassis and tuner. It is a project for later on.


polaraman
The sears silvertone has a metal chassis. I was trying to load a picture in another thread and the server would not do it. I removed that picture to see if it would give me more room but it did not work. Now I see they fixed the problem and here is the picture. :banana:
I never heard of a plastic chassis either. Can you please post a picture of it.
That has to be something rare to say the least.
Ed

You'll have to wait a little while for pictures. The set is buried behind 12 televisions in my shed. It will take an afternoon of digging to get it out. I have the SAMS number and will look for it.


polaraman

Eric H,
I had that exact Sears (Made byToshiba) color TV. It was built very sturdy and it was very heavy (typical of most TV's from that era). I purchased it in 1968 and I threw it out around 1979 when the CRT went bad. It had a decent picture. It was serviced by Sears (under contract) due to a vertical shrinkage problem caused by an open resistor in the vertical output stage but that was it, this tv was quite solid. Toshiba sold the exact same set under their name.