Old Westinghouse Console - Videokarma.org TV - Video

jeyurkon · #1 09-17-2009, 10:45 AM

Does anyone know anything about this model? I've never seen one like it.

http://columbia.craigslist.org/atq/1364246177.html

John

jr_tech · #2 09-17-2009, 11:52 AM

In Morgan McMahons book "A Flick of the Switch 1930-1950" it is shown on page 183 as "Model H-216M, 33tubes, 1950"... I suspect that it is VERY rare!

jr

ohohyodafarted · #3 09-17-2009, 12:52 PM

I have one, and a blonde one was sold on ebay about a year ago for around $350. I called the seller and it looks like someone already has dibbs on it.

*zenithfan1* · #4 09-17-2009, 01:38 PM

How could I forget that set, it rattled all the way home from the ETF (not to mention all the other places) Did you ever get time to look at it? BTW, I'm still trying to plan a time to make the pickup, I have to work again this weekend too.

bgadow · #5 09-17-2009, 10:02 PM

Isn't there a later RCA that does this? The Westinghouse sure is neat-nice conversation piece.

John Folsom · #6 09-18-2009, 12:03 AM

I suspect you are thinking of the RCA Hillsborough, the "coffee table" TV.

*zenithfan1* · #7 09-18-2009, 09:07 AM

That's a cool set John!

Jeffhs · #8 09-18-2009, 10:15 AM

I'll grant you the Westinghouse TV being discussed here is a unique set, but I can't help thinking what a nuisance it must have been to raise the TV to its normal viewing position every time it was to be used. Was the TV itself on some sort of motorized shelf that would rise up from the bottom of the cabinet? Zenith had a projection color TV in the early 1980s in which the screen would rise up from the cabinet when the set was in use, and would retract into the cabinet when the set was turned off. (NBC used an arrangement very similar to that as well for its flat-panel screen in Jay Leno's old "Tonight Show" studio.) I'm sure the Zenith color set must have had some kind of motor-driven arrangement to raise and lower the screen as well.

jeyurkon · #9 09-18-2009, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

I'll grant you the Westinghouse TV being discussed here is a unique set, but I can't help thinking what a nuisance it must have been to raise the TV to its normal viewing position every time it was to be used. Was the TV itself on some sort of motorized shelf that would rise up from the bottom of the cabinet? Zenith had a projection color TV in the early 1980s in which the screen would rise up from the cabinet when the set was in use, and would retract into the cabinet when the set was turned off. (NBC used an arrangement very similar to that as well for its flat-panel screen in Jay Leno's old "Tonight Show" studio.) I'm sure the Zenith color set must have had some kind of motor-driven arrangement to raise and lower the screen as well.

My mother would have loved it. She didn't like us watching TV so much. "Out of sight, out of mind." She kept the doors close on our 1-128 Syvania console.

John

John Folsom · #10 09-18-2009, 11:16 AM

It does seem a bit impractical. The TV CRT lifts out manually, but has springs and is balanced so at to be quite easy to rotate in and out. But the scheme seems awkward. Imagine how it would look in a room, pushed up against a wall. The fact that no body else mad a similar TV configuration is probably testimonial to the impracticality of the concept. Still, bizarre is cool!

kx250rider · #11 09-18-2009, 12:22 PM

The '46 DuMont Westminster did that too. Nice set! I see the ad's pulled, so it must have sold and gotten a lot of attention.

Charles