Tom Thumb Camera Radio

[photax]

Hi !

I would like to show you a unusual camera from my collection which I found in Germany 15 years ago. It is a portable radio ( with 4 tubes ) in a wooden housing combined with a very simple Bakelite TLR camera, named “Tom Thumb Camera Radio”. It had been built in 1948 by the “Automatic Radio Mfg.Co.Inc.” in Boston, Mass. The radio should work, but I`ve never tried, because I have no proper battery available.

Who is, or was “Tom Thumb” ? A figure from a fairy tale ?
An answer would be very appreciated.

I don’t know if combining a radio with a camera made sense, but this one is truly a nice collectors item ;D.









MIK

[nikonbob]

MIK

That is quite a novelty combining a tube radio and camera. As to Tom Thumb en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Thumb .

Bob

[mickeyobe]

MIK,

This is the Tom Thumb that am familiar with.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Tom_Thumb

No. I never met the General. He was a little (pun intended) before my time.

Mickey

[Doug T.]

Hi Mik!

A cool camera! That would have to be a very large battery!!

Doug

[daveh]

Wonderful. Is the battery the old 90volt type? When 'portable radios' first came out we had one that took the 90v battery. They are still available www.smallbattery.company.org.uk/sbc_built-to-order_catalogue.htm, but at a price. Have a look at antiqueradio.org/bsupply.htm too.

Dave.

p.s. as regards Tom Thumb: he was of course named after Tom Thumb, if you see what I mean. Mickey's Tom was (I presume) a pituitary dwarf i.e. his pituitary gland stopped producing growth hormone. This results in a relatively normal body shape but without the person achieving full size. I note the wiki entry says the cause in General Tom's case is unknown. However, I can't think that any other form of dwarfism would have given him his size and appearance.

[daveh]

As an aside here, and as we strayed onto films in another thread, have any of you seen the 1930s film "Freaks"? It's well worth watching.

[SidW]

Hi Mik, that's unique. Like an MP3 player with camera, or a photographic cell phone with streamed TV.
I'd be cautious with the radio, there are so few people who are familiar with that particular technology. We have a mains set with tubes
from around 1960, I replaced the tubes about 25 years ago, no suitable test gear so I swapped them, good or bad. It was working when I
last tried about 10 years ago, but components deteriorate and the voltage is high (Dave mentioned 90V for yours, ours is 220V) so
there's a real fire risk. Remember, if the radio is exposed and power on, there could be high voltage anywhere on the chassis, so one
hand in your pocket, preferably both.

[daveh]

The biggest problem is usually that the condensers dry out. Those big fat things in the third photo are condensers. I have a friend who would be the ideal person to get that radio going. He went to sea in the 1950s as a radio operator and understands proper electronic components (as well the modern chips).

[pompiere]

Dec 22, 2011 18:18:37 GMT -5 daveh said:

The biggest problem is usually that the condensers dry out. Those big fat things in the third photo are condensers. I have a friend who would be the ideal person to get that radio going. He went to sea in the 1950s as a radio operator and understands proper electronic components (as well the modern chips).

Back in high school, my electronics teacher would scold us if we referred to capacitors as condensers. He said "they never condensed anything!" Given his age, I am sure he was friends with Edison and Marconi.

That is likely what happened to my Olympus XA flash just a few days ago. I turned it on and as it was charging, I heard/felt a pop like a small firecracker. Nothing apparent from the outside, but it no longer works.

As for the camera/radio, it seems odd that the camera appears to be unmodified and just attached to the inside of the box so you have to open it up to wind after every picture. I guess with film being so expensive, rapid fire pictures were not even considered. MIK sure seems to find some unusual pieces.

[Deleted]

MIK:

That's a fascinating design. Never seen anything quite like it. Another plus: Since it is tubes, it would survive the electro magnetic pulse for a nuclear blast

[photax]

Thank you guys for the links They will be of great assistance to answer my question.

Sid,

thank you for your "high voltage on the chassis"-hint. I had relevant experiences in this case in my youth, while " repairing" grandfathers old bakelite radio from the 1940`s.

The camera-radio idea had revived in 1964 with the G.E.C. Transistomatic radio camera with a built-in Kodak Instamatic 100.
Probably unhandy and useless, but I like this kind of stuff ;D



MIK

[daveh]

Pompiere, your teacher is sort-of right. The old name was condenser. The use of capacitor is more recent - how recent I don't know. I think, when I was at school we used condenser primarily. Our physics master had worked on radar in WWII as a young graduate. His workshop was a sight to behold with all sorts of equipment about which mere mortals could only dream.

By the way the battery is 1.5/67.5 information here: www.radiomuseum.org/r/automatic_tom_thumb_camera_3526s.html

[SidW]

[quote author=wayne board=620 thread=6953 post=52819 ..... Since it is tubes, it would survive the electro magnetic pulse for a nuclear blast [/quote]

So it would keep on playing until the battery ran out, with no-one to hear it ...

[mickeyobe]

Dec 23, 2011 22:34:13 GMT -5 SidW said:

[quote author=wayne board=620 thread=6953 post=52819 ..... Since it is tubes, it would survive the electro magnetic pulse for a nuclear blast

So it would keep on playing until the battery ran out, with no-one to hear it ...[/quote]

It would, however, be a great testimony for the quality of the battery.

Mickey

[Deleted]

Yep. I always try to find a positive in any situation