TUBE RADIOS CLASSIFICATION

III. THE CABINETS: STYLES AND MATERIALS

8           BREADBOARD
          The first tube circuits, practically “crystal radios with tubes”, were made fixing components in a small board, what originated the name breadboard. Therefore, the receivers had their parts exposed. As “chassis” breadboards were many times, literally used.  
           The side picture shows a breadboard receiver, brand name Atwater Kent, the 2nd model (nº. 3945), from 1922, made in USA. Courtesy of Bill Kendrick (www.antique-radios.net), Antique Radio Pictures.
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          CATHEDRAL
          Known on international literature as cathedral, for having a round top in a gothic ogive shape, they are classics among wood box radios.
          They were made during the first half of the 1930s.
          Cathedral usually has an artistic look, with noble and decorated wood cabinets.
          The picture on the right shows a cathedral RCA receiver, model 121, from 1933, from the author’s collection.

8          TOMBSTONE
          Tombstone are wooden cabinet radios with rectangular shape, much higher than wide, as the English name indicates. 
          They are usually called cathedral, a bad intentioned mistake induced by the antique market in order to raise its value.
          Well estimated for its appearance, the tombstones differ from the cathedral for the flat superior part. As the prior ones, they usually have a circular dial and pointers like “clock”, showing in each hemisphere one or two broadcasting waves.                          
          In the picture, a tombstone receiver made by Zenith Radio Corporation in Chicago, in 1937. The model 6S229 is called black-dial because of the traditional round and darkdisplay. Author’s collection.         
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          CONSOLE
          The console cabinet devices were radios made to be presented as furniture on houses rooms. 
          The console receivers have cabinets around one meter high and fully decorated, similar to the phonograph which came next.  
          These radios are classified as highboy or lowboy, respectively, with bigger or smaller legs than the cabinet’s half height. Others, bigger and more imposing, are called floor, real “shelf-radios”, directly floor supported. 
          The side picture shows a classic Atwater Kent receiver, model 60-C, from 1929, with a lowboy cabinet console. Author’s collection.


          R
EPWOOD8
          Radio cabinets had some moments of maximization of its ornamented appearance. It happened in the 1930s. Arches, volutes and embossed motives were made by soil, sawdust and glue mixtures, the repwood.
          This mixture was pressed in molds to reproduce decorative pictures. The side picture shows a RCA receiver, model R22S, from 1933, with a repwood decorated box from the author’s collection. 
                 

          NOVELTY
          Novelties are radio cabinets in unusual models, exotic, looking like many things except receivers: a sculpture, a horse, a bet machine, a bottle, Mickey Mouse, etc.
8          The cabinets were designed with intriguing different aspects, in a way to call the attention of those who wanted a radio in disguise!
          They were made since the 1920s, still with TRF circuits, and later as super heterodynes. In the end of the 1950s, these different models became popular with the transistors age.
          The side picture shows a novelty radio, model Mickey Mouse 410, made by Emerson Radio & Phonograph, in 1933. Courtesy of Bill Kendrick (www.antique-radios.net), Antique Radio Pictures.

 

          PORTABLES
          Considering their fabrication time, from 1930 to 1950, those tube radios were the ones which could be “carried”, to be used outdoors or in trips. 
          Currently considered big, very far from the actual mini sized ones, these receivers were battery or AC/DC powered. 8
          Lighter and usually with a strap in the top part, they were the first personal radios: they could go with the owner around the house, different from the tableradio model, practically immobile in the living room or kitchen. 
          The picture on the right shows a receiver brand name Zenith, model 6D015, from 1946, AC/DC, with small bakelite cabinet. Author’s collection.


           BAKELITE
          Bakelite was the first polymer, created by Leo Baekland, a Belgian chemical who lived in the United States. It was patented in 1909, getting its inventor commercial name. It’s obtained from two charcoal subproducts: phenol and formaldehyde. 
5          The material was widely used, from ashtrays to telephones. In order to make it stronger, fibers as wood, cotton or rags were added. Bakelite is very durable, a great isolation, heat and humidity resistant, found in the traditional brown and black colors.
          Its use to receptors “boxes” was a huge success, notably due to the fact that it makes radios smaller, lighter and free of termites! 
          Its production as a replacement to wood boxes was huge, expanding to Brazil since the end of the 1940s.  In the picture above, a RCA receiver, model 5Q55, from 1939, with bakelite cabinet, from the author’s collection.
         

          CATALIN
          Considered a special material due to its historical value, this plastic was used in small products as jewelry, napkin rings, puller and decoration.
          In 1928, the North American company Catalin Co. bought from the Germans the production rights of this phenolic resine. In 1937, some radio producers as Dewald, Emerson and Fada started using catalin. Until 1947 the cabinets were made in many colors. In255 opposite to bakelite which was shaped in dust, the catalin allowed all shapes, because its modeling was done in a fluid way.  Despite its beauty, very soon the products problems were noticed, due to its instability: as time passes the color changes and gets dark, and the material shrinks, causing cracks. There is a compression over hard parts as the chassis, making it difficult to be removed without damaging the box.
Even though, nowadays with restoration, many of them preserve bright, translucid colors and the Art Deco cabinet details.
         In the picture above, a name brand Sonora Phonograph Co. , model Coronet KM (1934), with calalin box, made in United States (author’s collection). 

 
          PLASKON
          The plastic material called plaskon was developed in 1930, by the North American company Toledo Scale.
          A result of urea and formaldehyde mix, the product is very different from bakelite, it can be shaped (thermoplastic) and allow colors, being soon accepted by industry in a way to escape black and brown patterns. 
1          Generally all radio cabinets, made of synthetic material before WW II are of bakelite, catalin or plaskon.
          In the side picture, a RCA Victor receiver, model 65X, year 1946, with plaskon cabinet, assembled in Brazil. Author’s collection.
          


          STEEL
          The radio equipments with metallic cabinets were made since the very beginning of receiver’s production. In the 1920s, many “boxes” to regenerative and neutrodyne radios were made in steel, being replaced for wood decorative models in the 1940s, when steel cabinets strongly returned.
          Many producers highlighted the cabinets made with steel plates, as Hammarlu5616515611nd, Hallicrafters and National.
          Known as ham gear due to its orthogonal shape, they are currently used in the modern amateur radio monitors.
The picture on the left shows a Hallicrafters radio, model S-38, from 1948, the first family radio, bought by my father, Dario Reis D’Arisbo, in 1950.

          Our goal was to present, in a brief and organized way, the main circuits, kinds of power and tube radio cabinets.
          The receivers presented here and of the collection itself work perfectly according to the original schemes, and most of them were restored by the author. This hobby is dedicated to all who appreciate these wonderful receivers as well as to the ones who wrote the Radio History.

                                                                                                                                                Daltro D’Arisbo




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