'66 Zenith Transistor Protable TV alert
 

no affiliation; I know Doug documented one of these recently:

Zenith transistor TV

I saw that, and I do want one! But with so many projects sitting and waiting, I'm going to pass and wait for a clean and complete one. I know they're rare, so some day I might regret passing this one up. It also irks me that the seller so boldly states "first portable TV", when we all know the 1960-61 Philco Safari was the first battery-operated portable TV in the USA, unless that's changed.

Charles

I think the sequence For transistor portable TVs is as follows:

1. Philco "Safari" ----1959
2. Motorola "Astronaut" 19" ----1960
3. Sony 8-301W 8" -----1961

jr

And I apologize for calling the Zenith a "protable" :no:

000

Possibly... The reference I use is "The Sony Vision", 1975, By Nick Lyons. On page 111 he states as a caption for a photograph ". The world's first all transistor television, TV-8-301, marketed in Japan in May 1960 and in America in June 1961". Well, we *know* it was not the worlds first transistor TV, so perhaps the stated dates are in question, as well. :scratch2:

I believe that all 3 of these sets use vacuum tube Hv. rectifiers (as well as the CRT), so are not really "all transistor".

jr

000

Thats the 3rd one I've seen with a missing/broken on off volume knob. That must have been the weak point on these sets. Nice to see the one on ebay also has the battery pack with it still. Zenith was always late in the game introducing the new technologies (with exception of the royal 500 transistor radio), but when they did come out, nobody could compete with the quality and reliability. That was a company that was engineering driven, which is why I like them so much. They took the time to perfect their designs before they were introduced.

All the data, Sams, and ads I have seen on the Safari say '61, but I know there's a debate on that. The Sony is the same thing. Some sources say '59, and I've seen some credible sources having written '63.

Charles

My Sams for the Safari is set 475 folder #2 dated 2-60, since the Sams usually lags the production by a few months, I took this as pretty good evidence that production of the set began in 1959.:scratch2:

There was also a Nov 1959 issue of "Electronics Illustrated " that pictured the set, and indicated that it was available, but sometimes introduction schedules "slip".

jr

Didn't Philco use the last digit of the year of production as the first digit of their TV chassis numbers? (early Predicta 1959 was 9L37, then 10L43 for '60, and 11L43 for '61, etc)... Not sure about that, but if so, the chassis number on the Safari might show what year model they intended it to be. Or if the model number H-2010 contains the same code, I guess that would be '60, which lends a lot to what you read.

Charles

That makes a lot of sense! So perhaps the chassis number 10AT10 for the Safari indicates a 1960 model. Since Philco released the new models somewhat in advance*, a November 1959 release would seem reasonable. Might have been a pretty good Christmas item. :yes:

*I just checked a Philco that I know was purchased in Nov. 1952 and the model is 53U-1827.

jr

There were "portable" TVs that were portable only because there was a handle attached to it. You still needed a powerline to operate it. There was that early TV set that looked a lot like an oscilloscope (and I wouldn't be surprised that it was an oscilloscope with a B&W CRT and tuner-IF-sound-speaker strip added. Some portables were really "luggables"...

This probably does not count, since it was not a production model set, but a TV set pictured on p. 93 of the July, 1954 National Geographic is interesting.

The caption:
"Tomorrow's Picknickers May Pack a Television Set with the Lunch
In this hatbox-size set, tiny transistors eliminate all vacuum tubes except the picture tube itself. With "rabbit ears" antenna the 5-inch screen can capture a picture telecast 15 miles away. The experimental battery set, under test by RCA, weighs 27 pounds."

I found an earlier article on the Safari in Popular Science:

http://books.google.com/books?id=cyY...safari&f=false

jr