Question About Wards Airline Radio - Printable Version
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Question About Wards Airline Radio - Michael Dennis - 01-07-2013
I recently became the owner of a 1933 Wards Airline model 62-101 console AM only radio a friend purchased at an estate sale in Ann Arbor MI. It uses an 80 rectifier, type 56's and 58's and p-p type 45's.
I'm just wondering if anyone knows who manufactured this radio for Montgomery Wards. I don't have pictures yet but the cabinet has only a few nicks and scratches. The finish on it looks almost new, all of it is solid and it had been in the same family for 80 years. Thanks in advance.
Mike
RE: Question About Wards Airline Radio - klondike98 - 01-07-2013
According to a comment at http://justradios.com/ "Airline sets were made by several companies for Wards, including Wells-Gardner, Davidson-Hayes and US Radio and TV Corp."
Bob
RE: Question About Wards Airline Radio - Michael Dennis - 01-07-2013
Thanks Bob. This radio has a 10" Utah Radio Products speaker. I'd had no idea that Utah had been around for that long. I recall seeing their "raw" speakers in Allied Radio catalogs in the early 70's.
Mike
RE: Question About Wards Airline Radio - TA Forbes - 01-07-2013
Check the label on the inside of the cabinet, may give a clue as to who made your set. Look for chassis WG-00B.
I think your chassis is a Wells Gardner 00B..
RE: Question About Wards Airline Radio - Michael Dennis - 01-07-2013
Hi TA, and thanks for the reply.
The lable gives the model #, 115 Volts, 60 cycles, 100 watts and some RCA patent #'s, also Hazeltine. There's a decal on the chassis that reads "This Model Approved by RMA Member Engineering Institute". The chassis is copper color, and the finish on the cabinet is in incrediblly fine condition. I'll get some pictures soon.
It may not be all that collectible but the cabinet is beautiful. I guess it's an eight leg, or perhaps more accurately 8 footed lowboy. Only online reference I can find, aside from links to a schematic, is an illustration and some specs from radiomuseum. The illustration is from Stein's erroneous book, (he considers Philco radios low end), on pre-war consoles. It's AM only but has a rather large dial with U.S radio station call letters from the west coast, mid section, and east coast. All of the tubes are the "ST' type and various manufacturers. Someone took very good care of this radio. Original wooden knobs are present. You're probably right about it being made by Wells Gardner. They made my BC-348N too.
Mike
RE: Question About Wards Airline Radio - Arran - 01-08-2013
Does this have a crescent shaped or half moon dial? I have a cabinet for an Airline tombstone of about the same vintage. 1933 is pretty late production for a set employing a pair of #45s for power output tubes, most had switched to using a single ended #47 by then, others used 2A3s, 2A5s, or like Philco had started switching over to the 6.3 volt tubes. I guess since it was a department store private label radio they decided to use up a stock of older type tubes to keep the costs down, the 56s and 58s were fairly current and were very much an improvement over the earlier 2.5 volt tubes that are normally paired up with 45s.
You are right about Stein's pre war console book, his other books aren't much better for anything other then pictures. The books are full of stupid mistakes like tubes counts, model year, and the number of bands a set had. Many of the errors could have easily been avoided simply by flipping through the Riders (or RCC manuals with the Canadian made sets). The comment about Philco radios being of poor quality smacks of sheer ignorance, but then again he wasn't a collector or historian he was an antique dealer.
Regards
Arran
RE: Question About Wards Airline Radio - Michael Dennis - 01-08-2013
Hello Arran,
Yes, the dial is the crescent half moon shape. I will get a couple of photos to post soon. For a department store type radio this set has a very beautiful cabinet. Maybe not super ornate but certainly not plain either.
I think the later versions of Philco cathedrals that used 45's had also switched to a single type 47 if I recall correctly. I'm not nearly as knowledgable as you fellas here on the Phorum. The tube sockets for this Airline have the tube type number printed on them. This set has only four tube types, 80, the 56, 58 and 45.
I agree that the Philco comment by Mr. Stein is an ignorant, erroneous appraisal of them, Philcos were very well engineered and reliable. When I read that statement in his book I was taken aback, even my 42-1008 is a really nice sounding radio. He was an antique dealer? That may partially explain his 'tude about Philcos; probably prejudiced against them because they may not have fetched as much cash for him in his antique sales travels as, say a black dial Zenith. Philcos, especially earlier ones, were very practical and dependable as opposed to some that were frivolous by comparison.
www.radiomuseum.org/r/montgomery_62_101.html
Mike
RE: Question About Wards Airline Radio - y2kbruce - 01-08-2013
I have had several Howard brand radios with a copper chassis but they were more mid-late 30's.
