Is this really the OLDEST TV in the UK?
 

Saw this article a few days ago, thought it was worth re-posting:

"Britain's oldest working television has been tracked down in a house in London.
The 1936 Marconiphone is thought to have been made in the months that Britain's first "high-definition" television service began.
The set belongs to Jeffrey Borinsky, an electrical engineer and collector of antique television and radio sets.
He bought the set, which has a 12-inch (30cm) screen from another collector 10 years ago and is still working on restoring it to its original state.
The screen is mounted inside a wooden cabinet. The image from the cathode ray tube, mounted vertically inside the cabinet, is reflected onto a mirror.
The few controls include volume and vertical hold, but there is no channel changer, as there was only one channel when it was made: the BBC."

Oldest TV in UK BBC link

Whether it is the oldest or not, this part of the news item is good reading for
us old TV set collectors:

"The set was discovered as the result of a competition run by Digital UK, the body overseeing the switch to digital television. The aim was to publicise the message that just about any television, however old, can be used to show digital channels."

Wish something similar would be done in other countries that are in the process
of switching. Could keep a few CRTs out of landfills...

If it isn't the oldest, it certainly must be ONE OF the oldest ones. They weren't making them for very long before that, and not so many of the ones that were made would have survived, especially if you require them to be working today! :no: That said, I always think it's possible there are some tucked away somewhere, forgotten. Think of the extraordinary things they find every few years in Great Manor Houses. People who lived in them could afford these kinds of toys, and had room to set them aside in some closet or unused room where they could still be sitting, unappreciated and ignored by their current owner ... who might never have heard of the contest, or bothered to contact anyone. There probably is an older set somewhere (probably NOT working)... but finding out WHERE it is, would be a challenge, for certain.

The video had a few caveats - they called it the "oldest working television in a private home." That implies both older non-working sets in private hands, as well as older working sets in museums or other public institutions.

Hello!

Is there an ion burn in the middle of the screen visible:scratch2:

Greetings Josef

I know this guy, bought some Hi Fi through him. He is a very nice person, very clever engineer and has some interesting old equipment.

yup the CRT definately looks like it has seen better days.

Still pretty neat, though. Not many pre-war sets around ANYWHERE...

The tube probably isn't as bright as new, but it wasn't very bright then either.

Didn't I see some miniature tubes on the chassis?
If so, that wouldn't be pre-war. It's be post-war.
Bill Cahill

I don't see why you would NEED to switch it off after two hours as mentioned in the video other than to preserve difficult to find parts. The announcer gave the impression that these sets could only be run for short periods of time which might be a bit misleading to those unfamilliar with vintage technology.

I didnt see any miniature tubes. i seen some globe style tubes in the first shot, and numerous "coke-bottle" style tubes. no minatures

Maybe that was just his opinion that more than two hours of TV viewing in one sitting is unhealthy :)

I think the 2 hour comment got misconstrued. Jeff told me he does use the television occasionally to watch stuff from the 1930's and 40's like cartoons and movies. He commented that he usually never runs the set longer than watching a movie, about 2 hours. Somehow that got reported as you don't want to run the set longer than 2 hours.

BTW this set is definitely from 1936 and contains no miniature tubes, or should I say valves :)

Another interesting twist in the reporting was that since Jeff only showed the volume, brightness and vertical hold knob, many papers reported that those were the only controls required on the set!

Darryl

Other things that Jeffrey is interested in.

http://www.borinsky.co.uk/

Click on MARs