Chapter Five

1954

2019

Preface:  1954 was a year of momentous change in the television industry benefiting the American public, because the events in early 1954 were the catalyst of 12 years of research and development that would come, enabling the new technology of color television viable.  

On January 1, 1954, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) owned by the Radio Corporation Of America (RCA) broadcast the first  * nationwide, live coast to coast color  television broadcast.  It was the Tournament Of Roses Parade held in Pasadena, California every year on that date.

* If you lived in one of the 21 cities hooked into the color network and if you were one of the few lucky ones who had a color set to watch on. 

On March 25,1954, RCA’s first color television product, the Merrill CT-100 went into production and announced for sale in April, but not released for sale in New York City and neighboring cities in limited quantities until, May, 1954.  The CTC-100 is coveted by collectors all over the world for obvious reasons and today considered by many to be the first color television.  

There is one little wrinkle however, not well known in the collector community and that is an Admiral C1617A was the first color set, officially announced on December 30, 1953, offered for sale in January and the Westinghouse H840CK15, the subject of this page, the second color set advertised for sale on February 28, 1954.  Westinghouse manufactured approximately 3500 to 4400 sets during its approximate 6 month production.  We explain how this came about below and welcome all feedback should you disagree.  You can read about the details of the Admiral C1617A here.  We are proud to be the custodian of the Westinghouse color television which has been fully restored to the best it can be by Mike Doyle, a collector friend.

May 5, 2018

We are pleased to open this page on our timeline website. The Westinghouse H840CK15 represented the pinnacle of American technology in 1954.

An advertisement from Life Magazine, April 26, 1954.

An interesting an amusing podcast about the Westinghouse H840CK15. Run time 19:02

This author disputes some of the commentary in the podcast. You may have read elsewhere, that the Westinghouse H840CK15 was the first color television to go on sale to the public. We respectfully point to the fact that it appears the Admiral C1617A was the first all electronic color television offered for sale. See this page. The Westinghouse H840CK15 may have been the first electronic color set sold, but no one knows for sure. We found evidence that an Admiral C1617A was in a dealer showroom as early as January 6, 1954, and a photo of an Admiral set in a dealer showroom on January 14, 1954 in two different parts of the country, while the first Westinghouse sets hit NYC and NJ dealer showrooms about March 1, 1954. We found evidence below, that the first documented sales of the Admiral sets (discovered by this author) was sometime prior to May 16, 1954 in a restaurant and “a few sets were in installed in private Chicago area homes” earlier. How much earlier? The Westinghouse H840CK15 began limited production January 10, 1954. The earliest evidence of a Westinghouse purchase found by this author at the time of this writing, was sometime prior to April 27, 1954.

UPDATE, OCTOBER 1, 2018

We have an article, indicating initial startup production of the  H840CK15 was slow, taking 16 hours to assemble one set. There were 200 employees at the production plant to start, increasing to 375 shortly thereafter with the goal of reducing inspection time. Hand assembly and scarcity of parts were cited for the slow production. According to newspaper articles, production increased to about 24 sets a day.

Based on the below articles, the Westinghouse H840CK15 was in production approximately 187 days and production on a limited basis were several dozen sets a day. We will call it about 24 sets a day. If we accept this information, Westinghouse produced about 4488 color sets in 1954 more or less. Production may have ceased sooner than the below article indicates, but we will go with the article for now. If we account for slower production at the start and the waning days, perhaps about 3500 units? Further investigation is required to support or deny this information.

Added November 30, 2020

An RCA 1953 publicity photo of the first production color CRT, 15GP22. RCA shared this tube and technology with other manufacturers to foster growth in the new color television industry. This tube is used in our Westinghouse H840CK15.

RCA 15GP22

Posted February 2, 2023

January, 1953

Un-retouched screenshots taken from a pre-production Westinghouse compatible color set used for evaluation by the NTSC committee prior to the final adoption of the second NTSC color format, December 18, 1953.  These images were two of the 27 color slides used by the committees evaluations provided by Eastman Kodak. The screenshot photos appear on the January, 1953 addition of Electronics magazine.

READ THE Electronics magazine article about the Westinghouse color set.  PDF

…

NTSC COLOR SLIDES USED FOR EVALUATION DURING THE NTSC FIELD TRIALS.

Westinghouse Starts Production January 10, 1954

FEBRUARY 4, 1954

First public showing in the East.

MARCH 1, 1954

Earliest advertisement I’ve found so far of the Westinghouse color set for sale.

March 23, 1954

This next newspaper articles states as of March 23, 1954, fewer than 36 H840CK15 color sets had been sold according to Westinghouse Division Plant Manager, T. J. Newcomb. The initial shipment of a few hundred sets went out to the greater New York-New Jersey area. 36 dealers in New York and 14 dealers in New Jersey.  Distribution outside of this area had not yet taken place. By comparison, Admiral’s first shipment of C1617A color televisions were already displayed and for sale in stores in the East, South, Midwest and Western states starting in January, February and March, 1954. Initial Westinghouse color set production was by hand and took more then 16 hours to assemble one color set. The inspection of one color set took another eight hours. The assembly plant had about 200 employees at the date of the article.

