Armand Taylor 'Jewel' radio

 The Jewel Radio 

(by Gerry Wells in BVWS Bulletin 2002. Colour images are my radio)

	Very few people will have heard of Tuskite. Very few people in the radio trade will have heard of it either. If you lived in or around Marsh road in Pitsea, Essex and had a Vange 3 number telephone then you would have been aware of the factory that called itself Armand Taylor & Co Ltd. You would also be aware of a peculiar smell that emanated from this factory. What you could smell was the process of Bake-lizing paper to form what is commonly known as Paxolin.
	The factory is run by a charming lady called Josephine.

 I can only assume that she is the daughter of Armand Taylor. In 1957 this very worthy company decided to produce a radio set called the Jewel. I get the impression that they intended to make about five thousand of them: in actual fact only 1000 were produced. I worked through out from the serial numbers. They were all six figure and started with 111000, I have never found anything beyond 111999.

 Up until March 2001 I had only been aware of one: that is in Jonathan Hill's 'Radio Radio' figure 785. It was on the 23rd February that I had a telephone call from Josephine. She informed me that she had a factory that had been out of use since 1957. She further stated That she wanted to sell the factory but it was full of radios and unwanted stock.

 She said that she had a possible buyer but she would have to get the factory completely emptied. It had to be done in a hurry and I could have it all for nothing; all I had to do was collect it. I Told her that I was off on holiday The following Monday, down to Lakeside on Hayling Island.

 I Telephoned John Thompson who had a very large Citroen hatchback car. He agreed to contact Josephine and collect the contents of the factory. He cleared everything. He made seven journeys from Pitsea to Dulwich. When I came home a week later, I found my whole dining room two feet deep in clag.

Gerry & helpers re-assemble stock

There were about 200 incomplete sets and oils of cases. They were all rejects, in tact about 20% of the first run. I think at this point in 1957 they decided lo stop production and padlock the factory.

 Although they were very fine little sets they were all valve-ed and the transistor was on  It's way in. In spite of the fact that I have been continually involved with radio for sixty years, I have not met anything like this sort of design before. The designer was one hell of a genius.

 If you examine the accompanying circuit you will wonder what the blazes is going on. If you take a close look at the chassis you will be convinced that the man behind it was no ordinary set designer.

 The set is quite usual for the first three valves ie: DK92, DF91 and DAF91. It has a small Three-waveband coil pack that they designed and made themselves and 2 IF transformers that looked odd, two wires came out of each end and their trimmers were on the side of the cases.

 You would then spot a weird object that was where the tuning condenser would normally be. This object was their own patent tuning system. It was about the same size as a normal tuning gang.

 It consisted of 2 oval pieces of Paxolin or Tuskite, A layer of very fine neoprene or latex (the sort That is usually found in clinics) was glued to the copper sheets on the drum. A strip of copper sheet was fixed to the drum, but well insulated tram the inner copper strips. It is wound round about one and a half Turns and returned to a shaft with a slot in it and wound round until it is fully wound. A drive cord was fitted to the shaft with a big knot and the other end wound round the drum against the spring. The copper outer was then earthed.

 I have played with this device for hours to see how it worked and have tested it for capacitance and losses. It gave a good 500 pF on each half and didn't seem to be too lossy.

 As you will see the rest of the set is fairly conventional apart from The output stage and power supplies The three battery valves have their filaments in series and are placed across a resistance network in the cathode of the UL41 output valve. A small amount of anode to anode feedback is applied to the output stage.

Josephine (owner in 2000)

The power supply is unusual. It employs a mains transformer that has a 250V primary and a 100V secondary tapped at 40 volts to light up the UL41, A simple voltage double-er circuit is employed to give an HT+ of 220 volts using Two small, nasty selenium rectifiers called Sen Ter Cel (a cleaned up name for KB). (nasty because when faulty gives off poisonous fumes)

 It is then smoothed in the usual way and a 40mA pilot bulb is in series with the rest of the set This bulb flickers m time with the music and is placed on the forehead of the figure of an Asian woman, which forms the main part of The Tuning dial.

 Most of the 200 sets had case parts missing. There were no lop plates that hold the case tube into place with chrome plated dome nuts (1/2 CWT of dome nuts) The case is an oval tube 8 inches by 8 inches. It has a pattern of 3/4 inch holes punched in it on either side. The whole tube is covered with cloth, a wide variety of cloths had been used, a great many tartan patterns and a lot of caravan curtain styles. I think a few country and western shirts crept in as well.

