Black and White TV Gallery Page 2

South West England Vintage Television Museum
Black and White Television Gallery Page 2

Updated: 9th September 2017 - Minor text updates.

Go To Black and White Television Gallery Page 1
Go To Black and White Television Gallery Page 2
Go To Black and White Television Gallery Page 3

When the TV Museum is finally in its new premises in Devon, these sets will all be on display properly. At the moment a lot of the sets are in storage, however, if you would like to see any of them in the flesh in Solihull, UK or if you have a pre 1970 colour set for sale, please email me at mike@tvmuseum.co.uk.

Click on the Quick-Links below to find a particular TV.

This first set is an absolute beauty and was one of the most expensive things I've ever bought. It's a 1930 Baird "Televisor" - a very early mechanical television. I bought it from a very nice couple in the South East of England who inherited the shop where the TV was first sold. To view the "picture" you have to squint through the little aperture on the right. What you see through the little cubby-hole is a red neon lamp shining through a spinning disc with a set of 30 holes laid out in a spiral (known as a "Nipkow Disc") and then it is this that is magnified by a fairly powerful lens to make the picture. The disc is spun at a constant rate (set roughly by the knob on the left of the set and synchronised to the signal by means of a magnetic "synchroniser" coil) and phase (set by the control in the middle of the set to frame the picture correctly). The brightness of the neon is then varied in synchronisation with the disc to create a fairly crude black-and-red 30-line picture. I'll put some more information up about the set shortly.

Baird Televisor Baird Televisor Picture
1930 Baird "Televisor" 30-Line TV and a picture taken from the screen

This set is a 1948 Baird T163 - Well, actually the name of the company that built the set was "Scophony Baird" but this was changed to "Baird Television" in 1952. This set is unusual in using a special mains lead as a kind of built-in aerial. The mains lead has a small Bakelite box in line which, when opened up, contains what looks like a small electric heater. It is this that tunes the mains lead so that the wire is roughly the right length to pick up the London transmission. The set looks quite cheaply made and has all sorts of odd circuit designs. As can be seen in the picture the rubber tube mask has started "sagging" and needs replacing. I think it actually looks slightly sinister - but perhaps that's just me. :-)

1948 Baird T163 405-Line TV

The next set is a 1952 Baird T172 - also known as the Baird "Fifteen" - presumably referring to the size of the picture produced. I bought this recently from some excellent people at a second-hand and antique shop in Liverpool. Alas there is no back cover and the base of the Brimar C15B tube has been knocked off to reveal four wires poking out of the glass. It looks like the vacuum is still intact however so the wires should be able to be reattached once a new base has been sourced. I don't suppose anybody reading this has a spare back-cover though? :-)

1952 Baird T172 405-Line TV

This is a 1950 Bush model TV22. The TV22 is a development of the earler Bush model TV12 and TV12A (see Gallery Page 1). I have yet to start any restoration on this set, but I will take another picture of it once it's all sorted out.

1950 Bush TV22 405-Line TV

Next is a Bush TV191D dual standard set. It is displaying a 405 line picture of Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) from a British TV series called "The Avengers" This set is running on 405 lines through a "Dinosaur" converter, but with the I.F. / R.F. section switched to U.H.F. The picture isn't actually as blue as the image shows, it's just that the picture was taken in the evening and my camera isn't so good in low light...

1966 Bush TV191D 405/625 Line TV

This Ekco TS88 is the first 405-line-only TV I ever bought. It came from a shop called Kilve Marchant Antiques in Woodbury Salterton in about 1995-ish and cost me 45 pounds. The end had come off the CRM92A tube but the vacuum wasn't impaired and the wires were still sticking out, so my mate Alec Jefford from Exmouth and I managed to work out which wire was which and resolder them. The base was then re-glued and taped onto the tube and all worked pretty well. The tube's emission wasn't all that good however and, although the set produced an excellent picture, it was a bit dull and really needed to be viewed in a darkened room. The tube has since been replaced with a much nicer example of the same type - in fact it's the nicest CRM92A I think I've ever seen and the picture is now lovely and bright.