April 3, 1954 Westinghouse Cuts Price.

APRIL 5, 1954.

Westinghouse reports “Several (sets) have been sold over the counter, the first to a North side bar”.  We know this was between April 5 and May 1, 1954.

UPDATE, APRIL 7, 2021

Found in Business Week, April 24, 1954, pp. … Westinghouse has had color sets in the New York- New Jersey market for 3 months, has made a major sales effort and has sold only 30 sets.

BY APRIL, 1954, Westinghouse began shipping the H840CK15 to the remainder of the country. Here are two advertisements, one from Chicago, the other from Forth Worth, Texas.

April 16, 1954

The Concord Transcript reports that by April 16, 1954 Westinghouse is producing approximately 200 H840CK15’s a day.   Based on those numbers, project the total production out to July, 1954 when production reportedly ended.  Even if a misprint and it was meant to be only 20 color televisions, that would work out to 1200 from April to July, 1954 and the production from January, 1954 has to be considered.  Earlier in this article we reported that the Westinghouse plant manager indicated a production of “several dozen a day”.  The lower production was in January, February and March.  A conservative production number would be 3500 units.

First documented sale (I’ve found so far) of the Westinghouse H840CK15. The set was delivered April 27, 1954 and purchased sometime prior.

We were curious where the historic first Westinghouse H840CK15 in Southern California landed. Now I understand the owners concern of accommodation.

Westinghouse Stops Production

Westinghouse adds new color model.

In October, 1954, Westinghouse began selling the replacement model 890CKU19 for $995.00 with a 19 inch CBS Hytron color CRT.  Cleverly, they were able to use the same cabinet because the large mask of the H840CK15 accommodates the larger tube.  So much for planned obsolescence.

As of July, 1954, Westinghouse color sets were on sale in the New York/Jersey area, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Texas, Los Angles and San Francisco. Courtesy Star-Gazette, Elmira, New York.

Author: If we are to believe the above article and it comports with both Admiral and RCA both having stopped production of their 15 inch color sets about six months after production; then this article is in conflict. We know that Westinghouse put into limited production, a 19 inch version Model 890CKU19 color set after halting the 15 inch production. Examining the black and white photo and the two color photos below, we can see several differences in the chassis design. For one, there are two support rods at the rear of the chassis, presumably to support the heavier 19 inch CRT. Additionally, the front supports look larger. The black stripe around the front of the CRT looks thinner. The size of the CRT next to the women compared to the first color photo below looks much larger. If the tube is a 19 inch, it would have to the CBS “205”. We can’t verify based on this black and white photo.

By September, 1954, Westinghouse reduced the price of the H840CK15 to $595.

September 15, 1954

Production of the H840CK15 stopped about the end of June, 1954. The below clip is one of hundreds of give always.  The Westinghouse H840CK15 was not selling.

The Westinghouse H840CK15 on the production line. Photos courtesy of Popular Science Magazine, July, 1954. Westinghouse assembled the 15GP22 at the “Horsehead” plant in New york.  Our 15GP22 was made between March 22-26, 1954, serial number MW 005072. Our chassis (#ME147) was the 147th produced.  CRT 15Gp22 serial number LB 6436.

WESTINGHOUSE H840CK15 Final testing line prior to assembly in Horsehead, New York.

November 4,1955

Amazing price reduction of the now discontinued Westinghouse H840CK15.

TWO years Later, a further reduction to $199.00.  

A strong indication that this Westinghouse color model sat in warehouses and appliance stores across the country just as the Admiral C1617A did.  Why would the public want to buy this Westinghouse initially priced at $1295.00 when they knew Motorola was about to release a larger 19 inch color model for $895.00 in July, 1954 and RCA was to release a 21 inch model for $895.00 in time for Christmas, 1954?  These sets were widely advertised and for this reason we believe Westinghouse manufactured about 3500 to 4000 sets based on 24 sets a day for 6 months as documented in articles presented above on this page.  The public wasn’t buying and the sets sat unsold or given away in various contests and promotions.

ADDED APRIL 7, 2021

Westinghouse and RCA also competed in the price war, selling sets for as little as $140.00, as late as 1958. Admiral most likely kept the “excess inventories” in dealer warehouses wherever they were shipped.

MAY 4, 1954

Sarnoff: “4000 RCA 15 inch color sets delivered”.

May, 1954

Shortly after  Snaroff’s above announcement of 4000 CT-100 color sets, RCA announced the end of 15GP22 production in May, 1954, which indicates production of the CT-100 stopped about the same time.  The RCA CT-100 had a short two month production run, March 25, 1954 to May, 1954.  An excerpt from a 1968 court case follows.

“51  In May, 1954, RCA announced that it would no longer take orders for either the 15-inch 15GP22 or (the 19-inch tube, never to go into commercial production), an event which marked its discontinuance of shadow-mask tubes of the planar configuration. *476”  Read abstract.

August, 1954

By August, 1954, the Miami News reports that a total 8000 color sets from all manufacturers were produced.

How many color sets sold in 1954?

According to this below article, it was estimated that about ten thousand color televisions were in use by the end of the first year of color television, 1954.  Based on the above two articles, we could accept this figure as accurate, so how do we assign production numbers to each manufacture?

