1949 Zenith Porthole 12" Console

[WISCOJIM]

http://zenithbook.blogspot.com/2014/11/post-18.html

"Meet E. Norman Rauland! He is a pioneer in the electronics manufacturing business. In 1929, he founded the Rauland Corporation, and in 1946, began manufacturing cathode ray picture tubes in 10- and 12-inch sizes. (Note from REC--I recall watching a television set with a 10-inch screen, You had to crouch close to the tiny image to see shows like Sid Caesar's Show of Shows, with Imogene Coca. It seemed miraculous, and far more impressive than merely listening to the radio.)

Zenith purchased the Rauland Corporation in 1949, a purchase that included a picture tube division and a sound and communications division, and also a plant for picture tubes on Knox Avenue in Chicago. The Knox Avenue plant was later consolidated into a new plant in Melrose Park, Illinois, and expanded to become what we know now as the Zenith Rauland picture tube plant. Incidental to that purchase, Norman Rauland was appointed to the board of directors of Zenith."