Duane, Anything is possible. Might have been someone at Raven making a whiz-bang super. The engraved panel is a curiousity.

And, Duane, again, I thank you for the kind words and the link to my site. One might want to click on this link that'll take you to many more pictures of 1920s Superhets.... http://www.superhets.info/page5.html When there, click on the pictures to enlarge.

You guys dazzle me with the knowledge shown on these threads.

Something not shown in previous pictures is that my Raven has a single audio and it's a Raven audio transformer. Any others seen on sets owned by members??

I still think we should ask for a Forum of our own. Something like "1920s Superhets" so old guys like me don't have to jump all around to find all this great information on the subject! Maybe get the powers-to-be to move these threads over to it??

Let's see some more Superhet pictures!!! PLEASE!!!

Rick

Here is a nice little receiver that I got a few years ago. It’s a Como breadboard superhet. The kit itself, or possibly factory wired radio, had six each UV-199 tubes. There is a separate set of binding posts on this part of the radio. Accompanying the main kit is a three tube Daven RC audio amplifier that uses the UV-01A type tubes, which makes a nine-tube radio out of the entire affair. The two meters add a lot of charm to this old set.



Here is a topside view of the set. When I got this radio one of the brass base tipped UV-01A’s was missing, and another one was broke, leaving only the brass base. The tube had been broken for a long time, which makes me believe that all the tubes were the original tubes. The set has 85 years worth of dust and soot, but it’s in remarkable condition. It must have been in a fairly protected environment for all those years.



Here is view of the General Radio IF transformers (30 kc). The set used high quality components. Unfortunately, the General Radio IF transformers were potted in a hard tar-like material and few survive working to this day. All the General Radio transformers in this set are bad.



Here is another view of the Daven audio frequency amplifier.



This bypass capacitor indicates the maker of the kit. The label on the capacitor states: Como Apparatus Co. Boston, Mass.



Here is the main component that reveals what this set is. It states: 30 kc Tuned Int. Freq. Transformer, Como Apparatus Co. Boston, Mass.



This is an interesting set that doesn’t appear to be very common. I do not plan to restore this radio. I’m just going to preserve it and enjoy it for what it is. I hope you enjoy the photos.

Duane

That is one beautiful set. However, you need the high mu MU-6 tubes in the Daven unit or UX-240 tubes to make it more correct.
Curt

As the tube nomenclature indicates, the amplification factor of a type MU-6 tube is 6. The amplification factor of a type 240 tube is 30. Since the amplification factor of an 01A is 8, why wouldn't type 01A tubes be sufficient? If it were my set, I would stick with the BBT 01As. After all, that is what the original owner believed was appropriate. Very neat radio!

Norman

.

Ron W4RON Asked:
.

I had the wire on hand Ron. It was the last remnants of a fairly large spool I bought at a estate sale years ago. Most of the roll was cut up and dyed similarly to that used on the Framingham set, but to a brown, very nearly perfectly matching the wire on Radiola 28 loops. (I have three of the Radiola 28 sets along with matching "104" speakers to give them AC capability).

I'm still drooling over Duane's McLaughlin Superhet. I had seen construction articles for sets using the "Precise" brand components, but the McLaughlin is a new one to me. It is difficult to imagine the problems overcome in designing and producing a single dial Super in 1924. That's a great catch Duane.

I want to say thanks here too to Rick for posting the additional information on Raven sets. As scarce as they are, I'm kinda amazed at the amount of information and sets still extant.

Thanks also to Jerry Huelsbeck for posting his Raven Pictures - - a beautiful example, and the best I remember, it even has the loop with it.


I'm going to offer another incomplete Superhet for folks to peer at - - - actually it is more a pile of parts at this point, but I have high hopes.

To explain; I need to tell a short story about the set.

More than a dozen years ago I heard of this particular Superhet from a collector friend in Texas who described it in some detail and genuinely piqued my interest.

I then came to possess a early issue of Radio News magazine with a picture of the set of my dreams. Even better, the photograph was shot near-axially so it provided enough information to be enlarged and details of the set's construction revealed to a degree.

A short time later an elderly Gentleman living in Upstate New York told me of seeing this one-of-a-kind set at a 1923 or 1924 New York City Radio Show / Extravaganza. The old fellow and I spent quite a long time talking of the early days of the industry and of his memories of those times. He had attended the New York Radio show and was afforded the opportunity to inspect the set at close range. From his recollections and some interpretative sleuthing, I finally managed to pretty well figure out the set and its component parts. In short - - I was hooked. I had to build a replica of the set.






With this very good photograph (though small - - - the actual photo is probably about three inches in width) to work from, I started experimenting with scanning, cropping, and enlarging the photo; hoping to produce a clear enough image to be able to draw a pattern for the front of the radio I wished to fabricate:





The next step was to scan the entire enlarged picture in small enough segments so I could print them off on individual sheets of paper in hopes of assembling a larger composite:




There followed a lot of experimenting, lots of paper, even more toner, cuss fights with balky scanners, and a huge amount of frustration: BUT, eventually I did finally manage to produce a "actual size" print.