This author estimates 4000 RCA sets, Westinghouse 3000, Admiral 1000, (see my Admiral C1617A Page), all the rest 2000?  The 19 inch color sets went on sale about August and September, 1954.  RCA, Westinghouse and Admiral ended production of their 15 inch color sets between May and August, 1954.  After production of 15 inch color sets ended, RCA, Westinghouse and Admiral color sets languished in warehouses across the country as new old stock and perhaps some never sold or were destroyed.  We will probably never know the true productions numbers, unless they are published in the company annual reports and the truth is, despite what you may have read, the three color sets cited here were never mass produced, all limited production runs.

Recollection.
We were searching the old posts at the VideoKarma forums and found this posting from Roger Dreyfoos.

”Yesterday, we went to a Best Buy store to see a Samsung 3-D LCD model set up for demonstration. It actually brought back a memory from 1954, of our dad taking us downtown to see a COLOR TV (Westinghouse) set up in the window of a department store – probably the only color TV in Wichita – other than a broadcast monitor back at the transmitter. We were part of a small crowd straining to see the washed out picture (summertime, about 7PM) of Ed Sullivan’s Toast of the Town show from the local CBS affiliate, KTVH. If that was color TV then that demo would never sell any.”

MAY 5, 2018

We just acquired a Westinghouse H840CK15 at the annual Early Television Convention auction held on May 5, 2018. We know absolutely nothing about the history or prior ownership of this set. If anyone that attended the convention knows something I’d appreciate hearing from you. The auction was streamed live on YouTube and the below photo captures the auctioneer (in black jacket and cap) at the precise moment the hammer fell, SOLD! We we’re thrilled, as this set escaped us five years earlier.

This photo, courtesy of Wayne Bretl at the convention.

The set was described as having an “excellent” 15GP22 CRT with a complete, but unknown chassis condition. Three photos of the flyback area look clean. As always, tap on image for larger size.

The set will be crated with five layers of protection. I asked Larry at the museum to make sure the chassis’s bolt are tight and secure. When the 21CT55 arrived, we found two bolts on the cabinet floor. No damage occurred because the set was immobilized in such a way that the set could not move within the crate. We are doing the same for the Westinghouse with a “floating” isolation platform on a pallet.

This time I won’t have the pleasure of uncrating the Westinghouse, instead, it’s going directly to Mike’s ranch about 50 miles Northwest of me. That will save him three trips to my home. Mike will be doing the restoration as I do not have the skills to work on a television of this complexity.

A word about Mike Doyle, a Videokarma member.

Mike Doyle and son.

I met Mike in 2011 on EBay after calling his phone number to talk about a recapped Sony Micro set he worked on and which I purchased. His next project for me was bringing back to life a SONY TV 8-301W, followed by a RCA 21CT55 and a RCA CTC-7.

Mike started out his career as a television repairman. Over the decades he worked on well over a thousand televisions, both color and black and white of all brands. He told me he has repaired over 500 flybacks and never had one fail within their normal lifetimes.

Mike moved on and began work for CalTech. He was an engineer on the team that designed the prototype Hubble space telescope. He worked on the “4 shooter” project. Later, he worked at the Mt. Palomar Obseratory in Southern California. He also taught electrical theory to his students at Palomar Journal College.

Tap on images.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2008

Say goodbye to Palomar

After a combined 47 years of service to the observatory Mike and Barbara Doyle are saying goodbye to Palomar.Mike served mostly as an electronic technician before moving up to assistant superintendent. During my brief term of service here I have known him to be a dedicated and vital part of the Palomar team. He has provided great support and advice to myself and the observatory’s public outreach program.

Barbara has worked in the observatory’s accommodations for the astronomers, known as the Monastery, and also has been the powerhouse behind the observatory’s gift shop. She has professionally greeted and explained the observatory to many thousands of visitors over the years.

I join the entire Palomar staff and our team of docents in wishing them well in their new venture. They will certainly be missed but their hard work, commitment to doing things right and friendship will linger with us for some time to come.

Mike is now enjoying his retirement with his wife on their ranch. He also collects vintage television and a few of his sets can be seen on the “ViewersTV page. We have high confidence in Mike’s abilities to restore this set. Still, we will undoubtably reach out to the vast data bank of information possessed by the members of the VideoKarma forums. More to come.

Update, July 11, 2018

After a long delay, the Westinghouse H840CK15 is finally on its way to Mike in Arizona. Here you see the set crated. The only way to go when shipping 2000 miles.

Update, July 20, 2018

The Westinghouse arrived at Mike’s place today. Below, the meeting and unloading operation.

The meeting at Exit 20 Interstate 40. 

Pix 1 and 2.   A smooth transfer from the FedEx truck to my truck.

Pix 3 loaded and strapped in and ready for the trip on 12 miles of dirt road. SLOW

Pix 4  Looking East on Fireside Drive.  Home is 8 miles ahead.

 

Pix 5   A 1954 loaded in the back of a 1974

Pix’s 6 and 7  Rigged and ready to unload.  This is really a lot safer than it looks.

