|
A Transistor Museum Interview with Joe D’Airo Transistor History at Trans-Aire Electronics Inc |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The First Trans-Aire Radios During the mid 1950s, while Raytheon was busy manufacturing millions of germanium transistors in Massachusetts, General Electric was following the same business plan at facilities in NY state, producing large quantities of the now famous “pinched tube tophat” and “pinched tube bathtub oval” black cased metal devices such as the 2N107 and the 2N170. As with Raytheon, GE production yield was low and tens of thousands of sub-standard transistors (“fallouts” as Trans-Aire called them) were available at a bargain price, beginning as early as 1954. (See this Transistor Museum link for more information on early GE transistor production: Carl David Todd Oral History ). The two Harlie radios shown above are from this mid-1950s timeframe, and represent the earliest commercial radio types manufactured by Trans-Aire. The Model TR-10, shown at left (upper and lower photos) is a four transistor model, with an inside label stamped “Harlie Transistor Products Inc, Jamaica NY”. A six transistor version of the radio is shown at right (upper and lower photos, kindly provided by a recent Ebay seller). These radios use mid-1950s unmarked GE fallout transistors which have been tested and color coded by Trans-Aire to indicate specific circuit placement: Red for “Osc/Conv”, Yellow for “IF”, Blue for “Audio Driver” and unmarked for “Output”. As was common in the early days of transistor radio production, all these devices are mounted in transistor sockets – this allows for easy replacement of failing transistors. These radios were likely manufactured at the Harlie/TA facility in NY, using a combination of US and Japanese manufactured components. The plastic cases are molded of high quality thick plastic and the radios are stylish and well made. These first Trans-Aire radios probably undercut the higher prices of American made radios of the time (Zenith, RCA, GE and others) primarily through the use of Japanese components and fallout transistors. |
|
|
COPYRIGHT © 2010 by Jack Ward. All Rights Reserved. http://www.transistormuseum.com/ PAGE 8 |
|
