The PHILCO Phorum

I thought you all might enjoy hearing (and seeing) the end product of several years of research and discovery. As I mentioned in my previous post seeking information about the Beam of Light Photo Cell, there is much to learn and not a lot of souces to extract that information regarding this simple yet complex system. I've talked to many people over the years and culled a little bit of information from all of them. I owe a great deal of thanks to all of you who have given me information so freely on these forums. I guess that's what it's all about, sharing our knoledge with each other and a love of these old and sometimes wonderful technologies from a bygone era.

The Demo that I've put together uses my 1941 Philco Radio/Phonograph Console model 41-616. I've chosen to set the record changer in the manual mode of operation. I think it's an amazingly good sounding system and would stack it up against some of the finast systems of it's day.

So, follow the YouTube link below to hear "Music on a Beam of Light".



Bob.

Ampico, That sounded great. That is the first beam of light that I have ever seen. Looks and sounds like you did a good job.

Dave D

Dave D Wrote:Ampico, That sounded great. That is the first beam of light that I have ever seen. Looks and sounds like you did a good job.

Dave D

Thanks Dave.....I guess there aren't too many of these BOL units around that are working. I feel very fortunate to have one of the few fully operational examples.

Bob

Ampico- Before I saw the demonstration of your radio I ran across a web site that was a repair shop. The guy running this shop had stopped repairing Beam of Light units because the photo cell that he had been using had become to expensive. It sounds like you have learned something that he doesn't know about. If I can find his site again I will let you know who he is. Maybe you can let him know how you solved the problem. That is , if you want to. Maybe you could become the Beam of light repair man of the world.

Dave D

That's awesome! Wonder why Philco didn't stick with that? I'm impressed!

The BOL changers were in pre-WW2 models, 1941 and 1942 models. Probably didn't catch on after a year of marketing.
Not picked up after war-prod stopped for Philco in 46 model year. Standard crystal pickups on changers from then on.

May have been a marketing strategy for boosting sales with a new "concept."

See the BOL pages on my site here: http://www.philcorepairbench.com/phono.htm

Chuck

Bob:

Nice job. Patience and skill pay off.

Don

Don Lind Wrote:Bob:

Nice job. Patience and skill pay off.

Don

Hi Don;
Yes....and a lot of help from incredibly smart and generous guys like you. Thanks. Bob