Knowing the meters were Weston 301's, I used the meter diameters as a reference point for the final scaling.

The process also afforded the opportunity to expand my already colorful vocabulary, much to my long suffering wife's chagrin and dismay.

The end result - - - a pasted-up print that I could work directly from to produce the copper front panel:



I printed off several copies of the enlarged picture so I have a source of visual reference as well as copies to be used for direct transfer of the pattern to the copper sheeting to be tooled.

I've been gradually accumulating parts to build the circuitry of the Copper Front Superhet for a long time.

Tube sockets, buss wiring, suitable early bypass condensers, and a lot more items have gone into waiting for actual chassis construction.

I have a suitable amount of old Mahogany, Maple, and Boxwood to construct or have constructed a cabinet to house my receiver.


I should mention here that as a youngster I had classes in what we then called "Copper Tooling." With supplies from the Tandy Co. (Later to be owners of Radio Shack and other ventures), I learned to work copper sheet into pictures and other decorative objects. What I needed to do now was re-learn those skills and practice until such point my confidence would allow me to produce a credible replica of Mr. Savastano's Superhet.

I next bought a roll of copper flashing, wide enough to produce a full-width copper front panel. The flashing came (unfortunately) with a gummy, sticky asphalt coating on it that was intended to help waterproof roof valleys. Soaking a length of the copper flashing in a couple of gallons of low-test gasoline removed the goo quite nicely.

About two years ago I finally managed to locate a Gentleman who had the necessary IF and audio transformers -- - - in fact, he had a complete set of Receptrad Superhet components. Better still - - - he was willing to part with them reasonably. Before the deal could be consummated He succumbed to a long illness and I lost the opportunity. I'm now back to hunting the pieces needed to produce the set.

The Original Copper Front Superhet was built to plans from Victor Greiff, and largely made use of transformers and other parts produced by Receptrad Radio Co. of New York. The Receptrad items were the ones I required, then located, and then lost the opportunity.

Here's a look at what the chassis should look like with the Receptrad Radio components installed - - - unfortunately, in this case they are installed in another of my Superhets:





The RF bits - - - also from Receptrad Radio:





The IF & Audio transformer section, seen a bit closer:





Then, a closer look still at one of the audio transformers. The audios are in identical housings to those of the IFs:





Work goes on sporadically. I'm still searching for the missing bits for the chassis. I still work on tooling the front panel from time to time. I'm ashamed to say how many false starts and screw ups have gone on so far - - but in the end I'll have at least the cabinet if it is within my power and ability.

If I accomplish nothing but the cabinet I will feel fulfilled in part. Who knows - - - someone else, years from now, may find my scribbles, a empty cabinet, and be prompted to take up the cause once again. If all goes well, I will finally have my Copper-Front copy of Mr. Savastano's Beautiful and unique Superhet.

If it comes to pass before I assume room temperature I will indeed have been amply blessed in this one respect.
.

Norman- yes, the MU-6 tube had a mu of only 6. It was later found that a higher mu tube could be used to advantage in R/C coupled amplifiers and as a result the UX240, which is a high mu triode came out in (I think) 1926.

For transformer coupled stages, a low mu triode is what you want, but for R/C coupled circuits the higher mu triodes shine. Better frequency response and the whole works.

That is why I made the comment I made. Not that would have been historically correct in the Davan amplifier.
Curt

.
Duane B:


Too large for my scanner, and my photography sort of sucks - - - but here is a original pictorial print of your "Como" but, shown with the conventional transformer coupled audio section.




Comparison:


Your receiver appears to be identical, right down to the little indexing markers above the tuning dials.

Looks like the builder of your receiver pretty much "nailed it" except for the deviation in the audio circuit. I'd guess they were likely using a Factory-Kit.
.

Hi Dale,

Thanks alot for providing the scan of the original Como print. I appreciate it.

And - your receptrad is awesome!

Duane

I noticed something interesting about the Como superheterodyne board above. The two volt-meters are from Claratone TRF sets of 1924-1925, manufactured by Equitable Radio Corporation. These sets were contemporaneous to the Como receiver and Daven amplifier, and the meters could have been obtained only by “cannibalising� two of them.

This leads to the conclusion that the set-up on the large board was assembled somewhat later on, perhaps some time in the 1930s.

.
Time for another "Roaring Twenties" Superhet?



OK. How about a 1929 Silver Marshall "Laboratory" Super? This SM Superhet was originally sold as parts only, not as a kit, reportedly because of licensing problems.

I'm not sure when Silver Marshall entered the marketplace with this version of the Laboratory Superhet - - - a name apparently coined to describe the Earnest Pfaff designed "Time Signal Amplifier Superhet" a year previously. This new Super was reviewed in the September 1928 issue of "Citizen's Radio Call Book" and again in the October 1928 issue of "Radio Broadcast."

