WORLD's FIRST PORTABLE TRANSISTOR TELEVISION 1959 (Vintage PHILCO Technology HD)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ส.ค. 2024
- PHILCO introduced the world's First Transistorized Battery Operated Portable TV in 1959. Built so rugged, many still work today. We look at the PHILCO SAFARI portable, both outside and inside. HD images show the internal chassis and CRT with its unique mirror projection system. Run time: 5 mins. -- Philco's Safari was The World’s First battery-powered, portable Transistorized Television. It used 21 transistors, weighed 15 pounds and ran on rechargeable batteries or AC.
The picture was generated by its two-inch CRT picture tube which faced upward inside the set. The image was reflected to a viewing window, which provided a larger viewable image. An adjustable sun visor also made it possible to watch the screen outdoors, even in sunlight.
It came in two models, Black Leather or Natural Tan Leather. It sold for $250, which is about $2,300 today.
COMPETITORS:
The all-transistor SONY TV-8 was made available in the U.S. (1960) less than a year after the Safari was released. This was followed by the SONY Micro-TV in 1962, which proved highly successful.
Both the TV-9 and Micro-TV were “Direct-View” televisions, and did not use a magnifying or projection technique.
Special Thanks to Hagley Museum & Library for PHILCO News articles and photos of the Safari.
www.hagley.org
Also, recommended historical sites include:
www.radiomuseu...
www.radiolaguy...
philcoradio.com/
www.earlytelev...
Early PHILCO Computers
• Computer History: PHIL...
THE LEGACY OF PHILCO CORPORATION
Philco Corporation was founded in April 1892 in Philadelphia, as the Helios Electric Company.
In 1906, it renamed itself the Philco Battery Company, and became a highly successful pioneer in the production of batteries, radios and televisions.
It created the Surface Barrier Transistor in 1953, a valuable component in the creation of high-speed computers. Philco went on to build the world’s most automated transistor manufacturing plant.
Beginning in 1953, Philco produced a variety of innovative computers for the National Security Agency and the U.S. Navy.
In 1961, Philco was purchased by Ford Motor Company.
In early 1963, Philco was awarded the contract to implement NASA's Mission Control Center at the Manned Spacecraft Center near Houston.
In 1965, Philco-Ford unveiled the sophisticated system that became known as "Mission Control," which played a key role in the Gemini and Apollo space programs, including the historic lunar landings.
Today, the “Philco” brand name is used by a variety of companies around the world.
{Computer History Archives Project}
I have one of these that still works! My daddy was so proud he had this cutting edge technology back in the day.
I have one of these in my antique radio and television collection
An amazing piece of technology that was dethroned extremely fast.
Dethroned extremely fast?...Not really, Battery powered transistor portable black and white (and color) CRT TVs were sold well into the 1990's (maybe even later, I'd have to check my Radio Shack catalog collection..) We even had one built into a boom box with a stereo cassette deck and AM/FM radio.
@@jamesslick4790 I did not expressed myself well, I did not meant that the technology was dethroned, just that particular impressive piece of technology, i.e. the Philco Safari. The two SONYs showed in the video look superior.
The Safari was very well made,you can plug them in now and will still work as the video shows.. The Sony TV8-301 usually needs at least capacitor replacements to produce a full size picture.
@@SlyPearTree Oh, Got ya, You meant the ACTUAL PARTICUALR product. Yeah becuase The SONYs MAY or may NOT have been better sets. But except for the mirror required for the vertical CRT of the Philco, The underlying technology itself is the same. And would remain pretty much the same until the end of the CRT portable era. (Just to clear up any confusion.)
@@jamesslick4790 yep, I got one for christmas when I was 10 in 2003. It was a black&white tube one brand new then!
I seen portable black&white tube sets still being sold well into the mid 2000s in stores
Even in 2005 I was gifted another black&white portable set, this time with a builtin mp3 CD player!
I sometimes wonder if the cathode ray tube is still being made/used today within some specialized aplications outside television.
I wish companies were still dedicated to quality like they use to be before the 1970s.
Quite an achievement in 1959. The line scan and EHT circuits were high stress environments for the early transistors, and even ten years later there were many failures in this part of the TV.
…….can you imagine! How cool is this? Think I received my first 2-transistor radio about then! Great piece of history…….thanks for sharing!
Hi John, thank you for the kind words. : ) CHAP
Quiet incredible, here in England we only just invented the wheel......
The one I remember as a child in the sixties was that little Sony that's still so attractive.
Fantastic! In 1959 i got my first 2-transistor radio (I was only eight)
Two transistors?
I wonder if the words "Boy's Radio" were on the radio itself (around 1960, they were considered "Working Toy Radios" and not taxable imports).
Thanks. I'm heading on down to my Philco dealer after work, to see if I can pick one up. I'm going camping next weekend, and this will sure come in handy. :)
Good luck. Perhaps you will get the last of the "on Sale" items! ~ : )
I've got some bad news for you.
@@beezertwelvewashingbeard8703 Are you trying to tell me they're not made anymore? :(
@@roachtoasties No, only that we no longer broadcast NTSC, so bring your battery powered and transistorized VCR! Granted we needed to modernize TV and move onto ATSC, but it was a sad day when all the analog TVs essentially became obsoleted unless one uses an external tuner and converter/modulator. I had (well, still have, actually) a nice 5” B&W portable battery powered TV set that I enjoyed using for years during hurricanes and power outages and I kind of miss using that little set!
@@ethanpoole3443 I still have some analog sets too, including a couple tiny sets that are of no use. The larger ones I have connected to a cable box, which still provides an analog output, but there may come a day where those also no longer work. Oh, well. :/
Beautiful, very well preserved example.
