Mercury TV-220A restoration
 

A few weeks ago I was contact by forum member 'mrfixx' asking if I could get his old TV running. He said it was a Mercury TV which really got my head scratching.
Never heard of that brand before :scratch2: He provided a few pics and I started searching for any info. Maybe he'll chime in with the back story on how he came to own it.

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Well long story short, I had business up his way yesterday, and stopped by to check it out. Other than some scratches on top, it's in pretty darn good condition. There's a pull out phonograph below (78 rpm?) and it's got a 16" 16RP4 CRT. So I'm guessing around 1951 vintage.

Pulled all the knobs, undid the chassis bolts and pulled the chassis. I don't think this set was ever serviced.
Every screw and bolt for the back and chassis was present and don't see any evidence of replaced parts.

Here it is back at my place.
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That tuner struck me as odd right away. Eventually, I found some service info in Riders vol 6 and 8.
It looks like Mercury was only around a very short while and only made sets with this basic chassis which is also listed under S.M.A. I don;t know who S.M.A is, but I'm guessing they made it for Mercury.

Vol 6 contains several pages of theory, alignment info and several schematics none of which quite match. Vol 8 has a one page schematic that seems to match very well.
Here's a link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B37...ew?usp=sharing
Couldn't find anything from Sams.

Now I can see that the tuner is a continuous type using 6 variable inductors. It covers the VHF low, high and FM bands. Supposedly, it also cuts juice to the horizontal circuit while in the FM band. I'm curious to see that in operation :yes:
It seems to be frozen right now. Hopefully, some carefully cleaning and lubrication will take care of that.
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I did all I could with the 16RP4 CRT, but can barely coax any emissions out of it. Luckily, I have a spare 16KP4 aluminized version that should fit perfectly.

Because it's so pristine I figure I'll restuff all the caps. I have a few outstanding projects to wrap up, then hope to dive right into it :thmbsp:

Meanwhile, any info on Mercury or S.M.A. would be much appreciated.

Mercury was a record label, and judging by the decal it is probably the same Mercury.

TV was big into the mid 50's, and when that set was made two other record companies (RCA Victor, and CBS Columbia) were making phonos and TVs so they probably got in to TV as a sort of "me too" imitation of the big conglomerates.

I aquired this set from a friend of the family. My sister was going through their storage locker, saw this, and sent me a pic. I wanted it! So she delivered it here, and since I am VERY disabled, I asked for help getting it running again. While taking pictures the tv almost fell on me. As luck would have it, my wife was there to help get it off me. Cant wait to see it in operation... Fixx

Is the turntable missing? My guess would be most likely a 900 series V-M, though Webster Chicago is also a good possibility. Either way, in 1951 they almost definitely put a three-speed changer in it. A TV combo is only likely to have a 78-only changer if it also has channel 1.

Good eye! that winged head logo is a match!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_records

jr

I bought a Mercury TV here in Idaho. Mine is newer(21") Maybe 1953? I believe they're made in Los Angeles

Was that perhaps Pacific Mercury?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Mercury

jr

possibly. I have not looked in a long time

The turntable is there. I recall it was very basic but there might have been a speed selector.

Interesting set of brochures linking to Mercury records in Chicago, not Pacific Mercury in Van Nuys.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MERCURY-RADI...MAAOxycD9TWv5P

jr

I used to have a 12" round tube Mercury set. It used the same chassis as a Silvertone.

I've been researching early TV for decades and never even heard of a Mercury TV. Very interesting. One thing for sure, in the early postwar years everyone and anyone attempted to jump on the band-wagon and market a television set. A friend of mine gets a constant flow of vintage sets and I've seen the most unusual names on them through the years. If you made a complete list of them all it would be huge.

Very cool! Too bad I don't see this set pictured. Odd that they had so many models and so little info exists about them.

That canvas strap holding the jug on might be deteriorated enough to break easily. This has been the case with some split-chassis Philcos with canvas straps securing the CRT.