 A few case tubes were unusable, well nibbled or covered in a white fungus. The first thing I had to do was make up the oval top plates. I used 1/4 inch MDF for this and covered them in brightly coloured felts.

 The cabinet case outer tubes were quite easy to form up, I made up a solid wooden mandrel and bought several rolls of the heaviest lining paper that you can get. I cut up the rolls on a fine-bladed circular saw. This meant that I could get eight cases out of each roll. I then coated the paper with wallpaper paste and rolled them over the mandrel, fixed them with string, then took them off the mandrel before they had realized what had happened.

 I stood then in rows to dry before putting them on a jig to punch holes in them, I got Eileen to go round to all the local shops to get any suitable material. She did very well and even came back with cloth with teddy bears on.

 It now came to the time to make the set work and see how well it performed. I picked a set out at random and gave it to one of our little old men to take home to his prefab in Lewisham, Ted did a first class job on it. He told me that it performed very well and sounded very fair. He was kind enough to draw me out a first class circuit diagram with all the component values on it. 

 Although Ted has been in the radio repair trade all his life and is seldom beaten, he did state that this set was rather like a City and Guilds test piece with every fault known to man in one chassis. He had to admit that it was beautifully put together and the soldering was perfect even if the UL41 valve holder was back to front and the electrolytes were in backwards.

 Up to date (2001) I have completed about fifty of them and sold a few, given a few away as presents and made sure that everyone at the museum has one whether they want one or not.

Short video of my radio that once belonged to a factory family owner and kept in box most of life

Vintage battery Radio Power Pack

 

This unit will work for most 4 valve battery radios from the past. It utilizes components available to the modern builder. High voltage transformers with extra windings for valves and no longer made. But transformers for low voltage transistor circuits are common. This unit uses 2 x 20v secondary's, but a 15v type will also work well.

HT circuit

This uses a voltage multiplier arrangement x 4. Each diode will rectify 1/2 of the AC waveform and then discharge it across first capacitor and so on until 90 volts is achieved. Similar circuits were used in television receivers to generate EHT voltage for the CRT. Also used in neon high light voltage circuits. The output voltage is stabilized by C & R at the end of circuit.

LT Circuit

LT is stabilized by a modern i/c circuit arrangement known as a Buck Convertor, mainly made in China and can be found on-line for as little as 50p each. The LM2596 is supplied with all the components needed for it to work handling output current up to 2 amps, more than needed for most 1.5, 2, & 4 volt radio batteries. The chip operates at 40 megahertz and can create large amounts of radio interference. The answer is to install inside a small tobacco type tin that has been earthed. Make sure external holes are tiny as at that high frequency the signal will escape.

I've covered the mains terminals with cardboard to isolate from stray fingers.

The HT and LT circuits were made on Vero strip boards with pre drilled holes. Bridge diode can be any that can handle low voltage up to 3 amp current. Similar units sell on-line made in France around £60, but made by yourself can be done for as little as £20. 

