The PHILCO Phorum

I took my dad up to see a salvage, scrap, and resale place I was introduced to when I bought those Apple IIe computers and the GE and Westinghouse radios a couple weeks back. My dad was in heaven of course and I stumbled on what the owner said to be a 1949 Philco TV-Radio-Phono console. Looked to be complete except the record compartment door was off (it was there) and he claimed to have the manual to it. Looked to be a 10 or maybe 12 inch TV in there and the unit looked like it would clean up nice. I DID ask a price and he wanted $100 for it and I had to pass. Still wish I had my camera with me as I would have liked to know what model it was. Had a nice look to the cabinet design for that vintage.

For $100, I would have probably passed on it, as well. There's a good chance the price will come down after it sits there for awhile; which, it will likely do because there's not much interest in those big combo models. If I were to get it, I'd want to check the condition of the CRT (especially if any major amount of money was involved). Several years ago, I bought a '49 Admiral combo from someone for $125. That was too much; but, round CRT TV's rarely ever show up here and I wanted one. After I got it, the CRT turned out to have an open filament.

Perhaps it was one of these ? One of my favorite of the early combo sets.


Here's another early style.

Yep! It is the upper pictured unit. Like I said, I kinda like the style, but not the price and size. I have two spare 10BP4 CRTs, so that doesn't worry me so much.

HELP! I'm trying to ship, in one way or another, my Philco 49-1076 combo from Minneapolis back home to Central CA. I really need to know the weight of this unit, though at this point I'll accept an educated guess. Any help would be great. I'm guessing at 250 lbs.

Try classifieds for piano/organ movers. If you are not in a rush they can help out. Just have the muscles here when it is delivered or be prepared to pay a premium to get the stuff inside your place.

It's hard to imagine that watching a tiny, blurry, black and white TV image seemed like a miracle, as it would have been in 1949. I was maybe 5 when we got our first TV in about 1956 or '57 (my dad traded a shotgun for it), too young to appreciate how amazing it must have seemed to people older than I, seeing it for the first time.

The image on an early black and white TV isn't blurry at all if it's working properly, at least not on a TV with a magnetically deflected picture tube. On the electrostatic sets the picture can get a bit off once you go above about a 7'' diameter screen, but it also depends on the circuitry used in the set.
I find that a 10 inch TV is quite watchable, you have to remember that these have round picture tubes not rectangular so the measure is closer to a horizontal width rather then diagonal like a rectangular tube. The reason most were 10 to 12 inches is because of the deflection angles, when you get larger then 12 inches you end up with a very large and heavy bell to deal with, and a longer envelope to boot. This was part of the logic behind the metal-glass picture tubes was to cut down on the weight. Some sets used rear projection to get around this problem, they used a small CRT and lens to blow the picture.
Regards
Arran

Who thinks I should buy this?

$195.00 but when I asked, he said $150.00 right away...

If the tube's good...possibly. Keep in mind: TV is a whole different ball game from Radios, even experienced folks find them challenging.
Just the high voltage alone....

Looks to be in good restorable condition IF the picture tube is good, and that is a big IF. I don't see any "burn" spots, or the look of a broken seal to the envelope, so it may be OK. It will be a challenge. You will have to do all the same routine as with a radio, total re-cap of the paper and electrolytics, and any out of tolerance resistors, before you even turn it on. Still, it looks like it would be a really great addition to a collection if you can get it working. If I had the room I would be interested myself. It reminds me of the kind of thing I cut my teeth on repairing when I was a kid.

Kirk;
  The first thing that I noticed is that the paint on the back of the safety glass appears to be lifting in several places, the shadow mask also looks a bit spotty, I would want to have a good look at the TV chassis because of this. If you knew for a fact that the picture tube was good I would say maybe $125 at most for it, of course you won't know if the flyback or the other stuff is still good. Early Philco TV sets have issues with the high voltage dropping after the set has been playing for a while, apparently it's an issue with the early Philco Phlybacks. Untested I would say up to $100, just like with radios the big combo units tend to be less collectable then the stand alone TV sets, with smaller table sets being the most popular. Bob Andersen would be the best one to ask about this.
Regards
Arran