Update, July 21, 2018

Uncrating completed. Good news, no apparent visual damage. We won’t know more until basic testing. Full recap will be done prior to attempting to light the tube. More photos to come.

Update, August 7, 2018, Day 1

The cabinet is in dire need of restoration as seen below. Mike will bring the cabinet to me for refinishing. The chassis and CRT will stay with Mike for the electrical restoration. Tap any image to open the image carousel. Tap the full resolution icon for full size.

From Mike: “OK, here are the pictures of how I tested the CRT. Picture #1 is before anything is disturbed. Note that the screw on the right side of the centering coils was found below resting on the chassis. The one on the left (shown removed) by me.

Picture #2 centering  Coils removed.

Picture #3 CRT neck cleaned of dust and ?

Picture #4  My universal cable that I made for my tester.  Wires for Filament 1, Filament 2, Cathode, Grid 1 and Grid 2.  These are needed for the test of the individual guns.  Filament voltage is 6.3 Volts.

Picture 5  Red gun hookup.

Picture 6  Green gun hookup

Picture 7 Blue gun hookup.

The numbers were RED  .825

Green  .6 and

Blue .9.

A bit weaker than I had hoped. But the CRT is alive.  Time will tell later down the road. A side note:  The getter flashes look really good. Tap any image for an enlargement.

 

 

Authors note. We can’t understand the manufacturers reasoning for placing the hue control at the rear of the cabinet. What were they thinking? It’s attached to a long cable, so it may be possible to reroute the cable and control to the pencil box. More to come.

UPDATE, AUGUST 10, 2018, Day 10

 

From Mike:

Tonight I began the chassis removal process. I am collecting photos which will come later. I was very disturbed to discover that there were NO CHASSIS BOLTS at all holding the main chassis to the cabinet.

The chassis serial number is on a tag glued to the high voltage cage and it appears to be ME000147

I take that to be the 147th one produced. The ME is likely a location code of where it was built.  Any ideas?

No serial numbers on the crt neck or socket but the code date (which is visible in your picture) is 4-13.

I take that to be the 13th week of 1954 which likely makes this the original crt.

 

Author: I wanted to make sure the chassis bolts were tightened and that they be checked prior to crating. I was assured this would be done. Very disappointing!

 

Possibly ME stands for Metuchen, NJ. Where the first sets went into production.

 

According to Marlin Mackey’s site, the set serial numbers don’t jive with the chassis numbers. An example: Television serial number MW006012, chassis number ME000812.

 

Thanks for the numbers, I agree. More to come.

UPDATE, August 12, 2018, Day 12

From Mike. OK, onward to removing the chassis and crt. This will be sent over a few emails due to the number of pictures.

Pictures 1 and  2  Front panels and knobs being removed.

Picture 3 Broken knob (the white one). Not sure of its function just yet.

Picture 4 Chassis on the bench. Note:  there were NO chassis bolts holding the main chassis to the cabinet. The power supply chassis is mounted in the lower part of the cabinet and it will be removed soon.

 

Picture 5 and 6 show magnetic shield mis-alignment bottom and then top.  I believe when this piece is properly installed it should mate nicely with the other parts.

Picture 7  These pieces fell out from under the chassis as I removed it from the cabinet. One screw that I might likely find the place for later, the second looks like a tuning slug from one of the tuned transformers. (the next picture shows where this possibly came from). And then,  what looks like a broken tuning slug core from some tuned transformer.

Picture 8 a tuned transformer with seemingly a missing tuning  screw. The core piece may be inside the transformer.

 

Picture 9 Chassis top left.

Picture 10  Degassing coil plug.

Picture 11 and 12  Disconnecting the High Voltage connector.

 

Picture 13  Blocking the face end of the crt before removing screws. This insures minimum loading on the neck of the tube as the screws are removed.

Picture 14  Removing the necessary 3 screws on each side to unmount the crt from the chassis.

Picture 15 CRT removed.

Picture 16  CRT on bench.  The tube will be boxed and placed in another building with my other CRT’s until I am ready for it later in the restoration process.

 

Picture 17  Serious issues with the quality of the aquadag on the CRT.

Picture 18 These flakes of “DAG” were found on the chassis after the crt was removed.  I guess it’s a good thing that I purchased a supply of aquadag liquid from Scott Avitt before he closed up Hawkeye.  This issue, I’m sure,  will be a very easy part of the restoration process.

Picture 19 The chassis bottom.

Thus far, I have been doing some thinking on how this restoration will go.  I will be doing this one a lot differently than ever before.  Most of the repairs will be done without a crt at all and using only test equipment to breath life back in to the individual circuits.  That way the CRT stays “safe” until I am ready for it. I may use a monochrome crt mounted to the chassis for some of the testing process. The signals from the individual circuits can then be patched in to  the monochrome gun one at a time so the quality of the images can be seen as needed. This way, the Luminance and Chrominance signals can be evaluated without the use of the 15EGP22 being in the set.

Let the games begin.

Mike

 

Good Afternoon Mike,

 

I have all 19 photos. Thank you. Breathed a sigh of relief after reading your last comment about the dag.

 

Sound like an excellent plan. Great idea to remove the “beast” from the chassis to allow easier serviceing.

