Television History - The First 75 Years
 
 

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America's First Electronic Television Set

(68K)
1938 DuMont Model-180 - 14" Picture Tube gave an 8" x 10" picture area -- 22 Tubes -- 250 Watts (Steve McVoy collection)

Size: 24" High x 15" Wide x 25" Deep -- Walnut Cabinet -- $395.00 cost when new.  Released to the public before regular television broadcasts were initiated on April 30, 1939.  Only four sets are known to exist today [includes 1938 and 1939 Model-180s].       
 

1939 Du Mont  -- Dealer Sales Brochure

(30K)   

Here are the interior pages:

(106K)    (134K)
Pages 1 and 2

(56K)   
Centerfold -- Pages 3 and 4

(313K)    (278K)
Model 180 and Model 182 (Close-up)

(127K)    (121K)
Pages 5 and 6

(23K)
Back Cover

1939 Broadcasting Magazine
 

(62KB) -- Du Mont Television Advertising

(70KB) -- Close up - Model 183 illustrated

The American trade magazine called Broadcasting ran this full page television advertisement on July 1, 1939.

What I found particularly interesting is that DuMont proudly declares that they provided the "First Commercial Television Receivers for Home Use".  I have not found any information to dispute this fact, and no other American TV manufacturer ever made that advertising claim.

It should be mentioned that the 1938 Model-180 Du Mont is very similar to the circuit and component design of the 1936 British Cossor Model-137T, shown here.  Allen Du Mont visited Britain in 1936-37 and sent a Cossor TV set back to the United States.  This surely helped put the Model-180 on the market ahead of the competition. (Information courtesy of Steve McVoy).

 (35KB) - 1936 British Cossor Model-137T (Four known to exist)

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