My unique little mantle radio!

[jt1stcav]

Over a year ago I started a very small collection of antique tube radios...this little mantle radio was my first, a 1933 Emerson-Ingraham model 25A in excellent original condition! My dad restores vintage vacuum tube radios from the '20s to the '50s, and he said this lil' gem is all original, right down to it's wire antenna. The only thing he replaced was all the caps and the power cord (with a replica cloth-covered cord, using the original bakelite plug cover); the radio tested great and it performs flawlessly still.

Not bad for a 70 year old, huh?

[jt1stcav]

The wood inlay is superb, and the veneer, while cracked on top due to heat, is still intact and gleaming. The wood grain is splendid to look at and is all original...no need to refinish! The bakelite knobs have no chips or cracks, and the brass dials are mint. Even the original grille cloth is complete and snag free.

On the inside, this is what I gazed at on the eBay auction (and what persuaded me to buy her at $175); its innards look almost as good as the day it left the Emerson manufacturing plant! No rust or pitting, nothing chipped or broken, and as far as I know, they're the original tubes that came with it. You can see the frayed edges on the original power cord where it rubbed against the opening on the wooden back (which I also own), so my dad replaced the cord with a new cloth-covered replica for safety purposes.

Ultimately my dad replaced all the old caps with new equivilents, cleaned it up inside and out, tested it numerous times, and sent it back to me a week later. This little mantle radio is by far my favorite, and with its 10' cloth-covered antenna, stills receives most AM stations in my area, even if it's not a superhetrodyne!

[Rob]

That's awesome!

BTW, why is there a minigun sticking out the back? Is this to enforce the "no user serviceable parts inside, refer servicing to an authorized..." warning?

[CarlV]

A real deco masterpiece there Jim. It's really beautiful!!

Carl

[jt1stcav]

Thank you. I'm very pleased with this radio...the fact that it's 70 years old and virtually unchanged, and still pulls in stations, is well worth the money spent! Before owning this, I've never even seen a mantle radio before...I'm sure it's gotta be somewhat unique. Being practically all original is the icing on the cake for sure!

[Rob]

Originally posted by jt1stcav
Before owning this, I've never even seen a mantle radio before...I'm sure it's gotta be somewhat unique.

Yes, whatever you do don't dis-mantle it!

BTW, what IS that funny connector(?) that looks like a revolver cylinder?

[jt1stcav]

I don't recall my dad telling me what that connector's for. It looks similar to the octal output socket on my McIntosh MC250 amp (and I don't know what could get connected to it).

Here's the schematic diagram for the Emerson radio...maybe you can tell what it's for from this...

[Rob]

jt1

Can you please delete that huge poster and re-submit in a much smaller size? I could do it for you but this isn't my forum. No access. That thing has to be 30" wide! 8" wide would be great.
Trying to figure it out is like trying to see a forest and all you get to see at one time is a leaf. Thanx.

I have the same issue with that schematic - It's just to damned big to read.

That said I wonder if that connector might not be for an extension speaker. Given the age of the radio I expect that it would have an electromagnet on the speaker and the extension speaker ( If indeed that is what it is for ) would also require pinouts for the field coil and the voice coil.

Pretty little radio - It almost looks to be grinning

[Chad Hauris]

I wonder if this is a user-added jack. Popular Science published an article in the 50's about bringing various circuits of the radio such as the B+, speaker, audio to vol. control, etc. out to terminal strips or a jack so that the radio could be used as a power supply/amplifier/speaker for experimental projects.

[jt1stcav]

Sorry 'bout that!

[sean]

The connector on the back is for DC voltage input. It is not shown on the schematic but I saw an advertisement somewhere that mentioned it. Check out this page for info on the model 20A that is very similar: http://uv201.com/Radio_Pages/emerson_20.htm

Jim,

That is a really neat set. I bought one about a year ago but it is not as nice as yours. Mine is missing the knobs and the back cover. I restuffed the capacitors and put a new power cord on it. I'm not in the best place for receiving stations on a 4 tube set like this so it sits on top of the kitchen cabinet. I love the wood inlay.

[jt1stcav]

Thanks, sean...I do like it alot (and so does my lil' kitten Sammy. She digs the golden oldies).

I love it. Very unique, at least I think so.

[jt1stcav]

Thank you, I agree. It's not as common as the typical cathedral or tombstone radios you always see IMO.