 

Marshall

 

As always, tap on any image to open the image carousel. Tap icon again for full resolution images

UPDATE, AUGUST 13, 2018, Day 13

From Mike: I have been studying the Westinghouse documents and learned that the degaussing ring on the front of the crt is in fact the opposite. Interesting to me, it is a gaussing coil that actually sets up a magnetic field that is adjustable, at the faceplate of the tube.  So, I think we can change the wording on the page. IF I learn differently I will let you know.  And again,  Let the games begin. This will likely be the biggest accomplishment yet for me in my restoration projects.  I remain optimistic.  And it looks like I have a lot of parts to order for this one.
A piece of the wiring fell out of the high voltage cage when I set the chassis on the bench. It looks like a wire from one of the filament leads to a high voltage rectifier but I have yet to figure it out for sure. Also, I noticed that the metal cover is missing from the high voltage cage on the right side. This will be easy to make but it will not be of the original material unless I can find copper clad of that size locally.  Not a big deal, just an observation that I will have to deal with. I suspect that a  tech has left it off to give more cooling to the flyback. Maybe not a bad idea to leave it off but we can discuss that sometime.

Author:

I’d like to point out in pix# 2, a user “convergence” control. Pix #8, notice the cable leading to rear mounted hue control. I’d like to rig the cable forward and exiting at the bottom of the cabinet. In this way I can actually see the adjustments on the screen. The mirror idea seems ridiculous on a restored set. For purists, we can easily restore to it’s original position. Pix #13, blocking while releasing tension loading.

We shall see as the restoration progress’s.

UPDATE, AUGUST 26, 2018, Day 26

From Mike: Greetings Marshall. We are packing up the cabinet and brass pieces today. We should leave here by around 8:00 on Monday morning and see you by 11:00 or so. FYI, in case you want to research it, and in case we need it later, the Westinghouse part number for the flyback is:

V-12977-C1

We never know what might show up out there and it would be a very, very good thing to have a spare, if possible. Before I can do anything on this set I will be building a bigger workbench. So as soon as the cabinet is in your hands I will have the space to press on. I have done some visual examination especially around the high voltage and flyback area and learned that the wiring around all of the rectifier sockets is very poor so that will have to be addressed early on in the restoration stage, after I get the power supply somewhat working. Also, my plan is to eliminate the filament wiring for the H.V. rectifiers and convert them from the original 3A3 tubes to solid state devices such as ECG508 Sylvania/Phillips devices. I am on a mission to find QTY 3 of those now. The focus rectifier tube will also be replaced with a solid state device of some type as well. By doing these modifications it not only eliminates vacuum tube heat, it also eliminates a lot of unnecessary wiring that has the potential to cause arcing which of course is very undesirable.

See you tomorrow.

Author: Okay, see you tomorrow. We will place the cabinet in the garage as I will be taking it to our community wood shop for refinishing. I will post this in VK in hopes of a lead. Sad about Senator McCain.

In the garage today. Soon, I will be taking the cabinet to our community workshop for refinishing.

We found a cabinet number and some sort of serial numbers on the tag glued to the inside of the cabinet.

SEPTEMBER 6, 2018, Day 37

Due to the enormous Westinghouse chassis, Mike rebuilt his work bench to accommodate it. Here you see the main and sub chassis. I’ve seen Mike’s test equipment which are not shown in these photos, and it looks like these photos were taken shortly after completion of the bench. Power supply parts have been ordered and the restoration begins.

From Mike:

“The “beginning”.  The  bench is complete with power strip and overhead shelf for test equipment.  The giant color chassis fits the new bench well.  I noticed that the copper plate cover that I retrieved from the cabinet is not the one that I thought it was. It is actually the one for the bottom of the flyback area so we still need to  find out if the original is available from ETF.  I have allowed room on the new bench for yet another “jig tube” for when I get serious about testing the operation of the chassis after I get the power supply  and sweep circuits going. I will be using the oscilloscope for much of the early testing of the power supply and sweep circuits. And I will pay especially close attention to safety of the flyback transformer.

Mike”

 

Author: I spoke with Steve and the missing panel from the flyback box was not left behind at the ETF.

 

 

Tap on images for full view.

 

 

UPDATE, SEPTEMBER 13, 2018, Day 44

Nothing Major.

From Mike: I hooked up a variac to the chassis a couple of days ago and started it at 25 volts.  Then about 5 minutes later I set it to 50 volts and watched the power supply tubes start conducting. They are a set of 5U4’s and there are 3 of them for the different voltages that form the power supply.  The purpose of this exercise is to determine the exact running voltages that were originally designed in to the system using the 5U4 vacuum tubes.  I got the voltage up to the nominal 120 VAC  after many small steps and I got smoke from one of the resistors in the power supply. NOT a surprise at all. The reason for the smoke is an “open” capacitor in the power supply section of the circuitry.  As it turns out, Westinghouse made this chassis such that the “power supply” is not limited to  the chassis below in the cabinet. That chassis is only the first stages of the supply, which is rectification and “preliminary” filtering of the pulsating DC that is created from the rectifier tubes. There are a number of places in the chassis where they placed “redundancy” filtering to make sure that he DC was always pure everywhere in the system.  I will be doing a lot of re-capping  as a result of  diagnostics in an effort to methodically bring this thing back to life. Once I determine what the “actual” operating voltages are, I will be installing solid state rectifiers in place of the 5U4’s and then applying resistance values in the system to reproduce the proper and “original” DC supply values.  This placing of resistance values is necessary due to the fact that the solid state rectifiers are much more efficient than the original 5U4’s that are very inefficient by comparison.

