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One of only 1000 produced Revere Purse Style AM/BC Portable Radios Model 400, powered by AC or batteries, Serviced and Perfectly Working
In a Nutshell
Summer is coming sooner or later, here is another unique radio portable you would like to show off with on the Beach. This radio is very rare, since only 1000 have been made by the camera maker Revere, of which about 100 survived, and only a handful has been restored to working condition.
Introduction:
Between 1949 and 1955 an explosion in radio design happened. Mini sets, mostly portables, started to appear in the hundreds, using the low power low voltage tube set 1R5, 1U4(1T4), 1U5(1S5), 3V4(3S4,3Q4), first as battery sets only, but later also with AC option. The battery only radios are today obsolete because of the lack or too high prices for the 67.5 Volt battery used for the plate voltages of these tubes. AC sets used Selenium rectifiers, extra tubes like a 35W4, or a 45Z3 in combination with a resistive line cord, or a 117Z3, or used external power supplies. More see under techies below.
The Revere Camera Co. (former Excel Radiator Co.) was founded in 1920 by Samuel Briskin, a Ukrainian philanthropist. It mainly made budget 8mm movie cameras and tape recorders and later aquired Wollensack Optical Co., but in 1960 was sold by Briskin to 3M, when he died from cancer. This is the only radio model Revere ever made, it made only 1000 of them and the price was $44 in 1955 ($350 today!).
Additional information:
ref.1: http://www.antiqueradios.com/forums/index.php
About my radio:
This rare radio model has one inherent problem: the insulation of the line cord embedded in the shoulder strap, normally deteriorates and leaves blank wire. It has to be and was replaced, necessitating little repairs to the strap itself. The radio's chassis was isolated and thoroughly cleaned, as well as a contact to the ferrite antenna in the top lid repaired. The battery connectors are free from rust and were thoroughly cleaned too. All hinges, switches and locks work as designed. The radio has been electronically serviced, all tubes tested, the filter condensors had to be paralleled with new capacitors, all contacts have been sprayed. The selenium rectifier works still perfectly. The leather is in good condition with only minor repairs. The radio works with excellent sensitivity, selectivity and volume (click on the last thumbnail) . Please e-mail me (Kris) for any questions, ich spreche Deutsch, je parle Français.
For the techies only:
There is a simple solution to get these 1949 battery radios working, by replacing the 67.5 Volt battery. Putting seven modern 9V batteries in series, results in 63 Volt which is plenty enough, since the tubes start working at about 50V plate voltage. The seven batteries fit into the space occupied by the old battery. The battery is described here. A template file (in 1:1 scale) of an Eveready 467 battery, which has been used to make the battery shown in pict.15, will be included with the item.
For the 50mA heaters (in series) a special 7.5 Volt battery was used, which can be substituted by a series of 5 C-cells, that fit in the same space. Powering the radio with 120V AC faces the problem to drop the voltage for the heater string of these 4 tubes from 120V to 7.5 Volt (5 times 1.5V), which in the simplest case requires a resistor of 2250 Ohm ((120-7.5)/0.05), burning 5.6 Watt ((120-7.5)*0.05). This power is sometimes too high for a very small radio, like for example the very delicate General Electric L-622 Jewel catalin radio, which therefore uses the trick of burning about half of the excess power in a resistive line cord. For the radio presented here a selenium rectifier is used, which is still perfectly working. In case of future potential failure an ordinary solid state diode can be replaced. The dropper resistor is attached to the metal of the chassis, thus distributing the 5 Watt equally over the whole radio.
Here are the specifications:
| Technical Description of Item |
| Manufacturer |
Revere Camera Co. Chicago USA |
| Model |
400 |
| Type |
4-tube AM/BC portable radio with Se rectifier for AC |
| Production Year |
1955 |
| Serial Number |
unknown |
| Cabinet |
Beige leather with aluminum trims |
| Dials and knobs |
Two red plastic dials, black dial scale |
| Frequency Range |
AM 540-1600 kc |
| Controls |
On/off switched by top lid, volume, tuning, leather strap with inside line cord |
| Tube line-up |
Se (Rect.), 1R5 (RF), 1U4 (IF), 1U5 (Det.), 3V4 (Audio) |
| Size (WxDxH) |
7½" x 6½" x 4 " |
| Weight |
4 lbs |
| Comment |
Unique and very rare little leather jewel, serviced and perfectly working |
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