A sad find - Westinghouse transistor portable
 

Found this poor little guy on the scrap metal pile at the town dump earlier this summer. Initially was going to leave it lie in state; came back later in the day and felt too bad for it. I suspect it wasn't in bad shape when tossed on the scrap metal pile, but by the time I found it, the front-end loader had "compacted' the pile :-( The poor thing was full of dirt.

It deserves a better fate.

I will likely be leaving it on the freebie pile at the NEARC fleamarket on Oct. 2 in Manchester, NH. www.nearc.net

I had tried to take a photo of its innards but my camera battery died. I can re-try later if anyone is interested.

Po widdle feller...

I have that model radio in physically better shape, but, needing help, and, parts. How much to ship yours to 33705?
PM me. I really need it, fi you are getting rid of it.
Thanks.
Bill Cahill

Yes, that's sad. I have the yellow and white version of that radio that I paid $35 back in around '92. The president of our now defunct antique radio club had it and didn't really want to sell it; but, I pestered him a few times about it and he agreed to sell it to me with the understanding that I give him first shot at buying it back if I ever decided to sell it.

The innards
 

My luck with digital camera batteries has been poor lately. Different camera (the "shop" camera), dead batteries in this one, too! Just threw in the 'emergency' set of alkalines whilst the others charge.

Meanwhile, here are a couple of quick 'n' dirty photos of the innards.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...seinnards1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...seinnards2.jpg

I cannae tell; does the speaker really have an inverted magnet, or is this one just trashed?

Bill, I just sent you a PM.

PM reply just sent back. Many thanks.
Looks like it may be inverted.
My speaker was trashed by roaches.
Bill Cahill

Agree ! looks just like the speaker in my 4 tube Motorola 54L1.... extra points; where are the tubes?

jr

The speaker in my yellow and white westinghouse is inverted, just like the one in the picture.

http://www.videokarma.org/attachment...1&d=1283923560
3 submini's, one regular miniature

Yep! :thmbsp:
A 3S4 for audio out... the rest are sub mini 1AJ5 (detector and 1st audio) 1AH4 (if amp) and 1V6 (triode-pentode convertor).
jr

Didn't you do some conversions of AC sets to sub-minis ?

Can't tell from the picture, but if the ferrite antenna is broken, you can superglue or epoxy it back together and it will work fine.

Whoa that thing is cool! Is that a consumer radio with "pencil" tubes!?

http://www.videokarma.org/attachment...0&d=1283921809

Yes! it is a Motorola 54L1, which is a "full size" (about 8"x10"x3.5") AC/DC/Battery portable from the mid 50s. I nearly passed it up because of the ugly re-paint job, until I looked inside and saw the unusual "inverted" speaker and the sub-mini tubes! Most of the radios that I have seen with the sub-mini tubes have been much smaller, about the size of "pocket" transistor sets of the era. I suspect that this rather plain Motorola is often overlooked by collectors.

jr

I think that Westinghouse is one of their first transistor receivers. It could be powered by either six D cells or a large cardboard case battery--I want to say it was a 2701, don't hold me to that number. It's one that I want to build a replica of and power my yellow-and-white Westy with.

The plug for the battery is tucked away in a corner of the set, plugged into a socket.

That Motorola is usually looked over because they also brought out a same-chassis portable that had a wind-up clock in it--and that's the one collectors really go after.

No question that the earlier 53LC2 clock radio has much more eye appeal then the plain 54L1 that I posted above... This site says that even the clock radio is often overlooked :

http://www.radiolaguy.com/Showcase/MotorolaPortaClk.htm

Note that the "inverted" speaker on this earlier set is a different design than the one used in the Westinghouse transistor portable and the 54L1, looks like the later design might have been cheaper to produce.

jr

coupla more photos FYI and FWIW...

