Early Television
Early Television
Early Television
Early Television
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Early Electronic Television

DuMont 180

Early Television

(click on picture for high resolution image)

Screen Size 14 inch
Year Made 1939
Quantity Manufactured ?
Original Cost $395
Number Still in Existence See Early Electronic Database
Cabinet Original Finish
Chassis Restored

 

Advertising literature
Pictures of 180s being made
How the 14AP4 CRT was made
Technical information
DuMont early electronic set on the workbench
The DuMont Receiver - Radio News, May 1939
Radio News, March 1939

DuMont introduced this set in 1938, months before RCA first sold sets. This is the early 1939 version of the DuMont 180. It has a 8 x 10 inch picture, and sold for $395. (Information courtesy of Tom Genova). 

This set is very similar to the Cossor 137T, made two years earlier. DuMont imported several Cossor sets in 1937, and apparently copied many of the features. The CRT is almost identical, with electrostatic deflection. The power supplies are very similar. DuMont did use more modern (octal) tubes (valves) than the Cossor, and the DuMont set has a 4 channel tuner, while the Cossor is a single channel set. It would be interesting to know if DuMont entered into a license agreement with Cossor, or simply "stole" the designs.

Recently, we received a letter from Jerry King, Director of the DuMont Project, which says:

In November of last year, I interviewed Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr., head of R & D for DuMont from its early days until the end. The November interview was one in a series I have conducted with him over the past eighteen months.

According to my audio recording of this session, Dr. Goldsmith states that Allen B. DuMont was in Britain "in 1936 or 1937" and sent back a Cossor set. He said the DuMont Lab took it apart and duplicated it with domestic parts, improving "some of the circuits." When asked whether or not a cross-licensing or other agreement was arranged with Cossor, Dr. Goldsmith flatly answered, "No, we didn't do that."

Early Television

A picture from the screen of the 180