Howard made some fine radios as did Wells-Gardner.
RE: Question About Wards Airline Radio - John R - 01-08-2013
If I hazard a guess I would say your 62-101 Airline probably was made by USR&T. Check out the USR&T chassis 1009, model 3070. It is identical to the 62-101 except is uses 46 tetrode tubes instead of the 45 triodes. The chassis layout and design appears to identical. Even the way the schematic is drawn and laid out is very similar. It is known that USRT made a lot of Airline radios. I know that USR&T did use Utah speakers as I restored a 1930 TRF USRT model 29 set that had an original 10" Utah electrodynamic. I hear that Utah speakers were made in Huntington, In. which is only a few miles up the road from Marion, In. where USR&T was located. Also, USRT did mark the tube #'s on their sockets.
USR&T & Grigsby-Grunow combined into General Household Utilities sometime in late '33'.
After all this time I thought Utah was located in Salt Lake City only to find out they were only 20 miles south of where I grew up as a kid!
Small world hey!
RE: Question About Wards Airline Radio - Arran - 01-08-2013
William Grunow parted company from Grigsby-Grunow a year or two before it went under I think, G.G went bankrupt in 1934 and was reformed in Majestic Radio and TV which went into slow but steady decline until Wilcox Gay took them over in the late 1940s. William Grunow I'm pretty sure was a co-founder in General Household Utilities as the radios they produced from 1934-35 onward were all labeled as "Grunow". US Radio and TV was known for producing "Gloritone" sets around the time that this Airline was made so I don't doubt that they would have built private label sets for Wards, Wards contracted with several manufacturers including Wells Gardner and Belmont to make sets for them. I did not know that US Radio and TV had any involvement with General Household Utilities but it sort of ads up as they disappeared roughly around the time that Grunow brand sets hit the market.
Regards
Arran
P.S I noticed that Radiomuusium seems to have U.S Radio and TV and U.S Apex mixed up, one was based in Marion Indiana, the other in Chicago, not really a surprise coming from that site.
RE: Question About Wards Airline Radio - Michael Dennis - 01-08-2013
Thanks for chiming in all of you, I haven't had the opportunity to give the radio a really good look. With the job and other stuff going on I haven't yet been able to devote the kind of attention to it that I'd like to, haven't even got the camera out yet for a couple of pictures but I anticipate I'll be able to do that pretty soon.
I also noticed that the radiomuseum site states that the manufacturer is Montgomery Wards, so I guess they aren't aware which radios over here were actually made by someone else and that they merely put their name on them.
Thanks again for all your help, guys. In a day or so I'll post a picture or two on this post. The cabinet is really in nice condition.
Mike
RE: Question About Wards Airline Radio - Michael Dennis - 01-18-2013
Well, I was going to post a picture of the radio but the forum won't accept them as being too big.
Mike
RE: Question About Wards Airline Radio - klondike98 - 01-18-2013
Mike,
you can resize the photos using a photo edit program but if you use Windows its very easy to use the Microsoft Paint program that comes with the operating system ("start" icon>All Programs>Accessories>Paint on my PC)
Open the picture with Paint, click "Resize", adjust the width pixel count to something around 600 pixels, save the picture under a new name and then post that picture.
Cheers, Bob
[Image: https://www.dropbox.com/s/aw2afs51hz1bhrg/resize.jpg?raw=1]
RE: Question About Wards Airline Radio - Michael Dennis - 01-29-2013
Hi Bob,
Thanks for the help. That's what's so nice about the Phorum, great people willing to help out. I should have, with some assistence, a picture or two of the Airline in a couple days. Been busy with work and trying to keep my basement dry. I'm wondering if the Airline is orignal or has it been refinished. I don't know enough about wood/refinishing to tell. Willee Warez had a similar Airline console up for sale on ebay back in mid August and the finish on that is even better than this one. I even saved a couple pix from Willee's auction, not knowing I'd have this 62-101 almost five months later.
Mike
RE: Question About Wards Airline Radio - Ron Ramirez - 01-30-2013
Two pix of Mike's Airline:
[Image: http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k420/mrphilco/Phorum%20Stuff/Pictures_00002.jpg]
[Image: http://i326.photobucket.com/albums/k420/mrphilco/Phorum%20Stuff/Pictures_00001.jpg]
The finish looks original to me...and in very good shape!