1949 Ekco TS88 405-Line TV

The set is a 1958 Ferguson 306 and belongs to a pal of mine called Tony. This picture was taken a few years ago before the set had any real attention or restoration carried out. I'm quite sure the set is in mint condition by now. ;-)

1958 Ferguson 306 405-Line TV

This set is a Ferguson 3816 and uses the fully transistorised Thorn 1590 chassis. The set looks very similar to the hybrid (valves and transistors) model 3805, which can be found on Gallery Page 1. This set, unlike the 3805, can be run from a car battery, whereas its older brother is a mains-only set.

1968 Ferguson 3816 625-Line TV

This lovely little GEC BT2147 was a set I purchased from a nice couple at a radio rally in Golborne in 2012. The set needed a fair amount of work to get it going because it had previously had a lot of slightly-messy repairs to it, but also because there were several problems with "mechanical" things like valve-holders and pots etc. Anyway, it's working well now and produces a really nice picture.

1949 GEC BT2147 405-Line TV

This TV is a wonderful little 1939 HMV 904 with a 5 inch tube. Unfortunately it doesn't belong to me - the set was fished out of the rubbish pile at Exeter Recycling Centre a good few years ago by one of the attendants. The TV screen had been covered up with paper (notice the rectangular sticky bits above and below the tube) and, presumably, the set had been used only as a radio. The set was sent off to auction in London and fetched 800 pounds at Sotheby's. I wish I'd been there. Sob. :-(

HMV 904
1939 HMV 904 405-Line TV

Next is a very large and heavy Invicta T118 16" Television / Wireless / Record Player. It came from an excellent chap called John from London. I went up with Andy Beer to look at it originally and we decided that it would need a much larger car than I had to take the huge beast away. Some weeks later I came up to London with a Transit van to pick the thing up (Much to John's relief) and we managed to cart it down the stairs and into the van without too much bother. The TV chassis is very similar to the Pye FV2 and utilises the same 16 inch metal-cone tube. Save for a few valves, it appears to be complete, but it does need some electrical restoration before it is really useable. Many thanks John - it's a fantastic set.

Invicta TV / Radiogram
1953 Invicta 405-Line TV / Radiogram

This set is a 1954 Philips 1446U . This was one of the sets near the bottom of my long "To Do" list but my pal Tony came round one day and spotted it and insisted it be the next job on my list. Out it came and after a good weekend's worth of prodding, fiddling and twiddling (which can be read about here) the set was all sorted out and the picture below was duly taken.

1954 Philips 1446U 405-Line TV

This next set is a 1961 Pye V220 and came from an excellent chap from Stoke-on-Trent. Apparently it worked before it went into storage, but I haven't been brave enough to fire it up yet.

1961 Pye V220 405-Line TV

This set is a 1953 White Ibbotson 2015 single channel projection set which was rescued from Exeter recycling centre. Somebody has pinched all the valves out of it, but apart from that, it looks fairly sound electrically. I haven't done anything about fixing it yet. In fact I haven't even replaced the missing valves. I have recently been contacted by relatives of Mr Ibbotson, and was very kindly supplied some operating instructions for this set.

1953 White Ibbotson 2015 405-Line Projection TV

And here's another White Ibbotson set, but this one is slightly different to the previous two (see Gallery Page 1 for the White Ibbotson 2418). This set is a front (or forward) projection set. To watch the old monster, you would wheel out the unit 3 or 4 feet from a purpose built screen and the picture would be projected forward from the lens concealed behind the 2 doors on the front. As with almost every other White Ibbotson set I've ever seen, this has no model number stamped on it although I happen to know (from my pal Jon) that it is a model 4836F. The number indicates that the picture produced is a whopping 48 inches by 36 inches. Does anyone have a White Ibbotson standalone screen they might be able to sell me?

1954 White Ibbotson 4836F 405-Line Projection TV

Go To Black and White Television Gallery Page 1
Go To Black and White Television Gallery Page 2
Go To Black and White Television Gallery Page 3

Go To Colour Television Gallery

Go Back to The Vintage Television Page

Go Back to the TV Museum Main Page