This Silver Marshall Superhet offering seems to have been something of a kluge. Gone was the previous year's highly touted 112 kc. Model 440 "Time Amplifier," replaced now with the little individually Bakelite housed, type "210" Long Wave transformers - - - each IF stage separately protected from the world in the copper shield cans previously seen on such venerable stalwarts as the Model 740 "Coast To Coast Four," and the Model 720 "Screen Grid Six." If ultimately housed in the (optional) model 700 steel cabinet, this new Superhet enjoyed double protection from stray RF signals and other potentially interfering ether-borne vermin.

One is left to speculate that SM somewhat rushed things a bit to place a Screen Grid Super on the market as soon as possible. The SM folks had to have been aware that other firms too were working like the very dickens to tame the UX-222 in order to avail themselves of it's enormous increase in amplification. They already had the recently released chassis pan and cabinet available as well as the shielding and most other component parts that went to make up this new entry in the Superhet field.

Curiously, SM had pushed the IF frequency up to 112 kilocycles with the Laboratory Model in 1927 (the 440 Catacomb Super) but with this set the IF frequency was dropped back to 65 kc.

The good part about this Silver Marshall offering is it features a stage of RF amplification ahead of the IF herd; combined with the Screen Grid tube's increased amplification, these sets were reportedly very good performers.




Apologies for the next two pictures - - - they are the original pictures from the seller.




From the bottom, the SM chassis is surprisingly un-busy:




American Radio And Mercantile listed the new super in their advertising for October 1928:





Barawick (and other mail order firms) had the set listed in their Spring/Summer catalog for 1929:





This Silver Marshall Superhet seems to be one of the more difficult to find. When I purchased this example off EeevilBay some years ago I was using a dial-up rig and the seller's pictures were so egregiously huge it took a full twenty five minutes for the ad to load.

Determined to bid on the set at the last minute, I brought up the ad at least a half hour before the expiration of the listing and carefully timed my home-brew snipe - - - and - - - I got it with only a few seconds to spare. A short time later a guy in Australia E-Mailed me, lamenting his having missed the end of the listing. I don't remember now the reason given for his tardiness, but it was apparent that I'd been very fortunate. My maximum bid was only a few cents more than the winning bid.

This example is missing one audio transformer and the output tube. Judging by the mess of attached and wadded-up wiring, the guy that constructed it was using an off-board audio amp.

I also want to either find or construct the optional little wooden base-frame these sets are occasionally seen with. I have four or five of the SM metal sets with this type of housing, but only one of them was found with the wooden base.

Sadly, my Silver Marshall Laboratory Super set is still a Shelf-Queen, awaiting me to either build a power supply or find one of the scarce SM produced A-B units.

We might as well keep this super-het thing
going.
Here's one I bought at the Charlotte show in March.
I haven't paid much attention to it since I
brought it home.

It's still sitting on the couch in the display room.

I uses 199 tubes and an interesting enclosed
IF strip.



Also an interesting batter connection plug
inside the set.


Some time in it's resent past someone has
been working on it, note the new caps.

Just another radio that I don't have room
for, I guess it'll stay on the couch for now.
If you come to visit you might get to hold
it on your lap.

Someone suggested making the thread
a sticky, I would suggest a photo album
for 20s supers.

A thread this long with so many pictures to download would make a very poor sticky. I think a photo album would be the way to go.
Curt

Well, I know Ron knows his latest super. So, for others who might not, I post the following brochure about his interesting set.

Two versions of this Branston radio were introduced in November 1924. It could be built with a reflex transformer or without.

Designed on a 7 x 21 inch panel, a lot is packed in there. Could run with 199s or 201As, but the former is most commonly found. This receiver was promoted with a shortwave transformer on the front end. It used an air core filter and iron core IFs that ran at 57 KC.

A fellow emailed me from Australia several years back who had one, shown in the "Gallery" on my web site (linked at the bottom of this post). He said they were advertised heavily in that country as were many other brands of early superhets, cause RCA had little influence "down under"!

Rick

Rick, I didn't know anything before,
THANKS for posting the brochure.
I don't suppose you could send me a
high res scan of it to put with my set could you?

Now have to start searching for the loop for it.

Rick, I don't suppose you'd mind if I used the
brochure you posted here to go with the
set when I add it to my super-het page?

Emailed them to you, Ron....

Rick

Got'm, thanks a bunch.

.
That is a great looking Superhet Ron. I had never seen a Branston other than pictures in a construction article.

Excellent workmanship to boot. The best part of all - - - you got the seven pin unobtainium Jones plug to fit the set's socket.

Congratuations on a great catch.
.

Hi Dale, yeah I feel really lucky that the
plug is there. I also have a Browning Drake
5R that has the same Jones connector on the
back and it also has the unobtainium plug.