[lgench]

Hello all! Here's why I joined. I'm 72 and have lived all my life in the suburbs near Philadelphia. Most of the many radios in our home were either Philco or RCA. My father would buy at least one new radio a year. Old ones would go to relatives. The "crown jewel" was a Philco combination that sat in our living room, along with two to three other radios. Yes, Dad loved radios. He built and used a spark-gap transmitter in West Philadelphia in the teens. I still have his Atwater-Kent model 33, in excellent condition. Alas, the Philco is long gone. This combo had rounded front corners, all controls and record changer under the lid. Radio was on the left with a large round dial (orange, of course) and a clever control that could be turned quickly plus a smaller vernier control. Now the best! On the right, sitting down lower was a beautiful changer that was all brown crinkle paint and chrome. The part that held the records lifted up to a verticle position where you just pushed the records on. Then you would lower it to horizontal and start it up. Those 12" 78's would make quite a "thud" when they dropped. I also remember that the front of the tone arm flared out to about 2" to 3". Quite wide around the cartridge area. The cabinet was very modern-looking for the time. I would greatly appreciate it if a member might have any photos of such a unit, especially the changer, which was so unique. TIA! Len

PS: As I grew up in the early forties, I assume this model was bought probably between about '38 to '41.

[rocketeer]

I don't know if it will help but you could click on this link and look at the galleries for the years you mentioned and see if anything jumps out at you.

http://www.philcoradio.com/gallery/index.htm

Larry

[LASJayhawk]

I'll bite and say 37-40. the dial sounds like my 37-116 deLux and the tone arm sounds like a Philco Beam of light.

I would bet that if Ron gives a hard think he could narrow it down to 2 or 3 units.

[lgench]

Thank you for the replies. I have, for several years, looked at many Philco sites and have never seen a picture of either the cabinet or the changer. If the Beam of Light system actually showed any light while operating, I know that there was no light in that compartment. The tonearm (brown crinkle/wrinkle paint) was the widest at the front and curved. The cabinet was very Art Deco, I would say. Very plain, just beautiful wood. The lid was supported by two friction slides. I remember that I adjusted them once. Front corners rounded, sides completely flat. Front also flat with just a large speaker grill. The hinged changer part had an arced, chrome slide that would come out from the rear and push the next record so that it would drop unto the felt-covered (brown) platter. BTW, I know positively that it was a Philco. Of all the radios we had, this was my father's "baby". He was very proud of it and was rarely used.

[Arran]

It doesn't sound like a Philco to me, the beam of light changer was a product of the early 1940s but all of the radios from this period have rectangular dials, some have pushbuttons but they are in a row, and they do know have a vernier tuning knob. These sets also had the phonograph hidden behind a tilt out panel, sometimes in a drawer, but never under a lift up lid. It's possible that it may have been an earlier radio phono combo unit but the only Philcos with a truly round orange dial are ones with the concentric tuning mechanism like a 38-4 or a 38-7, the 37 and 38-116s and the other higher end Philcos had a large peek hole with a telephone type dial below on the console models.
Regards
Arran