A tombstone-style radio receiver with "Standard Broadcast" (55 thru 180 KHz) and "Short Wave" (1.8 thru 6 MHz) reception. Wooden cabinet with chassis and speaker installed. Open back. Power cord is not original to the piece.
Broadcast radio grew into a major industry in the decade following the First World War as inventors refined the technology and entrepreneurs established supporting companies. By the 1930s, so many people wanted radio that the Great Depression slowed but could not stop the industry’s growth. Radio engineering became an attractive field for people interested in advanced technology and research laboratories like that operated by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) pushed advances in components and circuit designs.
Materials research also affected radio, as seen in the plastic casing of this Emerson radio receiver from about 1937. The so-called tombstone design was popular in the 1920s but the receivers typically were made of wood. Aside from being flammable, wood cases could warp and split, and the finishes scratched and stained easily. This radio’s case, made with a plastic called catalin developed by the American Catalin Corporation in the late 1920s, resisted heat and incidental damage like water stains. Available in a variety of colors and designs, catalin radios remain popular with collectors.
GE incandescent Lumiline lamp, green-coated, ca. 1936. Characteristics: Double-ended with steel disc-bases. C-8 tungsten filament, with glass-bead insulated support-hooks attached to a spine paralleling the filament. Tubular envelope with an enamel, green coating. Color lamps were displaced by the development of the fluorescent lamp, though clear and frosted are still available as of 1997.
GE incandescent Lumiline lamp, white-coated, ca. 1936. Characteristics: Double-ended with steel disc-bases. C-8 tungsten filament, with glass-bead insulated support-hooks attached to a spine paralleling the filament. Spine is crimp-connected to lead on one end, other end has a glass-bead insulator connecting to lead. Filament is crimp-connected to a support hook / lead prior to this insulator. Tubular envelope, coated with a white enamel finish. White Lumilines were replaced by fluorescent lamps for most uses.
This fixture was part of a sales demonstration kit for early fluorescent lamps. The unit has a metal case that’s open on two sides and includes a ballast, two fluorescent lamp-holders, two Lumiline lamp-holders, a toggle switch and a ten-foot power cord. The power cord is not original and has been spliced onto the unit. Linear incandescent lamps called Lumiline were popular in the 1930s. Their end-caps consisted of a flat disc that snapped into the holder. GE engineers designed two types of fluorescent lamps with that style connector so as to save money by using existing production equipment.