Pre 1914 Radio Communication

	1: Marconi Wireless Cabin on Board the "Tongue" Lightship. The Trinity Brethren were among the first to recognise the value of Marconi's invention to those who go down to the sea in ships. Ten years ago they ordered the equipment of the East Goodwin Light-vessel with wireless apparatus. Communication with South Foreland Lighthouse, 12 miles distant, was most satisfactorily maintained. The '' Tongue " installation is typical of the many lightships now fitted.
	2: Schooner "Volunteer." Chartered by the Newfoundland Government in 1902, for the purpose of erecting Marconi stations along the coast of the Labrador. The ship was used as a stores and dwelling place by the engineers fitting up the installations, who had to carry out their work in weather, and under conditions, of Arctic severity.
3: Mr. Marconi and Assistants at Cape Breton Station. The illustration shows Signor G. Marconi with five of his assistants outside the High-power Wireless Telegraph Station at Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and gives some idea of the severity of the weather conditions under which Sig. Marconi and his staff carry on their work at times. Mr. Marconi is the third figure from the left.
	4: G. Marconi. Born at Bologna, 1874 Married 1905, daughter of Lord Inchiquin. Carried out first experiments in wireless telegraphy at Bologna. Same first tested in England between Penarth and Weston. In 1899 established wireless communication between France and England, and Trans-Atlantic service between England and America in 1907. In addition to the warships of the British and Italian Navies, most of the ocean liners have the Marconi apparatus.
5: Marconi Station at Banana, Congo Free State. This station was erected by the Marconi Company in July, 1901, to the order of the Congo Government for communication with a similar station at Ambri-zette, Angola, and was operated by natives, illustrative of the ease with which the Marconi apparatus can be mastered and worked. Station now dismantled.
	6: Marconi Station at Niton, Isle of Wight. Erected by the Marconi Company in 1901. Situated on the most southern point of the island. Many early experiments were carried out there. The station has a working range of 150 to 200 miles, and carries on a public telegraph service with ships voyaging between the United States and London, Germany, France, and Holland.
7: Messina  Station. The station at Messina, destroyed in the recent lamentable catastrophe, was illustrative of the multifarious usages to which Marconi's invention may be put. Connecting, as it did, the Italian Peninsula, by means of the similar station at Eeggio di Calabria, with Italy's largest neighbouring island, the service of the Italian State and Sicilian Railways was considerably accelerated. The station is being refitted.
	8: Cape Cod Station. Erected in 1900, this station transmitted direct to a similar station at Poldhu, in Cornwall, England, 2,800 miles distant, an inaugural message from President Roosevelt to His Majesty King Edward, in January. 1903. The poles carrying the aerial wires are now replaced by the familiar lattice work towers. It has provided since 1904 a daily news service to the principal Trans - Atlantic liners.
9: Wireless Telegraph Motor Car. The illustration shows the first application of the Marconi system to moving stations. This steam motor car with its light zinc cylinder serving as an an antenna, was able to communicate, as long ago as 1900, with a corresponding station up to a distance of over 20 miles. Moving stations carried by mules or light field carts now provide instant means of communication up to more than 100 miles.
	10: Cape Breton Station. Erected by the Marconi Company in 1902 for Trans-Atlantic communication, but has since been rebuilt. Now carries on constant communication, day and night,- with station at Clifden, Ireland, transmitting public messages, and supplying a daily news service to Atlantic liners for publication on board. The view is taken from seawards in mid-winter.
11: South Goodwin Lightship. Situated at the southeast corner of the Goodwin Sands. Was equipped with wireless telegraphy in May, 1905, by order of Trinity House. Communicates with stations at Dover and North Foreland. Has been of great service in summoning assistance to vessels in distress on the Sands. Six lightships in all have now been equipped with wireless telegraphy.
	12: John 'Jack' R. Binns. Born at Brigg, Lincolnshire, on 16th Sept., 1884. Entered Marconi service as ship telegraphist at the age of 20. By his devotion to duty he was the means of saving 2,000 lives on the S.S. "Republic," when in collision in the Atlantic, remaining at his post for nearly 50 hours. For this he received an address from the Mayor of Peterborough, and a special presentation from the Directors of the Marconi Company.

13: Jack Binns' Cabin on the "Republic."  The illustration depicts the wireless cabin on the S.S. "Republic" from which Jack Binns sent out his now famous call " C.Q.D.," which brought help from all quarters to the "Republic " after her collision with the S.S. "Florida." On the left are the transmitting instruments and key, and on the right the receiving instruments and recorder. The cabin was partially destroyed in the accident.

14: First Type Transmitting Apparatus. The illustration shows one of the early induction coils and oscillators used by Mr. Marconi for the production of Hertzian waves as employed in wireless telegraphy. The discharge which sets up the ether waves takes place between the two large brass balls, which are partially immersed in oil. , This type has been considerably improved upon.

15: Marconi  Syntonic Receiver.  Invented by Mr. G. Marconi. By its means several wireless messages can be received at the same moment. Two or three, each "tuned" to a different wave, will, if connected to the same "aerial" wire, pick out and record the particular message transmitted by the station using the same '' tune." It is thus possible to receive English, French, and German messages at the same time, each on its own instrument.

17: Marconi Station at Holyhead.  Opened for communication with ships entering and leaving Liverpool, in 1901. From left to right is: Coherer receiver in screening box (front opened), transmitting "jigger," Morse inker with battery of Leyden jars behind, transmitting key, and induction coil by means of which the oscillations, or waves, are created. Stations of this type have a working range of from 150 to 200 miles.

