1959 · Transistor Portable Television · Work 837 of 1,871
A portable television set standing on a garden table on a patio in California on a summer evening, an upright set in a case of brown leather with a chrome carrying handle and a telescopic antenna, at its top a hinged hood folded open above the small screen with a magnifying lens inside it, the screen glowing a soft blue-grey inside the hood, below it a plain smooth front of pale cream, a woman in a summer dress seen from behind leaning toward the hood, a glass of lemonade beside the set, a low sun from the right, palm fronds soft behind.
What it was used for
The Philco Safari H2010 was a portable television receiver, on sale from June 1959: 21 PNP transistors and 12 diodes, plus three tubes - the 2EP4 picture tube of 2 inches diameter and two 5642 high-voltage rectifiers. The small picture was enlarged optically. The set ran on 105 to 120 V AC mains or on a removable 7.5 V rechargeable battery, and had a telescopic aerial and a VHF tuner for US channels 2 to 13. It measured 8.5 × 16.5 × 5.5 inches, weighed just under 7 kg and cost $250; the battery was not included and cost $5.25 extra.
What was new
What marked it out is what the 21 transistors allowed: television without mains. The battery lasted about 4 hours and could be recharged up to 20 times. The set was not fully transistorised: it could not work without the picture tube and the two high-voltage rectifiers. And the price of portability was picture size. The image was formed on a tube 2 inches across and had to be enlarged optically, for $250 plus $5.25 for the battery.
What the sources leave open: 21 transistors, $250, $5.25 for the battery and the June 1959 start of sales agree between Radiomuseum.org and the Philco forum; tube types, battery life and recharge cycles come from Radiomuseum.org alone. The sources differ on the optical enlargement: Radiomuseum.org names a spherical mirror system, Calisphere a lens. The claim of world priority made in all three sources could not be checked.