TV Identification
 

Does any one know what the table top set that Dr. Zworykin is standing next to in the photo below? It sort of looks like a squared off 621ts. The knob layout and center mounted speaker below the CRT matches the 621ts also.
http://www.saltofamerica.com/imgArti...500_385_10.jpg

Where did you unearth that? Dr. Zworykin looks older than 56 here, the age he would be if he were looking at prototype builds of what would become the 621 and 630, but that's almost definitely what those sets are. This also casts a bit of doubt on the long-held notion that the 621 cabinet was designed before or during the war. If it was, it was dusted off after this photo was taken for the production run.

The bottom one looks like a 630 chassis-family set, but the cabinet does not look like a 630TCS (the only 10" in that family I've seen).

I wonder if those sets could be pre-war or near the end of the war engineering prototypes (would explain the RCA like guts in not RCA like cabinets).

Awesome rare photo!! That is VERY interesting! It absolutely looks like an early version of the 621TS and a 630-type proto console. For so many years I have not seen any archival photos or documents to raise questions about the 621, but this photo definitely does. You can see the Vassos design evolving from the TT-5 with it's more square lines than the final production model. Still a very nice looking set. It's making me finally believe that the 621TS may well have been a completely post-war creation, but a photo date is needed to confirm that. It also makes me wonder if Vassos had his hand in the 630 design and maybe even later sets like the 721TS, 8TS30, ect.
Thanks for posting this!

That's what I am thinking also... early prototypes. Perhaps the picture was taken later (mid 50s or so) for an article/history and these early prototypes were pulled out of storage for the shot.

jr

The console below the mystery table top set is an RCA 641TV.

I beg to differ. The console set in the photo is likely a prototype of the 1946 630TCS, which was a 10" TV only console. The final product looked much different;
http://www.radiomuseum.org/images/ra...tcs_438890.jpg
The production 1946 RCA 641 TV is completely different than this set below the screen with a phono and radio:
http://www.radiomuseum.org/images/ra...1tv_439586.jpg

One of these?
http://www.earlytelevision.org/rca_641.html
http://www.earlytelevision.org/images/rca_641.jpg

It is unless there was a TV only version of that set which I'm not seeing, then the Zworykin picture console is NOT a 641. The 641 has drawers between the TV and speaker for a radio and phono that are clearly not present in the Zworykin picture.

Correct Tom. Those two sets in the Zworykin pic are both prototypes and never made it to production.
The actual 641 in the pic you posted actually has a retro-fitted 12" CRT. It originally was a 10" set.

My goodness, I was too quick to identify the console! Both sets seem to be unknown.

Or could that be an early 14 inch rectangular jug? :scratch2:

jr

Not sure about the CRT, but these period retro-fits were VERY common. These were expensive sets and owners often opted for an upgrade before buying a completely new set. A smart idea because it was tough to beat a 630 chassis.

I scrapped two Admiral 30B1 combo's, that were converted to 14", using a 14BP4. They both looked like a hack-job, done by the same firm. They had that plastic safety lens assembly. Also, the flyback and yoke had to be changed.
I had understood, by the people that owned them, that they were never too reliable. :thumbsdn:

The tabletop looks almost like one of the optional 7 inch Transvision cabinetes,

http://www.collectorkevin.com/transvision.htm

Good sleuthing. I thought that cabinet-style looked familiar too. It's interesting how, what obviously is a prototype 7" 621, the cabinet was designed in a way that would be much more cheaply produced by RCA, and then changed to a more complicated, more expensive to produce, cabinet. I'd love to know the whole story!