I just placed a very large order for capacitors so I can press on to the next phases.

Regards,  Mike.

 

Author: No photos on this one.

 

UPDATE, SEPTEMBER 14, 2018, Day 45

I live in a retirement community which has its own wood and metal shop. Today friends helped move the Westinghouse cabinet and we drove it to the wood shop.

UPDATE, SEPTEMBER 24, 2018, Day 55

Greetings Marshall.  I have recapped the main power supply and verified the design voltages as they are at this time. They will likely be lower during later tests since I have the sweep circuits disabled for the preliminary testing.  For the foreseeable future, and maybe permanently, I will be leaving the original design in place with the 5U4 tubes.  We will see how that goes later.  OK, now for the pictures.

Picture #1 shows a couple of caps replaced but except for that, the chassis is as I received it. Mostly “untouched” which is how I like to get them.  These caps were actually broken off at the terminals so I went ahead and replaced them. They can be seen as orange and brown components at the lower left.

Picture #2 is the main power supply chassis before re-capping.

Picture #3 is the main power supply chassis after re-capping.

Picture #4 shows my oscilloscope screen showing the waveform of the grid drive to the Horizontal Output Tubes (6BG6’s).

This tells me that the horizontal oscillator is running and the drive signal to those tubes is good even before recapping. This signal on the scope is about 200V P-P and the Photofact refers it to be 150 V P-P.  Given the fact that most of the running voltages are a bit high right now because I have the main power to the sweep circuits disabled, it is expected that the signal would be a bit high. This is good at this point.

This step is important because it means now, that I can do some testing of the flyback transformer.  It won’t tell me everything about it, but it will tell me a lot.

Mike.

 

Tap images fo full view.

 

 

UPDATE, OCTOBER 2, 2018, Day 63

 

Hi Marshall.  I spent some time this evening working on the distressed wiring in the High Voltage cage. The purpose of the “wiring fix” is to allow me to test the circuit as designed before I make any modifications during the restoration process.  The wiring fix involved “putting back” some of the wires that had simply fallen off of places from age and from the “trip”.  Anyway,  I am now able to confirm that the flyback is “alive” at least to the point of generating High Voltage.  I got 20 KV on the final anode lead with the regulation tube disconnected.  Obviously this is a critical thing to verify early on in the restoration process.  It is now time to test and replace tubes and then look at a bunch of other signals with the oscilloscope as we proceed.  It is also time to start replacing a lot more capacitors. At some point, probably very soon in the process, I will return to the High Voltage section and do some more work there.  But this test verifies a lot of components like the “doorknob” capacitors and insulators in the High Voltage section.

YAY!!

Mike

 

Author: Great news! I think the nominal ultor voltage for this set is 19.5 KV?

 

 

Mike: Yes, that is what the nominal HV should be at the 2nd anode. The actual HV generated should be, I think, more like 22.5kv or more. This is due to the function of the 6BK4 Shunt Regulator that keeps the regulated voltage at the 2nd anode at roughly 20KV at all brightness levels. The overhead voltage is so the shunt regulator can do that job at different beam currents. I made this test with no shunt regulation at all. I believe that the initial HV will come up quite a bit after some recapping and tube replacements like the 6BG6 Horizontal output tubes. I still have to go through the tubes and test them all. But this tells me that it is now OK to move forward with the whole project

UPDATE, OCTOBER 3, 2018, Day 64

Let’s add clarity

OK.  I have studied 3 different schematics.

The Photofact for CT100 RCA calls for a primary transformer DC resistance of 1200 OHMS There are 2 secondaries. Secondary #1 calls for 1800 OHMS and secondary #2 calls for 7200 OHMS.

The Photofact for Westinghouse chassis calls for Primary DC resistance of 1000 OHMS.  Secondary #1 is 3200 OHMS and secondary #2 is 3800 OHMS.

Westinghouse factory schematics calls for Primary DC resistance of 1000 OHMS.  Secondary #1 is 1350 OHMS and secondary #2 is 375 OHMS.

I realize that these are DC resistance values and the actual IMPEDANCE for the components is not really called out on the schematic. BUT, these numbers should agree to a much greater degree of precision before I believe that the RCA part is the same as the Westinghouse.

I ran out of time tonight but I will be doing DC resistance checks tomorrow night in an effort to sort this out.

Stay tuned!
Mike.

UPDATE, OCTOBER 11, 2018, Day 72

Unfortunately, the VDC transformer tested open in both secondaries. We are told that the transformer we need has been rebuilt in numbers. This rebuilt transformer, Westinghouse part number 241T1 has been installed successfully in RCA, Westinghouse and other 15 inch early color sets.