Well, radio arrived safely in the mail today.
Case is pretty rough, as stated.
I pulled mine down, which I haven't had open in years.
You'll never believe this!
Mine has an original 9 volt battery plugged in, dead as a door nail!
It had leaked, and, other battery clips are ruinned, as are their mounting studs in case.
The diagram shows it uses 6 D cell batteries, sayd nothing about a 9 volt battery.
And, that battery, I've never seen anything like it in my life!
It's about 6" long, is Eveready, and, has a long number on it. I doubt it could still be purchased.
It snaps into those other battery clips.
Is the radio supposed to take the 6 batteries, and, the 9 volt, or, what??
All battery clips are connected with wires, and, that 9 volt battery is connectedwith that 2 prong plug.
Is this a 9 volt radio, or, higher than that?
I know back in the early days the first transistor radios work on something like a 90 volt battery.
Is this an 18 volt radio,or, what??
Anybody got a schematic on this set?
Looks like an interesting radio to me....
Bill Cahill

It looks like the radio is set up to use 6 "D" cells or an enclosed battery, such as the Eveready 2762N or 2761N or perhaps 2506... Notice the outlet plug in the lid next to the speaker that matches the battery connector. My guess is that if 6 "D" cells are used, the 2 prong plug from the radio would be plugged in there. If a large 9 volt battery is used, then of course the 2 prong plug from the radio would be plugged into the battery directly.
Clever Design!
jr

Hmmm. Didn't see socket. Thanks.
Is that 9 volt battery even obtainable anymore? I doubt it.
It's quite large.
Very interesting radio.
Bill Cahill

In one of the pictures from this thread:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...seinnards2.jpg

It is the brown socket just to the left of the speaker...It appears to be wired to the battery clips on the other half of the radio.

jr

PS: Found a nice youtube video (by batterymaker) of one loaded with "D" cells and battery connector plugged into outlet left of loudspeaker...caption on video says that a 2761 battery can also be used:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K--c6jKU4qo

jr

Yeah, mine has the clock--cost $2 at a radio meet earlier this year.

Glad it got there in as close to one piece as it was when it left here! :-)

No idea about the batteries; it was my first encounter with this model. Sounds like you've gotten plenty of good advice and info. Wonder if the radio is in Sams' "TRS" series (I didn't check).

Hope you can synthesize a working radio out of the two that you now have!

EDIT: If you wouldn't mind, please post a picture of the one you already had sometime.

I have this same radio in yellow and white and it is a 9V radio. It has the option of either using 6 "D" cell batteries or that oddball 9V battery pack. To use "D" cells, plug the cable for the oddball battery pack into a socket on the radio. To use the single 9V pack, remove the "D" cells, unplug the battery cable, and plug it into the 9V battery pack.

I think this should serve as a "heads up" to those of us that collect battery portables. Today, after reading that post, I started a "back off" inspection of the radios in my transistor set collection, and have already found 2 with batteries left inside.:sigh:
Only one had leaked slightly, and no real damage was done.

Tomorrow, I will go through the tube portables...who knows what I will discover there.

I like to keep batteries in a few good players for demo purposes, I guess that it would be a good idea to clearly mark these sets, so that they get a regular turn on or inspection.
jr

Update: Finished the "display" transistor set audit...found 3 more radios loaded with batteries that should not have been... all leaking, but a fairly easy clean up. I had to re-attach a wire to one contact (the wire had been eaten away) and it was was very difficult to tin the wire and solder it. Put fresh batteries in one radio for demo purposes. :music:

Any chance you could take a couple pix of that battery? I started making a repro, but had to stop to attend to other projects.

My camera isn't great, but, I will see what I can do.
I'll try tommorrow.
Bill Cahill

Your avatar reminds me of the question I sometimes ask: "Why do battery makers insist on putting corrosive crap in batteries?" :scratch2:

It's like the smoke in transistors: annoying when it comes out,
but if it weren't there the device would not work.

All too often I find old radios with leaking batteries.I've got an old Panasonic that is in nearly mint condition and I was so excited...until I removed the battery cover...does anyone know how to clean up the mess?I mean is there a neutralizing spray you can shoot on the area and contacts?Battery leakage on motorcycles and cars I use baking soda and water but what a mess that can be to clean up in a radio!

Baking soda, and, water.
Bill Cahill

Afterthought: it seems to me that back in the fifties, Motorola was the first to come out with speakers having the magnet out in front of the cone, as a space-saving measure.

Denatured alcohol is another decent corrosion remover.
I've had a 54L1 since the 60's, but it wasn't until I put batteries in it earlier this year that I found out it works.
Also have a Pixie. Pretty sensitive little radio.