deforest crosley radio

[phil]

a few pics of my most recent radio find.
It looks relatively untouched. still has the cloth cord.
Its quite heavy despite it's small size. I took the pics in low light so it didn't really show how nice the cabinet finish is but it's in pretty decent shape.

around this time some radios used a line cord resister AKA curtain burner. the cords were in fact a resistor. I'm not sure if that's the case with this particular set. its always a bit of a decision to keep the line cord or replace it for safety. If I restore it Ill add a new fuse and change the capacitors, check all the resistors, then align it.

it has a wire for an antenna. I dont think it ever had a back , most didn't but it may have. It will need to be conected to some sort of an antenna to work properly. I have a few similar small heavy sets from the era. They arent; particularily pricey I paid $45 for this one.

Since it was made before 60hz power became standard, some areas lke maybe new yourk were on 25 cycle power because of that many of these old radios have giant power transformers. by changing to 60 hz a lot of iron was saved and they became a lot lighter.

Its actually pretty crammed with components. this was a compact radio for it's day.

Im guessing about 1933 but could be a couple of years out. depression years. the schematic will probably date it more accurately. there is a lot of similarities between rogers, deforest Crosley and Majestic. It will be a superhetrodyne. you can see how the tubes have metal cans this is to reduce interference between the stages. often they are found to be missing.

these radios didn't have station or frequency on the dial, instead they simply show a scale maybe 10 to 50 or something so you'd know where the stations you like are but with no reference to the actual frequency.

[Manalto]

Thanks for posting, Phil, and for the interesting information. It must have been an exciting time for radio enthusiasts in the early 1930s.

[1918ColonialRevival]

They often go unloved, but I've always had a soft spot for the mantel sets of this era. Most are basic, lower end AC/DC sets, but there are a few outliers. Zenith had a 7 tube AC version in their 1935 lineup. To me, their simplicity highlights the worst years of the Depression, when a radio like this was the only affordable option for many families.

I'd say yours is either a 1933 or 1934 model. It should restore nicely.

[phil]

It's an interesting era to me because it was a time of great change. I seem to see a lot of consoles from 1929, less through 30, 31, 32 I guess the depression took its toll but people wanted to be informed of what was happening and I guess once you bought one you had free entertainment. It says a lot when you look up the schematics and you can see how a lot of the manufacturers went wild with so many models, then some just disappeared due to bankruptcies, so many have model lines listed but then vanished so that's where the schematics stop.
after war, they had a lot of unique machine age designs and deco designs mostly brown bakelite some plastic and painted ones. AM is dying but I find myself weak when I see ones like this that aren't too pricey and have a nice cabinet. I dont think its practical to electrically restore every one, but the ones I like best perhaps.
I enjoy and collect lots from the teens to the 50's but I like this era and ones that aren't giant.

in the midwest there were more zeniths but that was an American brand and we made a lot of radios here. Rogers made a lot of them and you wont see so many there. Deforest crosley was related. I see similarities and shared parts between these lines quite often. I have a midwest radio its a brand that is rare and unusual. it has a big speaker and the radio is designed to sit on top of it. 12 tubes, 1936, its a real performer. Midwest made some neat art deco consoles, they look like a train coming at you..

the zeniths were cool, I had one or two. the only one I have now is a cube radio and its fairly rare. mine is rough. that radio has giant 6 volt leads. It must use a lot of amps.. the nicest ones are the shutterdials and of course the zenith stratosphere ones. they are super impressive.

I startd to get into the rogers ones. I have a lot of rogers tubes that were made by rogers and they are spray shield, either black or grey coating on the glass envelope. rogers did some weird and inventive things with electronics. they all had different ideas. one of the ones I did was a 1929 console, every wire was rubber covered and rotten , quite a chore.

I see deforest crosley sets with similar tubes and knobs. I've got one that just says deforest. its a baby console about 14 inches tall. my favorites are table radios from the 30's with clocks but i just have a few. then the mantle clocks seem to fit in too. Its easy to get carried away but its a fun hobby.. I can pick one up and immerse myself in it for quite a while, so the math doesn't work to do everything in one lifetime. I decided that time is enjoyment but there is more to life than just doing that and part of collecting is feeding them and keeping them warm then passing them down the line to other collectors.