According to VideoKarma member Bob Galanter, “In the CT100, the transformer is “potted” in a 5 sided metal box that bolts onto the back of the HV cage. In the Westy, it is just an open frame transformer similar in appearance to a regular vertical output trans.”

 

Author: We wonder why RCA took the trouble to “box” the transformer and Westinghouse did not?

 

Mike explains: “RCA recognized possible faults in the wire insulation and maybe they anticipated the failures.  The physical construction difference is interesting.  However, the real difference to me is that the “impedances” are different.  John (Folsom) explains that his aftermarket transformer was custom built as an “average” impedance match to satisfy both RCA and Westinghouse models.  The impedance match is critical for proper operation of convergence and it is also critical to surrounding components in the sweep circuits.  Mostly for proper “resonance”.

Thankfully we found a source, ordered the part and it’s on the way back to us. Recapping continues with bad resistors found along the way.

UPDATE, NOVEMBER 14, 2018, Day 106

After a brief hiatus, recapping continues.  Under the RGB Adders and amp circuits was a big resistance array mounted to terminal strips.  This bank of parts prohibits access to the bottom of the chassis where the RGB adders and amp circuits are.  After some study I determined that I can disconnect 4 wires that were going from the resistance array down to the RGB circuits and then remove the screws on the mounting plate allowing the entire array to “fold away” and “down” from the part of the chassis that I needed access to.

Picture #1  The new VDC transformer mounted but not yet wired.

Picture #2 Shows my “impossible access” to the capacitors that need replacing.

Picture #3 Shows the assembly pulled away and folded down after disconnecting the 4 wires.  Full access to the components is now possible.

Picture #4 All new caps and some new resistors installed.

Picture #5  The assembly re-installed and the wires re-connected.

Cheers,  Mike

 

 

 

.

UPDATE, NOVEMBER 16, 2018, DAY 108

The cabinet restoration begins.

UPDATE, November 27, 2018, DAY 119

Good progress on the cabinet restoration. All that remains is to detail the channel selector and volume control knobs. They are brass.

UPDATE, NOVEMBER 28, 2018, DAY 120

The cabinet restoration completed and back home, waiting for it’s chassis. Mid-Century styling at its best. Tap on images for full resolution.

UPDATE, December 4, 2018, Day 126.

The Process continues ….

Greetings Marshall.  The process continues.  There are 2 more electrolytic “cans” that I need to replace and the screen grid resistor for the horizontal output tubes that is chassis mounted is also in need of replacement. These types of resistors are obsolete so I will be mounting terminal strips to the chassis where the original resistor is in order to make that repair.  Also, the modification to the ON/OFF switch with the added relay will be necessary and I need to find one of those relays before I can do that mod. I will be servicing the tuner also, while the chassis is in this position on the bench.  I hope to start firing things up within the next month or so in order to determine the condition of things.  So far, a lot of capacitors and resistors have been replaced, all in hopes of a positive outcome.  When I am finished with the “bottom” of the chassis, at least for now, I will begin the component replacements on the top.  Some of those are in the High Voltage cage and there are several others in different circuits that I need to explore. I have attached 2 pictures. The first one is an image of the parts that I have replaced so far. The second is the bottom of the chassis showing the new parts. The image can be compared with the original that I sent previously before the restoration was started.

Cheers,  Mike

 

 

Author: 104 parts replaced.

 

 

The beginning, August 12, 2018.

 

 

 

 

Now, December 4, 2018.

 

 

 

 

UPDATE, DECEMBER 9, 2018, DAY 131

Progress continues. There was a power resistor in the screen grid section of the horizontal output tubes that showed very intermittent results with the ohm meter test. It had to be replaced.  The original was a chassis mount which is unobtainable.  I replaced it with a modern day film type flameproof resistor and it is mounted on to terminal strips. Also, today I finished wiring in the new Vertical Dynamic Convergence transformer.  It was necessary to extend the leads in order to make them fit to the proper terminals under the chassis.  I also installed a plastic grommet where the wires feed through to the bottom of the chassis from the top.  Then I used electronic lacing tape to further strain relief the wires so they are out of the way and close to the top of the chassis.  During the process, I replaced the two 6 KV capacitors that are part of the tuning circuits for the convergence adjustments.  The wiring from the techs before me was a real mess. I’m sure that if you compare the original bottom view, you will see what I mean.  The following pictures are:

1.  The modified screen resistor.  The one on the towel in the foreground is the one that was removed.

2. The underside showing the plastic grommet where the high voltage wires feed through from the new transformer. One wire is already connected here.

3.  The wires after installation and the electronic lacing tape (double wrapped) to secure the wires to the chassis, out of the way.
4.  The finished transformer wiring with the newly installed 6  KV capacitors.

 

 

.

 

 

UPDATE, DECEMBER 20, 2018, DAY 142

Greetings and Merry Christmas Marshall and family.

The relay that takes the load off the main on/off switch has been installed.  The relay is installed on the top of the power supply chassis.  There was absolutely no room whatsoever on the bottom of the main chassis and there was plenty of room on the power supply chassis.  The brown wire is the one that brings in the power from the main interlock which exists on the main chassis.  There were no spare connections available on the original plug assembly. The brown wire has its own separate connecting plug. 3 photos show the placement of the new component on the power supply chassis.  Next is the task of removing the tuner, rebuilding it and re-installing it.  Then we can get on with powering up the chassis  with the sweep circuits disabled.  This will allow testing of the tuner, I.F. strip, sync circuits, video amplifiers and hopefully, more.

