My newest project, Philco 50T-1402 year 1951

[walterbeers]

Originally Posted by StellarTV

Great TV. I really hardly ever see the 1402 with the square cabinet as much as the 1403 with the rounded cabinet... The 50t-1402 was actually my first vintage TV!

*que flashback* I had opened up my first shop in Gardnerville, NV right next to a Stor-All facility when I was 19 years old. I remember one day walking out back to check out some loud crashing noises that had caught my attention... looking through the chain link fence between myself and an open storage unit was an elderly woman with a large open trailer and a hired hand throwing all of the contents away. I glanced inside the unit and saw THAT TV (your Philco 1402) sitting perched sideways on top of a pile of other junk stacked to the ceiling. I couldn't help myself....

I piped up, "Excuse me..." which got both of their attention. I introduced myself, and asked what was becoming of the contents of the unit. The elderly woman explained that it was all the estate of her now deceased husband, a 'hoarder' as she called him, who had owned TV and Radio repair shops over the years and who KEPT EVERYTHING. While he was alive, he wouldn't let anybody touch the contents of the storage units, most of which had been stored for over 15 years. Now he was gone, as she explained, and for all she was concerned, all of his stuff was following him. I told her that I would empty both of the units for her because I was into vintage electronics and could put a lot of it to use.

Oh, that day I was her 'little angel'

Lots of 50s TVs, boxes of loose tubes, old Radio-TV electronics publications from the 50s, a lot of Lake Tahoe casino memoribilia and ephemera- played keno sheets, lighters, ashtrays, an interesting early 20th century x ray or electroshock therapy machine with a huge frankenstein-esque transformer, and from what I could piece together from bits contained in the unit, his name was John Andresakis or John Anderson (possibly same guy, simplified his name later in life perhaps) who owned a Radio repair shop called "The Radio Doctor" in Oroville, CA, and later one in Zephyr Cove, NV called 'Johnny's Radio and TV."

Anyway, didn't mean to hijack your thread. It's a beautiful set and I remember it staring me in the face through that chain link fence. I still have two extra yokes and a flyback that will fit this set. The 50t prefix indicated it as a 1950 model.

My dad, who passed in 1987 at 87 years old, used to have some kind of an electroshock therapy thing, that was about I'd say 10 inches long, about 3 inches round and had glass, gas filled tubes in different shapes that plugged into one end of the cylinder and the other end had a adjustment knob and an asbestos cord. Turned on it gave purple sparks that would jump to your skin to stimulate sort muscles, etc. with lots of ozone smell. He claimed it helped his arthritis, and actually used it from time to time. The knob as you turned it up made the sparks stronger. I'm sure it was a quackery gadget from many years ago, and I'm sure the relief it gave was mainly mind over matter.

Found a picture of a similar shock therapy thing on e-bay. This is just like the one my dad had only it has more glass tubes in different shapes than the one pictured. There trying to sell it for $235. Gosh, wish I had grabbed it when we cleared out my parents estate.