I want to do a shelf around my living room where the picture rail should be. lining them up on shelves makes rooms feel small and I dont want to live in a warehouse so I have most put away but they would display so nice together. I've got other stuff too like TV lamps and decorations rare and unusual tubes and boxes, obsolete but neat test gear , battery testers , stuff like that. but its reached a stage where Ive run out of flat surfaces, then I start stacking them or putting bookshelves and it gets ugly because it's just too much to enjoy. Ive also got some cathedrals and some tombstones and they are generally a bit taller like 18 inches. a lot of these table sets are similar in size. I'm sure I have 100 at least so its a lot to display properly. some of what I collect s far gone or missing parts smashed cabinets, they are parts sets mostly but any that is reasonably compete can be restored. I find it helps to have two or three and restore them together that way I can swap parts and compare which helps.

I keep thinking I could replicate the craftsman style roof brackets, they are triangular with a bit of design but not too much. I figure I could make them sort of scaled down to half size or 1/3 size. Maybe I could put one every 6 feet or so with a 3/4 plank and a lip at the front and back of the shelf to prevent bowing. It becomes a lot of wood but maybe I could cut some fir veneer and use plywood as the structure, maybe glue a strip along the front edge and round it over somewhat. I could do the living roomand some other rooms like that to spread them around. it might create danger in the form of an earthquake issue. I thought maybe a cable could run the length of the shelf and tie to each somehow, a screw eye in the back maybe, or something. they look better if you light the dial so maybe I could use some LEDs just to artificially light the dials without disturbing originality.
Evidently I cornered myself in the basement with baseboards to strip and an old armchair and various other projects of good intent. I need room to swing wood around and use my woodworking tools more. It's so easy for me to get on 6 different projects at once, I must love starting them. I've been trying to complete things already started but my mind keeps inventing more in the meantime. I laugh when people speak of boredom though, I'm never bored. I think it only happens in apartments

[Gothichome]

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-art-collectible ... ios_social
A radio for you Phil

[Manalto]

That refrigerator radio is wonderful, Ron. It's sad how ordinary stuff is now. Sigh.

Phil, those Craftsman shelves sound like a really nice idea. Can't wait to see photos!

[Willa]

From when items like radios were designed as opposed to simply being manufactured today.

$_59-4.JPG (90.44 KiB) Viewed 3061 times

(When the Kijiji listing is removed the image will vanish. Best to download a photo of the item as that will stay here for future reference.)

[phil]

the same stores were selling refrigerators and radios. some were designed to go on top of the fridge. I have a bunch of these crosley D25's and they have suction cups on the bottom.
https://www.crosleyradios.com/ad_d25colr.html

the little refrigerator is cute. I have one, paid about $30 for it. maybe a slight crack but can be restored. they were all painted so that makes it easy to hide any bodywork on the Bakelite case.
these things are very crammed inside bu they are fun.

a similar one I also have is the tom thumb here's a video description of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnHda-FVNHo

tom thumb also made a little bicycle radio that is quite rare, probably most were broken. I have two cases for the tomb thumb but only one chassis. I'm not sure what I could do with the other.

I seem to find a lot of these northern electric rainbow radios, they were common here in Canada. the one on this page has three knobs a tone control but most have only two. It also came in a few colors but most often I see it in brown. Ive also got some desktop intercoms that share the same case. I could hook them all up to talk from room to room
https://www.eclectisaurus.com/rm_northernelectric.html

this one has the same works but a more interesting case design, the midge. I have two like this
http://northernelectric.ca/radios/ne550 ... _midge.htm

anyway its a lot about the industrial design for me. Its neat to see all the different designs, deco machine age etc.. I consider it industrial art. and you can see how the colors and shapes evolve in a similar way as auto designs did.

I find the same with cars today. they all look like jelly beans to me. Hoping we can move ahead from this jelly bean design. so many of the 50's cars were interesting.

Im going to get you guys addicted yet ! every house should have a few of these things
Phil

[1918ColonialRevival]

....Im going to get you guys addicted yet ! every house should have a few of these things
Phil

You get them addicted to radios, I'll work on getting them addicted to pinballs and coin-op games, plus antique appliances!

[phil]

I didn't see it at first but in that list there was a westinghouse stove much like the one James has for $250 in Windsor Ontario. maybe Willa would like it?
https://www.kijiji.ca/v-art-collectible ... 1458179776

James how are you finding that stove to use? it looks so neat.
Phil