18: Marconi Cabin.  A typical Marconi installation on board ship. The instruments shown are, reading from left: Receivers, Morse recorder, Leyden jar battery, transmitting key, and transmitting coils. These sets enable regular commercial communication to be conducted at distances up to 200 miles, the messages being received on a tape. In the latest type, the messages are received by sound through telephones at much greater distances.

19: Marconi Magnetic Detector.  Invented by Mr. Marconi in 1902. Based upon the change taking place in an iron band travelling between two magnets, when affected by Hertzian waves, which causes a sound in the receivers similar to a telegraph buzzer. Records signals at 3,000 miles. The simplest and yet the most perfect wireless receiver yet invented. Rapidly replacing old coherer receiver where paper tape records are not required.

20: Marconi  Portable Wavemeter.  Invented in 1908 by a member of the Marconi staff, for the measurement of electrical oscillations ox-waves employed in wireless telegraphy. By varying the adjustment until the loudest signals are heard in the telephones, the wavelength is indicated automatically on a scale. Weighs 6 lbs., and only measures 9 ins. by 4 ins. by 6 ins. One of the most useful contributions to the art of wireless telegraphy.

22: Marconi Wireless Cabin on Atlantic Transport Liner.  One of the earlier type installations. The vital portions of the apparatus are duplicated (see two induction coils or transmitters at extreme ends of picture, and the two coherer receivers in screening boxes on the left). In centre is Morse recorder, Leyden jars, and, in front of coil, the transmitting key.

23: Receiving Room (High-power Station, Clifden).  The illustration shows an operator at the High-power Marconi Station at Clifden, Ireland, receiving a message from Glace Bay. Nova Scotia, over 2,000 miles away. Receiving is done by sound through a pair of telephones similar to those used by telephone switchboard operators, and ia carried on at a speed of about 30 words a minute.

24: First Type Lecture Apparatus.  One of the early sets of apparatus used for lecture purposes. To the right is the coherer, tapper, and relay, and on the left a call bell with telegraph sounder. The component parts are the same as in the commercial receiver, but more compactly arranged with the view to easy portability.

	Marconi Receiving Apparatus on an Atlantic Liner. Reading from left to right, the instruments are : Special side lever transmitting key, screening box containing coherer receiver, on which stands a tape wheel; behind is a switchboard carrying starting and regulating switches, voltmeters, ammeters, pilot lamps. The tube from top of screening box is the switch throwing receiver in and out of action by means of the side lever of the key.
	21: Marconi Wireless Telegraph Station, Bari, Italy.  Erected by the Marconi Company for the Italian Government. Now forms part of the Government network of stations for public service with similar station at Antivari (Montenegro) and other places. The two towers support the aerial, consisting of a number of wires arranged in the shape of a fan, point downwards, which lead into the instrument room.
	25: Italian  Portable Marconi Station. This automobile Marconi station is intended for military purposes. It has a working range of 100 miles, and can be brought into action in ten minutes. In addition to propulsion, the engine is used for raising and lowering the aerial elevator on. the roof, and for generating current for the apparatus. Messages can be transmitted and received while travelling at half speed.

Crown TR-690

Crown TR-690 Personal Portable Radio  (sent in by Paul Rumpf in Australia)

The radio was bought by my dad James in around 1965. He used to take it to the footy (Aussie rules) to listen to the  commentary. It was playing up and dad asked me to fix it. This was around 1990. Dad left us in 1996, and I never actually got around to fixing it until now with the Covid 19 lock-downs (lockups). Repairing these things is daunting at first sight because the compactness and the PCB tracks are all unfamiliar. The circuit diagram has been traced as well as could be done without taking components off the PCB. As a basis for the circuit I based the drawing on a ‘typical’ Japanese 6 transistor radio.

