Motorola & Philco finds

[Jeffhs]

Originally posted by jstout66
I have seen ads for Philco in "Life's" from 1967-68. They were advertising table-top Color BIG screen televisions, for like $298.00. Have NEVER seen one and was suprised someone was making them that late. Figured Philco had ALOT of 21FJ's to dump. Our repair shop was in Motorola, Zenith and RCA land, and I think they were done with the roundies by late 66. I sent Doug one of the Philco ads, maybe he will post it! (I'm too dumb to figure out how) I can't imagine Magnavox making round-screen sets after 1966......

Neither can I. I think Magnavox was promoting its rectangular-tube sets (including its fabulous 3-way entertainment centers, which all used 25" rectangular CRTs) from 1966 on, and most other manufacturers had abandoned roundies by then as well, so your observation that Moto, Zenith and RCA "were done with roundies" by the latter part of 1966 is accurate.

It's interesting that Philco, however, was still turning out roundies in the late '60s. You may be right about them having a warehouse full of 21FJP/FBP22s to get rid of.

BTW, I saw the Philco ad you mentioned. I believe we have come full circle as far as TV design goes, as most of today's color sets are table models--and they still weigh the proverbial ton, even though they do not have power transformers. (The heaviest component in today's CRT-based televisions, IMO, is the CRT itself--the larger the screen, the heavier the tube.) I have two of these sets, a Zenith and an RCA, which are both very heavy. I have the RCA, the TV in my living room, on a wheeled utility cart; the Zenith is in my bedroom on a dresser.

One could get a hernia lifting either of these sets incorrectly. The Philco in the ad you mentioned was never intended to be a portable (though I do realize the picture in the ad was just for advertising purposes); one could *definitely* injure himself lifting one of those monsters if he didn't do it right. Those Philco table models were meant to be put in one place and left there; they were far too big and heavy, IMO, to be put on TV stands of the period, most of which were flimsily made of wire and brass-plated tubing with plastic casters at the base. They were designed for TV sets no bigger than about 19", with voltage-doubler B+ supplies (no power transformer) and series-string tube filaments.

I think those big Philco table-model sets might even ruin today's entertainment centers, which are not designed to support TVs weighing over 150 pounds or so (the one in the ad must have weighed at least that much). For another example, the weight limit of the utility cart on which my living-room RCA TV sits is 64 pounds. Put one of those big late-'60s Philcos on it, and it will cave in in no time flat, ruining it and the TV almost in the blink of an eye. (I have a suggestion as to how to build those larger sets into cabinets, but I won't mention it here.)