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Old 10-13-2013, 05:28 PM
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maxm maxm is offline
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"Plant A" Mirrored Blue Glass Radio

This is a recent estate sale find. There is no brand marked on the radio other than the "Plant A" Chicago on the rear chassis label. My understanding of Plant A was that they made radios for other "off brand" names and the chassis have appeared in sets of many different brands. I assume this set dates from the mid 1930s.

Unfortunately, the top glass is beyond repair. I plan to put the set on a shelf above eye level, so you don't notice the top too much. There is a crack in the front glass, but not too bad. I may try to have the remaining glass resilvered and find some more modern looking hardware to mount the glass to the cabinet. I'm not sure about the knobs, two match, and they look similar to the knobs in the small photo on the website below.

The closest to this set I could find is on this website, listed as a "Peach Mirrored Radio", I assume referring to the color.

http://www.estesauctions.com/Sept222...alinpage5.html


The set covers AM and SW, but only has a 4-tube chassis + ballast. The cardboard filter capacitors are just sitting on top of the chassis. I haven't pulled the chassis yet, it looks complete.

I would appreciate it if anybody has some more info on this set.

Thanks,
Max
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  #2  
Old 10-13-2013, 05:53 PM
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Dave A Dave A is offline
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Climax radio in Chicago is a possibility. They made a bunch of radios for third party names in many unusual and ornate cabinet schemes and names;

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/climax_c.html
http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/climax_...st_versio.html

And my thread on my unbranded Climax...one of their most popular styles. Known as the "angry radio". My tube search told me of a one-off version by Climax of an 8 tube version that did the ID on mine. http://www.nostalgiaair.org is a help under Climax.

http://videokarma.org/showthread.php...ghlight=climax

One of the answers on the thread also mentions "Plant A". Somewhere in the thread is a link to a tube lineup search. Other internet sources suggest Clinton as "Plant A" with a distinctive orange label...like yours and they are a possiblity also. You could run over to 1217 W. Wash. Blvd. and see if anyone from Clinton has information. I am starting to think Clinton. Don't know much about them.

All my searching did not find a mirror Climax but your link to the auction does show an
oval dial similar to the Climax standard. No eye tube to be seen. And the chassis pic is earlier than mine...1937...but not by much.
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Last edited by Dave A; 10-13-2013 at 07:00 PM. Reason: typo
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Old 10-14-2013, 06:47 PM
akent36 akent36 is offline
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Plant A was Clinton Mfg. Co. of Chicago, IL.
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Old 10-14-2013, 07:13 PM
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Dave A Dave A is offline
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akent36...next time I am back in Rockford to see mom and the family lets meet at Lino's for a pizza and a few hours of old radio talk.
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Old 11-10-2013, 02:47 PM
willy3486 willy3486 is offline
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I don't know if this will help but I needed some blue glass years ago. I have a 47 "trashcan" seeburg jukebox that has 1 inch square mirrored glass that was blue. I looked everywhere at that time and I could not find any. I finally was able to get regular clear mirror glass and a blue tint. What I did was to make a jig to cut mirrored glass into 1 inch squares. I then placed them all on a piece of cardboard. I had found some blue tint paint spray that was used to tint windows in cars. It worked fairly fine. What you might could do is make a pattern of the glass then take the pattern and pieces to a glass shop. Have them to make one then take the new piece and see if a shop that does tinting could do a spray on blue tint to the mirror.
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