WHen I was a kid we used to play along the freight racks in Chicago and 4245 N. Knox was on our list, we lived in the Montrose and Cicero area in the late 50's. We always found neat stuff in those dumpsters and I can remember some big cleanout where they put up some temporary fencing and had big dump trucks in and out. Did they make CRT's there?

Yes,

The plant at 4245 N. Knox was the original Rauland Tube plant. The plant is still there and is about 100 feet away from me as I type this on my break. Its owned by Dan Howard now, and insurance firm, and the building still looks exactly the same. There is a book from 1955 called "The Zenith story" and has pictures of the old plants around chicago, all of which still exist to this day. The company I work for moved to our new location at 4155 N. Knox back in october of '04, right next to the original rauland tube plant and across the street from the Admrial TV plant that just burnt to the ground last spring. The "ADMIRAL" boiler stack is the only thing that survived! The Admiral plant had an elevated walkway that crossed knox ave from the west plant to the east plant. The east plant was demolished for our new head office. We moved from 4455 W. Montrose, so it was only a couple blocks away. So I actually work at what was once property of the Admiral TV plant. The elevated train tracks are still there and very rarely do freights come down it anymore.

Also, to the new member, thanks for joining the forum. its great to hear that you worked for Zenith. Please tell what it was like durring the time you worked there. What was the difference between austin plant and dickens as far as what was produced? What did they build at the kostner ave plant? When you worked on the 20X1C38 chassis, was this production error corrections, or was this a service department? You probably recognize my avatar. The zenith water tower is still there at the dickens plant!

Im surprized zenith didnt want to keep the plant air conditioned. Ive spoken to a few ex Motorola employees and they enjoyed working for Motorola at the Grand Ave TV plant in Franklin Park, as it was always air conditioned and they played music over the PA throughout the plant for the assembly workers.

Photos of a 1959 Christmas party at Zenith
 

The estate sale I went to yesterday was home of a former Zenith assembly line employee. I was fortunate enough to find a box of photographs which were for sale and I found some neat pictures. These are the only pictures I found with Zenith, but you can clearly tell the photos were taken at the assembly plant. The photos are all dated January, 1960, so its Chrismas 1959. You can see little tinsle hanging off the flourecent lights as the little tree in the back. Looks like this group was out in the corner someplace. The "boss" who was probably quality control looks like the only one who isn't having a good time. Everyone is smoking their cigarettes and having a good time.
The lady being huged in the picture is the one who just passed an was the woman who lived at the home of the estate sale. She was 40 years old at the time of this photo, almost 49 years ago! Pictures like these are gold to me, as it shows the real life of the Zenith employee. Some of these people here probably worked on the very sets we have today. I hope to be able to find more of them and be able to speak with more zenith employees from this time period before they all leave us.

Thanks for the photos. I get a kick out of old photos from the 50's and 60's even if I don't know who the people are. It's interesting to look at all the details in them, like TV's, Clothing, Furniture, Cars, and Watches (I collect old 50's and 60's wristwatches).

Thanks for the interestings photos!!!!! wow wow wow

Thanks for posting these! Very cool to see into the past like that. These people may have assembled something we own.

You know, that doesn't look like a large production area - wonder if it's some sort of prototyping lab?

Same thought I had.

You have these pics up somewhere?

Not seeing any pictures here . . . .

Phil Nelson

Original post is 10 years old.

Yeah, we've had a few "lost pics" incidents since this thread was originally started! :yes:

Kinda funny to think... we've been around for so long... over a decade now. I tend to forget that. I remember joining this group shortly after it got started. At that time, there was about 200 members total I think.

Did the plant on Dickens & Austin have rail loading docks at the back in the 1950s?

Other Zenith plants:
5800 Dickens, 4245 N Knox Av, 1500 N Kostner Ave, 912 W Washington Blvd, 343 Michigan (sales)

I looked at these, one is now an ALDI how uninspiring.

There ought to be a special gallery here just for the pics Doug originally posted.

Maybe some kind of VK Database.

Google 6060 Dickens. You can see the bullet holes in windows

Almost like Milwaukee!
Look at all the foolishness going on in the last few weeks or months.
It's really sad what happened to these fine old cities. :thumbsdn:

I am in tears over the US Government's lack of protection against TV dumping back in the day. That practice sealed the fate of our once proud TV industry. I am now seeing the same happen to our appliance industry. LG and Samsung is hurting the appliance industry and Whirlpool is a major employer in the county adjacent to the one I live in.

The American auto industry isn't too far behind, I am surprised they have hung on this long.

