A co-worker of mine was cleaning out his garage and asked me if I wanted an old TV he had. It seemed to be in pretty good shape so I brought it home. It is a DuMont "Beverly" model RA 164/165 from 1952 or 1953.

(The vertical line is a reflection on the safety glass. )

I removed the back to test the picture tube and found some documents. The Owner's Manual, Installation Sheet, and the original sales reciept. There was also a warranty card for the picture tube that was replaced in 1970. It seems they paid $378.09 before financing costs, the day after Christmas 1952.


I tested the picture tube with my Sencore CR70, but the tube failed the Cutoff test. I then pulled the chassis and checked the rest of the tubes. The 1B3 was bad but the rest tested OK. Since the picture tube failed the test, I thought I would power it up and see what would happen. I replaced the 1B3 and slowly brought up the power with my variac.

To my suprise I got a pretty good picture.
The picture looks much better in person. Although the linearity is off and it is shrunken vertically, the contrast and brightness look great. I guess the setup guide has a misprint for this picture tube. Now I need to find a schematic and start changing the caps.

Mark

Looks like it will be a good set when finnished. Replace the electrolytics, too.
Be careful. This chassis tends to have flyback failures.
Also, the yoke is known to suddenly short vert. to horizontal, and, cause catastrophies.
Neat that you got all that original paperwork with it.
Bill Cahill

I tend to ignore the cutoff test. If a CRT actually passes the cutoff test, I'm thinking "this might be a really good one!" But plenty of tubes with a cutoff voltage out of the recommended range work very nicely.

Here are a few more pics of the DuMont.

The knobs are covered in a white powdery substance. It comes off pretty easily so it should not be a problem.


The chassis is pretty dirty. I cleaned the tops of the tubes after I tested each one. The high voltage cage is missing.


It looks like most of the caps are original. Some work has been done in the middle area.

Closeup of repaired area.


Someone wrote on the back that the schematic is in Sams 189. Anyone have a copy?


Thanks,
Mark

Nice set! $400 was a huge amount of money in 52, no wonder it took 24 months to pay it off.

I love it when you can Google the address and see where it originally resided.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=630+bonha ... 63,,0,0.03

Not sure what that sheet of white insulation is under the chassis but you might want to avoid shredding it up and breathing it.

I didn't realize you can put in an address and see a picture of a house. I put in my address and sure enough a picture was there. Did someone actually drive through neighborhoods and take pictures of all the houses? Seems a little Orwellian to me. LOL

As for the address for the TV, the house in the picture looks newer than 1952 to me. That neighborhood is a mixture of older and newer houses. There used to be a TV store in that area and is probably where the TV was bought.

The white sheet you see in the last picture is actually a rubber mat I have on my workbench. I was working on some old clocks and the mat keeps the cases from getting scratched.

Mark

I thought the house looked a little new also, it's near neighbors look correct however so maybe it's been remodeled, or torn down and a new house built on the same lot.

Edit, another Google search turned up this: "The property was built in 2005" two houses down though at 622 it was built in 1949 which would mean it was a new neighborhood when the TV was bought, so apparently the original house is gone, burned down, torn down, hit by a Tornado down or whatever.

Sort of puts into perspective how many resources some company has at it's disposal.

That's a very nice looking DuMont you have there.

Someone here addressed the knob powder issue, IIRC. That is a very nice looking set and should clean up real well!

As per Bandersons suggestion, I've had great results cleanig knobs in 409 household cleaner. That white crud will literally float off after soaking a few hours in 50/50 cleaner water solution. Then maybe hit a few tough spots with a toothbrush. Got to warn you that 409 will also take off clear lacquer from knob brights. Also tends to eat human skin, so wear some rubber gloves.