Here we have the 1922 HomeBrew that I now call "MyBrew"
This old radio is truly one of a kind...
This radio was given to me, the friend that found it felt it was to toxic
to keep. The original home made cabinet could not be saved. To
many rodents had made a home of this radio and the smell was pretty
bad. The original cabinet was of solid pine construction with a press-
board front. The pressboard front was badly dry rotted and just fell
apart in my hands. It's nice I was able to save the radio parts and bring
this 1920's experiment back to life.
The radio did come mostly complete including:
* a very nice ( and large ) 1922 Everyready B battery
* 2 very nice brass base RCA/GE UV200 vacuum tubes
* The audio transformer is a GE with a patent date of 1919
* 2 bakelite and chrome tower tube sockets (very heavy)no brand
* 2 rheostats both made by FADA, one has a most unusual
locking key that can be removed to prevent the shaft from moving.
* 2 headphone jacks made by Empire in New York
* The tunning coil was hand wound and still has all the pencil
marks where the original builder did the wiring layout.
* Trimming capacitor and the 28 tunning points w/control,no brand
* 2 complete Berwick Supreme headphone sets, made in New York
* 3 Trimuph condensors in different values ( all dead )
Here is the picture show from when it arrived. The tubes have already
been removed and the top was broken off. The only hint as to the original
builder was a name written nicely in pencil on the inside of the back.
as close as I can tell it say's "Durstil"
This slide show was taken with the back off the radio. All the components
were restored, tested and given a little different layout from the original.
This 2 tube regenerative AM radio is a close copy of a Crosley model 50.
I have yet to finish a schematic for this radio , but I am working on it.
Over all the years restoring radios I never had to make a cabinet from
scratch. This was just for fun and gave me a little chance to get creative.
The new cabinet is 1" shorter than the original at 32" long, 10" deep and
12" tall. The top and bottom are solid white pine. The front, back and
sides are birch. The trees are made from my stock of 70 year old 1/8"
thick American black walnut. All the top and side trim pieces are also
made from the same sheet of walnut. All the walnut pieces were carved
by hand, shaped by sanding, and finished in 3 coats of tung-oil. Except
for the routed edges on the top and bottom, this entire cabinet was built
and finished by hand. The sun behind the tree overlay is an inlay of
ambonya burl. All of the original brass fasteners from the
original cabinet were reused.
There are a lot of reflections in these pictures (the camera, tripod, me)
The birch and pine are mirrors........
Iv'e had a little fun, now I still have to get it working. I am still restoring the
headphones (they work very well) and I need to finish a working schematic
for this radio. I really want to listen to this one..
Stay tunned for further updates.