On the subject of factories standing, Philco at Tioga and "C" street, Philadelphia - sadly vacant =(
Check out where Sylvanias were made 1954-1980;700 Ellicott street Batavia NY. Still making something there. WOW
RCAs 600 N Sherman Drive, Indianapolis...not sure of the Bloomington Indiana plant.

Factories gone - Magnavox was at 2131 S. Beuter rd, Ft Wayne, IN until mid 70s

I do really wish these pictures were still posted, I'd love to see them.

Google maps is really great!
I looked up the various TV plant addresses in Chicago. Admiral on Courtland Street, old Motorola plant on Augusta Blvd. It also shows the Franklin Park plant. That's being turned into residential, condo type housing.

My new stove is a Whirlpool. I bought it specifically because it is Made in USA. It works very well. When I buy a dishwasher, it will be a Whirlpool, too, for the same reason (plus they make good machines at decent prices).

Supposedly, General Electric is starting to make more appliances in the USA again, too.

Mostly their low end stuff. A lot of their higher end stuff, especially fridges, are farmed out to LG or Samsung (can't remember which). I think a lot of their a/c units are farmed out too.

Might as well buy the low-end stuff in that case. It will be superior to the foreign-made stuff even though it lacks the bells and whistles.

Quite right! I think the Roper name was applied to some of the lower end workhorses Whirlpool made. Ask any repairman what washing machine you should have bought in the last 10 years, many answer "a Roper".

The electronic "bells and whistles" on foreign-made appliances do NOT hold up any better...than most flat-panel tv sets do...

My thoughts exactly. I don't care for much of anything that's heavily-optioned anyway.

Whirlpool had several, lower end product lines. Estate was another. The newer models are direct drive. The USA made, top load models are mechanically similar. It's just the extras, like multi-speed motors, selection of rinse and wash water temperatures, etc.
The dishwashers are extremely loud. It was hard to carry on a conversation, when the thing was running.
The real low end Sears washers and driers are badged Capri. They appear to be Whirlpool products. :scratch2:

Greetings gentleman,
I still have the original pictures that I took and posted here back in 2003. I also have newer photos as well and will update this thread with those photos soon. Even though its been over a decade since this thread was created, it goes to show that this thread is still often discovered by those interested in Zenith history which is nice to see.

Doug, I certainly hope you keep this thread going as long as possible, as I enjoy reading your posts and also that your thread is keeping alive the history of the original Zenith Radio Corporation, which went out of business in the late '80s or nineties.

I've liked Zenith radios, TVs, etc. for years, have owned a few of their b&w TVs, have a number of antique/vintage Zenith radios from the '50s-'60s and even one 1980 AM-FM high-performance portable, the R-70. (I do not, however, own any "Zenith"-branded radios made after 1980, although I did own a four-mode Zenith integrated stereo in the early '80s.) I also have a 19" SMS1917SG table model from 1995 that still works. Still has its original CRT as well, and it makes an excellent picture even now, 19 years later. The set is in my bedroom, unused, and has been unused except for occasional testing since I moved here 14 years ago. I now have a 19" Insignia flat screen, which I understand has many LG components; LG parts were used in many Zenith-branded LG flat screens until Zenith itself went out of business for good several years ago. :no:

Anyway, I am still very interested in anything and everything Zenith, reading everything I can get my hands on regarding the company's history. I also have a virtual Zenith "museum" here on my computer, composed of photos of early Zenith TVs and radios from about the '40s through the end of the NTSC CRT TV era. Many of those pictures are still on CDs, waiting to be ripped into the computer. One of these days...

BTW, it's good seeing your posts again. As I said, I enjoy reading them and look forward to seeing more as time goes on. Keep up the good work. :thmbsp:

That C-845 Zenith radio in your Avatar is MUCH more "bark than "BITE". It does have a nice speaker system--but a VERY piss-poor, single 35C5 tube to drive it !! I have one or two just like it around here...and have LONG wondered--WHY Zenith did not make it REAL--with one or even a PAIR of say--6BQ5 outs or P-P 6V6's--THEN--it would have PERFORMANCE--to match its LOOKS !!

I thought the same thing. AM reception that was better than any other US built radio. FM reception, that was better than most, as well. It had the best AFC, that made it easier to tune and hold FM stations, with no drift.
I have an RCA AM-FM table radio from around the 1956 model year. It's rather impressive with the power transformer, 5Y3 rectifier and the 6V6 output tube. The receiver part, just isn't that impressive.
Zenith made several years of that model and were rather pricey. Most people that owned them, used them as daily drivers and were satisfied with the tone quality.

