Photos of Old Color TVs
 

Hi All.

I am posting these photos of my Zenith Model CM1699E 15" color TV in response to the call for photos of old color TVs, and to augment the nice photos posted by Mike Drown.

The set is complete, except for a broken CRT neck cup on the back cover (not shown). I have not yet started the restoration of the set, as it has a bad vertical dynamic convergence transformer. I will be attempting to have a replacement wound, and if successful, I will continue with the electrical restoration.

I would like to thank Dave Johnson, Wayne Bretl and Mike Drown for copies of schematics, photos, and scans of the 1953 Zenith Annual report, and general help and information.

Wow!
The steel frame is awesome! as is the outside cabinet.
What's the total weight on that set?


Eric

Eric,
I don't have a good calibrated weight for the set, but is is a bit heavier than say a CT100 or a Westinghouse, due to he steel frame, and the very robust bolt-on cabinet panels.

That setup makes for a very early "$ervice $aver"!

Wow!
 

This is awesome! Two of these sets in existance!! How many were built? What are the odds for me finding one?? :)

Man, that thing looks as stout as the proverbial brick uhhh, You-Know-What house....<grin>-Sandy G.

Very impressive! Where did you find this set?

I got this set through help of Chuck A, whom you may know through his posts here.

I think Doug was curious if you got it from a retired Zenith engineer or something like that.
I got my 19" Motorola roundie that way in the eighties along with a wealth of info about the inner workings of that company!

I got my 3 CT100's at Goodwill for a dollar each.

Anthony

...SURE you did...Wanna buy a bridge ?!? -Sandy G.

My Zenith was "found" by a early TV collector 'way back in the 1960s, and it did come from a Zenith engineer. Chuck A acted as intermediary in my recent acquisition of the set from that collector. I got the set with no CRT, the original Rauland CRT was replaced back in the 1960s. The dud RCA 15GP22 CRT from the set went to someone else. I have put a good 15GP22 in the set, and look forward to restoring it.

After reading about all the troubles of rebuilding the 15GP22 I couldn't help but wonder how much a production run of say 100 would cost.....assuming that these could be made in perhaps Russia or even China.

Am sure that per unit tube cost would still be quite high, but what other options other than substitution would be available in the future? Figuring that there are 100 operational sets currently this would supply a single back-up tube for each of them. Granted, not every CT100 set owner would want one or be able to afford one, but there are some who might actually want to get several.....plus, with the tubes available some more sets may be put back into operation as well which again increases the number of tubes wanted. Just thinking out loud here. I'll shut up now.

Anthony

Great idea. When you get it all set up, let me know, I will be your first customer.

Anthony,
I'm sure it would still be in the $Millions to engineer and produce these tubes, even in China.