Thank you for the kind words. It is much appreciated. This turned out to be an expensive video for us, since we decided to buy all the equipment you see in the video in order to provide the best quality images and give viewers a "realistic" feel for this early technology. Lots of time, lots of fun. It is nice to see people enjoying it. Thanks again! ~ Victor, at CHAP
Very good presentation, thank you from Oslo.
Harald, thank you for the kind words. Glad you enjoyed it! ~ Victor, at CHAP
@@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject I am impressed over your series; the quality of the subject, the precise presentation of the objects and the philosophical touch to it. It does remind me of a series of articles that I wrote in 1976, about the future of communication technologies. I included George H. Heilmeier at RCA who invented the plasma screen; it was all extremely exciting. My be you should think about making a program about George H. Heilmeier, it will give a deeper insight into what you present now. I used to work at IBM in the early 1970'ies when the word processing revolution started. If you are interested in other things, like defense and more, please visit my web page which I started 20 years ago, I write everything. www.petrofilm.com - Thank you.
Harald, thank you for the very kind words. Will take a look at your site as well, thank you! ~ VK
At nine years old I went with my father to a firestone tire store and watched a TV just like that while they were fixing his car. I also read the Popular Science Magazine.
It's realy well built and compact.
But I don't think I'd go to a lovely beach to watch TV. LOL.
We watch a LCD to learn about TVs in 2021.....
Pocket sized, battery powered LCD TVs were around in the 1980's! Source: I worked at Radio Shack.
@@jamesslick4790 i had the Atari Lynx 😀. Then someone stole it.😐
@@jasonmorgan661That's a Bummer,dude. 😟
@@jamesslick4790 especiall since my mom bought me that and passed a couple of years later. I got the emulator and the games but to really release my memories i gotta actually posess it and hold it . Funny my memories trigger with exposure to the old games i played. There even doing alzheimers research because games are such strong memory triggers.
Amazing set
It's interesting that the engineers opted to use a yoke on this little CRT. Since the required deflection angle is small, I would expect oscilloscope-style electrostatic deflection, as this would consume less power and eliminate the costly, copper-wound yoke.
Neat stuff. Nice to see the history and development of technologies.
Thank you for the kind words. ~ Victor
The tv sony 510u is from the year 1972
Safari, so goody…….
Bit lost on US viewers 🤔
It's was a good achievement for consumer electronics at the time but that price point was insane. Where did they expect people to really use it? Lord knows I wouldn't want to drag something that expensive someplace wet and sandy. If I am camping I want quiet. If I just had to watch a ball game I would have stayed home. Those later Sony TV's would have been good for a dorm though.
I am wondering what kind of rechargeable battery was used. Also interesting that the tubes look like wires directly connected no sockets.
Hi Beast, great question! It used a Philco Leakproof Alkaline Rechargeable 7-1/2 volt battery. Back in 1959, they cost about $5. each (which would be about $28.00 U.S. dollars today). Thanks for asking. ~ Victor, CHAP
@@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject I’m surprised that was their choice, I was expecting either NiCd or lead acid gel cell (though I am uncertain if they had gel cells in 1959, not sure when they were first introduced).
I had a Casio hand held colour tv worked well until the analog signal was switch off in 2012
Hook it up to a battery pack and a DTV converter box.
I did that with a battery power TV.
Yet it still has a couple of tubes in it.
Kind of had to have a CRT in order to be a CRT. Otherwise the only tubes I have noticed were the two high voltage rectifiers and that was actually a very smart decision at the time as there really were not more reliable high-voltage solid state rectifier options with less voltage drop available at the time (selenium rectifiers would have had too much voltage drop and wasted power and solid state diodes would have required a very long string of relatively low-voltage diodes to handle the very high voltages of the VHT circuit…which gets us back to that excessive voltage drop issue). Nowadays we could easily drop a few 1N4007/5408 1000V diodes in their place and accomplish the same without much voltage drop, but those did not exist, or at least were not reliable (or may have had too much reverse leakage current).
I need a hood like that for my transisorizsed TV (my phone).
One question: what narration software did you use for this video? It's excellent and almost indistinguishable from a real narrator!
Hi Alain, the professional narrator who did this narration for is David Melvin (mentioned in the credits at 4:29). He is a professional voice over artist. We love his clarity and tone, especially with technical subjects. I don't know the nature of any of the recording equipment he uses. Hope this helps. Thanks for asking. ~ Victor
It's the uncanny valley of human speech
@@ataricom
I don't know, David's narration is so precise that it gave me the impression that it could be a computer speech software at work here...
@@AlainHubert Human imitating computer. There's Artificial Intelligence for you!
Bought my first transistor radio back in 1970, Thought I had grown up all of a sudden, It cost me £1-99. What a bargain !
Advertisers have long had this bizarre fixation with thinking that folks want to watch TV on a beach. Who does that.
Hi Alphabeets, good point! I don't remember ever seeing beach TV''s on BayWatch. : )
@@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject I imagine there might have been, but we were likely distracted. 😂
@@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject
If you want to watch a TV station that is 300 miles away, the Beach is the likeliest place where you'll see it, since UHF radio waves can follow the curve at times.
Great content. Please put your channel on Odysee.
Hi Dave, thanks for the kind words and for your suggestion. It sounds like something worth exploring. ~ : )
"Looks like a movie screen"...HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA....
“Like a theatre…”
if youre two inches tall.
Perfect for your propaganda, daddy.
mean 'Philco' Philips? I don't understand why Philips named in the USA 'Magnavox'? or is the name Philips a non good word?
Sony sets more Advance