similar circuit diagram

Notes:-

• The mixer transistor is 2SA102, and IF transistors are 2SA101. Typical emitter current is around 0.5 mA for Q1 and 3. Q2 is the AGC transistor and the emitter current varies with signal level. 
• The self-oscillating mixer Q1, has the local oscillator signal fed through the emitter of Q1. Accordingly the emitter resistor is NOT bypassed with a capacitor. 
• The variable tuning capacitor in these types of radio have usually used different capacitance values for the aerial and the oscillator sections to eliminate the need for a padder. In this design, the two capacitor sections appear to be identical because there is a small capacitor (padder) in series with the oscillator section. 
• The bias feed resistors for each RF transistor have been assessed by measuring the ‘Base bias current’ by connecting the mA meter from the transistor base to ground. Q1 and Q3 current: - 0.2 mA; Q2 current 0.085 mA. 
• Emitter currents are around 0.5 mA. 
• The bias point for Q4 has the emitter voltage at about half the supply voltage; ie -4.5 Volt. The two problems with this radio were (1); the earphone jack had a short which shorted the voice coil and (2); there was an intermittent open circuit between the collector of Q4 and the coupling transformer primary winding. 
• The attached images should help to understand the layout. Audio quality is just OK; there is no crossover distortion. 

 Hope these notes help someone.

Editors notes:- I've found with this design of circuit, the 3 electrolytic's tend to fail, especially the 10uf (or similar) between the volume control slider and the base of the first audio amp. Causing low volume, the others cause instability or squealing.

Nice publication of Crown transistors

Radio symbols named

These are early US symbols, other countries may have designed their own. The first 3 valves are battery designed with direct heat to the Cathode and use less current than mains valves, they were improved over the years. The Screen Grid valve was later called Tetrode. These symbols were draw-up in the early days of radio or telegraphy and many are still in use today. Condensers were later called Capacitors.

Some later improvements the the vacuum valve/tube shown here in UK style

1929, 3 valve home build (restoration)

 

I was lucky to find this beauty at a reasonable cost along with BTH horn speaker from a guy in Wednesbury in West Midlands. They were in an unrestored grubby state, but with no real damage to the cabinet that would have been professionally made as an upgrade after a home build had been built. The problem with home builds is that a circuit can never be found and I had to reverse engineer one for myself. I was quite surprised how sophisticated it was. With 3 separate HT supplies, 1 grid bias battery and a 2 volt heater accumulator required to fire the giant up. I later found the reproduction period hall table to put it on - that I found on Facebook sales in Erdington.

The repair

All valves were pretty much exhausted and needed replacing. The screened grid PM12, the top cap broke away and I had to etch the glass back (with a grinding tool) to re-solder a wire to it. I made a 2v power unit with a 'buck converter' i/c and fitted that a 2 x 1.5v batteries inside a plastic box (originally the store box for a JVC car stereo front) nice clip lid to give access to replace batteries. The i/c's are found on line for a 'buck', lol

2v power pack I made with 'Buck' i/c, a switch and an LED to remind me it was on.

The grid leak battery was still in it's holder on the rear, so I made a carboard copy and installed a 7.7v battery inside (lot's of 1.5's in series.) Didn't re-use old one it had been tar filled.

Grid leak batteries new and old

The 3 HT units I made with 10 x PP3s in series fitted in the Kodak boxes they were posted in, Only gives 90v per rail, but most calves will work down to as little as 30 HT. To save space I fitted the 3 x HT battery boxes in the screened can middle unit at rear.

This photo shows the inside after a good clean-out of spiders and webs, as you can see the radio is constructed in 3 compartments; left: screen grid, RF amp and detector unit, centre: feedback and tuning, right: audio amp and tuning.  A is where I etched the wire back to glass top of valve, B is hidden behind screen can but needed a 1uF the was open circuit, HT decoupling, and C was the Inter Stage audio transformer(TX1), 3:1 ratio, that was open circuit, luckily I had some period parts to replace them. The plug in coil in the centre area I moved forward a little to give room for battery box's.

Even the inside of the cabinet had been varnished, so made cleaning years of dust away a doddle. The hole of the inside slid out of the cabinet with only the bias battery fixed to the rear. Because the cabinet was so dark, died a mahogany colour I added a collection of cigarette cards from the mid 20s showing and naming all 1920s radio components for the constructer, this brightens the whole look of the unit considerably.

Even the aluminium screening can, un-seen when radio running was given brush engraved finish and a removable lid for the top was also added. The BBC had insisted these units were better screened by the late 20's due to interference being caused with neighbour's radios, due to local oscillators. 3 plug-in coils were fitted and would need to be changed for LW reception if needed. Many terminals at rear for all the batteries to be wired plus speaker with more for aerial and earths. I touched them up with Tipex to highlight symbols on them.