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Japanese "Last Run" Plaskon Midget 5-Tube AM Radio, made in 1960 for the Mercantile Co. Vancouver, B.C., Canada, Serviced and Perfectly Working
In a Nutshell
Lovely little "Laundry Room" Radio, one of the last Tube Radios made - and obviously built within the "Kaizen" Concept
Introduction:
With all my heart I refer the reader to the excellent article by Phil MacArthur (ref.1 below), who talks about these "Last Run" Japanese All-American-Five midget radios produced during the 1960's. This was the time of the Japanese Economic Miracle under prime minister Ikeda, when Japan entered the Western market with incredibly inexpensive but not cheap goodies, mainly in the electronic sector. The radios are very well built, are among the smallest tube radios ever built, came in various colors, were mainly made from plastic, and had a million fantasy names, that either referred to their performance (Brightone, Claricon, Hi-Fi Master, Master Control, Selectron, Supertone), the country to which they were exported, like Great Britain (Essex, Kent, Saxony, Viscount, Windsor, Wales) or France (DeVille, Juliette, Montclair), or names of earlier successful radios (Coronado, Monarch, Rogers, Zephyr). One can find more than 30 of them at ref.2 under "Unknown - CUSTOM BUILT: Japan", or even in Mark Stein's "Machine Age to Jet Age II, Futuramist, p.340".
Each radio has its indivualized schematics glued to the bottm, although they all feature the same classic AA5 design with the tube set 12BE6 12BA6, 12AV6, 50C5, 35W4 (picts.14,15). Another pecularity is that the components used are not staggered the usual way (e.g. 200Ω instead 220Ω, 250kΩ instead of 247kΩ, see pict.22, bottom left).
Here we have a "501 Beaver", that is unusual in the sense, that it is an early one (1960, according to stamps on parts), a rare export model to not only Canada, but to a Vancouver company "Mercantile Co.", and the radio having a cabinet made from real plaskon (not just plastic). Although not required by Canadian law (see historians below) the dial has the Conelrad (or Civil Defense) marks at 640 and 1240 kHz, required by US law.
Additional information:
ref.1: http://www.antiqueradio.com/Feb04_Macarthur_TubeRadio.html
ref.2: http://www.radiomuseum.org
About my radio:
The radio is in as new condition. The cabinet has no hairlines as is often the case for plaskon cabinets and is as shiny as plaskon is when it is just made. The radio looks like it never was used. It has all five original tubes made by TEN (Kobe Kogyo Corp., pict.10). The chassis is in mint condition and was electronically serviced (no parts replaced). The radio works with excellent sensitivity, selectivity and volume. Please
e-mail
me (Kris) for any questions, ich spreche Deutsch, je parle Français.
For the historians only:
Did you see the two little triangular marks on the dial scale at 640 and 1240 kHz? This are the famous Civil Defence (CD) or CONELRAD marks, obligatory on all radios sold in USA between 1953 and 1963, but occasionally also found later. And earlier - although these marks were obligatory only from 1953 on, the law was signed by president Truman already in 1951. Usually large size of the marks suggests that they were put early-on, unsolicited and joyfully. In the early 1950's the US military was obsessed by the fear that the Soviets would launch a nuclear attack against the States with missiles using specific commercial AM radio stations as navigation beacons. As a remedy, president Truman decided that in case of a nuclear emergency, selected stations would abandon normal operation, and change to one of the frequencies 640 or 1240 kHz to inform the public about counter measures. The system was called CONELRAD (CONtrol of ELectromagnetic RADiation). It became obligatory for all radios, including import models, sold in USA after 1953, that the two frequencies 640 and 1240 kHz be marked with "CD" (Civil Defence) triangles on the dial. The obligation was lifted in 1963 as obsolete, and replaced by the Emergency Broadcast System, and in 1997 by the Emergency Alerting System. Since USA was the strongest export market for non-US manufacturers, most radios, exported also to other countries featured the same CD marks, although not required by law.
Here are the specifications:
| Technical Description of Item |
| Manufacturer |
Japanese, Canadian distributor Mercantile Co., Vancouver B.C. |
| Model |
501 Beaver |
| Type |
5-tube midget AM table radio |
| Production Year |
1960 |
| Cabinet |
White plaskon |
| Dials and knobs |
White plastic, brass ornament |
| Frequency Range |
AM 530-1600 kc |
| Controls |
On/off-volume, tuning |
| Tube line-up |
12BE6(RF), 12BA6(IF), 12AV6(Det., AF1), 50EH5(=50C5, AF2), 35W4(Rect) |
| Size (WxDxH) |
7" x 4" (incl. knobs) x 4½" |
| Weight |
2 lbs |
| Comment |
Lovely "Last Run" Japanese - Canadian tube radio, perfectly working |
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