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1939 Wisconsin Engineer (9" x 12")

1939 Oct WISC ENGR Cover.JPG (37803 bytes) (38K)
October Alumni Issue

1939 Oct WISC ENGR-Pg6a.JPG (196864 bytes) (196K)   1939 Oct WISC ENGR-Pg7a.JPG (138328 bytes) (138K)    1939 Oct WISC ENGR-Pg7b.JPG (146287 bytes) (146K)    1939 Oct WISC ENGR-Pg12.JPG (151541 bytes) (151K)
"Television Grows Up" - Interesting article published soon after the launch of American television.  It talks about GE's Schenectady NY transmitter having 10Kw output, using 648 vacuum tubes!  The CBS transmitter in the Chrysler Building was 15Kw, and required a complete change of air every 20 seconds to keep the temperature down to 90 degrees F !!!  The last text panel mentions that the first licensed television set to be sold in the United States, in  Feb-March 1939, was the Andrea set in New York.  This comment is noteworthy because of the reported sales of Du Mont experimental CRT sets in 1938, which apparently must have been "un-licensed" at that point in time (or the facts in this article are not accurate).

1939 Oct WISC ENGR-Pg6.JPG (50513 bytes) (50K)
First panel of illustrations for this article

1939 Oct 12in GE Console.JPG (151074 bytes) (151K)    1938 GE Model GM-295 TV (12K bytes) (12K)
1938 GE prototype (Model GM-295) 12 inch mirror-in-the-lid television set, with Dr. R.G. Baker watching.  I have seen this illustration before, in trade magazines, but this example is of outstanding quality and shows the detail of this set.  This set has an almost identical chassis to the HM-275 (which was never made or sold) and the 1941 Model 90 (a few were made).  The letter "G" in the model number signifies the year "1938", and 29 of the 295 tells us the set had 29 tubes.  (Info courtesy Jeff Lendaro).

1939 GE 3in Prototype TV.JPG (152694 bytes) (152K)
1938 GE Prototype (Model IHM-171) 5"  Direct View Television  

07-11-01: One of my personal goals has been to document all of the known published prewar television sets - both production and prototype units.  Over the last several years, I have scoured every printed document and magazine I could get my hands on, in an attempt to accomplish this task.  Just when I think I've seen them all, another example emerges!  This GE tabletop prototype caught me by surprise.  As always, I ask fellow collectors to please share whatever information they may have about unusual prewar sets.  Stay tuned,  as other examples on file will be posted later.

UPDATE 7-15-01:  Many thanks to Jeff Lendaro, resident RCA and GE historian, who provided further information on the GE sets above.  Jeff also explained that the letter "I" in the model number IHM probably stands for "initial".  He has the engineering manual for this set.  It basically is equal to the 1939 HM-171, except the IHM-171 has an audio channel, speaker, and 7 pre-set pushbutton stations.

It is Jeff's understanding that the IHM model was dropped from production plans when GE learned that RCA was going to introduce the TT-5 television attachment (a TV without sound, which was then connected to an existing radio which had provisions for TV sound).  The speaker and audio section were pulled out of the IHM-171 circuitry, and the resultant cost-reduced set (HM-171) was released for sale in 1939.  Obviously, they moved the picture tube from its original far right position to the center.  Then, the "Ready for Television" race in radio set sales began.  

1939 Oct WISC ENGR.JPG (134279 bytes) (134K)
Story about how the New York World's Fair television signal was received 130 miles away from the fairgrounds (instead of the normal 50 mile range).

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