21" Maple Philco

[Charlie]

Picked this up yesterday north of Houston just outside of Beltway 8. I got this set from the same guy I got my CTC9 from last year. It a split-chassis Philco 21"... Sams 231-12 (dated Feb 1954). The set is in REALLY nice condition.

This set has a 21ZP4A. It was pretty sleepy at first... hardly moving the meter. Heating it up to 8 volts woke it up some. Earlier, I used the "clean" function and got really good results... well up into the green now. I will check it again later from a cold start and see how it does. I was certainly glad that this set didn't have a 21EP4!

It has the cool UHF tuner in the middle. However, after looking in there, I found that someone has completely disconnected the UHF... the coaxial, the B+ and heater plug, and the antenna leads. Interesting. I wonder why. Perhaps there was a serious problem with the UHF? Houston always had a handful of UHF channels... I wonder what might have made someone disconnect it.

Headed out the door right now for a CL lead on some 50's portables... nothing great, but might score some good CRT's!

[Eric H]

I believe that is a 1953 model, it has the same knobs as my 53 but a different cabinet.

[mstaton]

I had a set just like that I bought in the early 90's working from a thrift store for $18 in California. A friend now has it in Carey Idaho. Mine did not have the UHF option and had a built in antenna.

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by Eric H

I believe that is a 1953 model, it has the same knobs as my 53 but a different cabinet.

For sure, the "cone shaped" knobs were used in 1954... all the 53s that I have seen had the flat knobs, but I am not discounting the possibility that some high end 53's might have used the fancy knobs.
http://tvhistory.tv/1954-Philco-Brochure1.jpg

jr

[Charlie]

It appears you get the gold star, Junior. That brochure photo does show this set, and the model numbers do match closely. The back of mine says 22BU-4109 and that brochure says 4109HM (probably for Honey Maple).

So far, it seems it has all Philco tubes in it. Other than the UHF being unplugged, it mostly appears untouched. I did notice the HV cage was opened slightly (no screw securing it in place)... and looks like all Philco tubes in there as well.

I will likely plug it in and slowly bring the chassis up on a Variac to see if anything happens. Ya never know... it just might work. I've brought home a few sets from the 50's that worked pretty darn good with the original parts before I recapped them. Maybe this one will, too.

I have another split-chassis Philco in the garage... not as pretty, and has a dead 21EP4... likely a 1953 model. If need be, I can possibly rob Peter to pay Paul if I need some parts.

Curious observation... this set, along with the other Philco I have in the garage, and maybe a few others... they have those cloth-like straps in there holding the CRT and yoke together. At least, it appears they just hold the yoke against the bell of the tube. Is this correct? Those straps are not holding the weight of the CRT, are they? Could you imagine one of those straps being kinda rotten and letting go... and everything caved in? That would suck. Anyway... I am hoping the straps do NOT hold the weight of the CRT. Comments?

[Eric H]

The straps mostly hold the yoke against the CRT tho they probably do play some role in holding the tube, the clamp around the front of the tube and the braces to the focus assembly do most of the holding.

When I replaced the CRT in mine I simply pushed sideways on one of the straps and it tore right off, they are really rotten after 60 years. It'll be a pain to replace them since they are riveted to the metal brackets.

[Reece]

That set is identical to one a neighbor had in Beaumont that they had bought new back then. It had the UHF tuner also. A cool feature is when you switch the
VHF turret tuner to "UHF," the dial light comes on in the UHF tuner.