The 845 DOES sound good at LOW volume....BUT if you give it ANY gas at all...it "pukes out", due to the amp clipping. If it had 5 or 10+ clean watts of power--it would NOT do so. with maybe 2 watts MAX_-it is like a tiny 4 cylinder 1980's hamster engine car--trying to go up a big hill with 2 large people in the car.....say a Ford exp.

In fact...a couple of people in my radio club call them "dentist-office radios". Seems they were-and maybe still ARE--often found there. Great sound--as long as you don't "gas it".

Adding a decent amp like a 6BQ5-and cold power supply would have turned a sensitive, good sounding at LOW volume radio--into a WORLD CLASS leader !!

The C845 in my avatar is one of the vintage Zenith radios I own (the picture was copied from an antique radio website several years ago). I've never turned mine up full blast (couldn't if I wanted to, since I live in an apartment building), so I did not know until now about the audio distortion at maximum volume you mention.

I suppose, however, this could be a plus for teenagers listening to their favorite loud FM rock station, distortion and all (until the amplifier and/or the speakers burned out or blew a fuse, or the kids' parents not-so-politely told them "Turn that #$%@! thing down!"), since most rock music today is mostly noise--the more distortion, the better. (!) I don't know how much undistorted audio output power the 35C5 is capable of producing at full volume, but from what you mention, it probably isn't good for more than a watt or two at best before the entire audio stage goes into severe distortion.

I wonder if any of these radios had to have one or both speakers replaced because they were run too long at full volume, burning out the voice coils. If an audio amplifier is driven into distortion it will, more often than not, produce even more output power than the speakers can safely handle. I had a Zenith integrated stereo system, five watts per channel, with this warning posted on the backs of both speaker enclosures; however, I never ran the system at full volume in the 17 years I owned it.

BTW: I agree with your statement that Zenith could have made the C845 a real hi-fi radio, even at full or close to full volume, if they had designed the set with push-pull 6BQ5s, 6V6s or other high-power audio output tubes rather than a single 35C5. I have a Zenith MJ-1035 (currently waiting for a new volume control) that uses two 50EH5 output tubes and a 12AX7 driver stage. When that radio was working, it sounded great. But the volume control was damaged in shipping (I got the set in 2008 from an antique radio collector and former VK member in Arizona), so I was constantly dealing with intermittent sound and other problems until the control eventually fell apart. This radio uses a special 2-megohm dual potentiometer as a volume control, which I have not yet been able to find. Is this value so rare that it cannot be found anymore, or would I be better off trying to find a junker set on eBay or CL with a good volume pot? I'm in no hurry to get the radio working again, but some day I'd like to do so just for the ducks of it.

Yes, the Zenith C845 was very expensive when it was new in 1960, something like $130 or so in that era's dollars. However, I agree with you that the '845 had above-average AM and FM reception. I am 30+ miles east of Cleveland, and my C845 gets every one of the city's AM and FM stations just fine, using just the line-cord antenna. When the FM band opens up for DX in the spring and summer, this radio is a real station magnet. I live near Lake Erie, and can often get stations from southwestern Ontario, Canada and Detroit, et al. as clearly as if they were next door. At night on AM the '845's radio dial just lights up with stations, some of which are inaudible (or close to it) on newer sets. I attribute this to the 6BJ6 RF amplifier stage which is used both on AM and FM, to say nothing of the fact that the C-845, like all older Zenith radios, was built for DX and high fidelity audio (the latter somewhat limited by the single 35C5 audio output tube, as VK member rca2000 mentions in an earlier post).

I chalk up the C845's excellent FM reception to the use of a permeability-tuned (slug-tuned) FM tuner and two FM IF stages. The slug-tuned system is not used much anymore except, perhaps, in very high-end communications receivers (IIRC, Collins had at least one amateur-band receiver with such a tuning arrangement, but then again, their amateur equipment wasn't cheap and Collins was known for quality amateur gear in its heyday).

If ONLY the audio section matched the tuning section....it would be something unforgettable.... and with the equivalent of about 1K in today's money--it SHOULD have had a good amp...and a cold chassis to match.

I often referred to them as George Webb radios.
The was a hamburger restaurant chain in Milwaukee, That had a certain trademark, multiple Telechron 12" office wall clocks, all set to the same time.
They all seemed to have the Zenith C-845 radios, on a high shelf between the counter and the cooking area. They all were set on WEMP, an AM MOTR, music station. IIRC, they advertised a lot on that station.
A little Milwaukee trivia, as I lived there for 57 years.

I know this thread is 13 years old, but I just wanted to to know if the Zenith plant is still accessible. I'm going to Chicago this June, and I wanted to go take some pictures of the plant.