Cheers,  Mike

 

Author: I’m happy Mike is once again doing this modification. He installed a relay in our 21CT55. In our home whith many appliances running at the same time, if I switch on the 21CT55, I see the lights dim briefly. A lot of current passes through the relay to the power switch. Merry Christmas Mike and VK members.

 

UPDATE, DECEMBER 30, 2018, DAY 152

Greetings Marshall.  We are finished with the bottom of the chassis, at least FOR NOW.   Picture #1 is the top of the chassis again, and it shows nice clean capacitor cans that have been replaced. The rest of it still needs a lot of cleaning and yet, some more components replaced.  For now, it is time to rebuild the tuner since the lubricants have long ago turned to something more like plastic rather than grease or oil. But first, I have snapped a picture of the “HUE” control that you speak of and have asked it to be moved to the front of the chassis.  This is not going to happen. The HUE control is NOT a POT. It is a coil.  There is a flexible cable that is manufactured to fit the top of the slug of the coil and that is their method of changing the phase relationship of the colors. I do not see a “good” way to move this control.  It would be problematic since the controls on the front panel are all below the “plane” of the chassis.  Anyway,  Picture #1 shows this issue.  Picture #2 shows the chassis with the nice new electrolytic cans and a “somewhat” dirty chassis.  This will be cleaned up a bit during the next restoration phases.

Picture #3 is before the tuner removal.

Picture #4 is the tuner removed.

Picture #5 is the cover removed and you can now see the corroded condition of the contacts on the channel elements.

Picture #6  Channel strips removed.

Picture #7  Inside tuner main shaft removed.

Picture #8  Tuner contacts and body cleaned.  And all resistance values checked.

Picture #9  Main shaft and Fine Tuning shaft before cleaning.

Picture #10 Fine tuning shaft, contact spring and detent wheel before cleaning.

Picture #11 Parts ready for re-assembly.

Picture #11 Parts ready for re-assembly.

Picture #12 Drum and detent installed.
Picture #13.  All strips re-installed, the cover is on and the tuner is ready to re-install.

 

Tap on images to enlarge.

UPDATE, JANUARY 18, 2019, DAY 171

Hi Marshall.  Now that I have things squared away on the *“mountain tops”*,  I am back to the Westy.  During the dismantling of the set you might remember that I mentioned a powdered iron core slug that I found in the ventilating screen  after removing the chassis. Well, I FOUND OUT where it came from. It came from the Hue control coil (Burst amplifier).  I will need to remove the transformer and likely manufacture a new slug assembly for it.  The pictures are as follows.  1) and 2)  The broken piece that I found.  3) and 4) Shows more cleanup of the top part of the chassis. The deflection yoke has been removed so it can be cleaned and serviced separately.  There is still one large axial type capacitor that I need to find and it is seen just above the white wires from the new VDC transformer.  5) and 6) shows the burst amp transformer bottom view and top view that I will need to remove in order to rebuild the iron core that is broken.  The 2 horizontal output tubes (6BG6)  are separate manufacturers and the date codes are many years apart  and they should be replaced with a matched pair. Also, there are 2 damper tubes which by design are 6AX4 type. These are really tubes from the “black and white days” and that is why they used 2 in parallel instead of the usual 1. One has been replaced with a 6AU4 type , which is the “stronger” version of the 6AX4 and was designed for use in the newer color sets that were made after the Westy. Bottom line is, these should also be replaced with a matched pair of 6AU4.  I will be purchasing these for replacements before I fire up the chassis to do any further sweep circuit testing.  My next steps will be to “look” into the high voltage section and do a lot of work in there. I have already purch ased a new matched set of 3 high voltage rectifier tubes for that section.  I originally was going to convert these to solid state however I have changed my course of action on that decision for a number of reasons. 

Cheers,  Mike 

* Author: Servicing the various communication repeaters in Mohave County, Arizona.

Feburary 1, 2019, Day 185

Next! The high voltage cage.  I have received the matched pair of 6BG6 JAN (joint army navy) mil spec tubes for the horizontal output stage of the sweep circuit. I still need to find a nice pair of 6AU4 damper tubes to compliment the output tubes but the damper tubes are not as critical as the outputs as far as “matched pairs” go.  The focus rectifier tube will be replaced with a solid state selenium type such as what was used in the CTC15 RCA sets.  I have purchased a matched set of qty 3   (1B3) rectifier tubes to replace the High Voltage rectifier/tripler set. I will be replacing the capacitors in the high voltage cage and I will be replacing the resistors with modern type film resistors as well.  After these restoration procedures I will be ready to start powering up the chassis with the sweep circuits disabled in order to test the individual circuits. I will use an oscilloscope for that process.  The signal source will be either antenna TV signals or crosshatch signals from a color generator.

Cheers,  Mike.

 

 

 

UPDATE, FEBRUARY 24, 2019, DAY 2019.