[BILL]

I found at an antique store a Philco TV BOOSTER model TB3,in good shape , The cabinet is the same as the PT 26 Transitone! The radio came out it 1940 I believe the TV booster about 1950. Is there other examples of Philco recycling cabinets?
What I'm planning to do is replacing the TV booster chassie with a PT26 Transitone chassie,I have one with broken cabinet,.
Is my TV booster anything someone would want? should I keep the TV booster complete? and junk my PT26? The TV booster is something I do want.

[Ron Ramirez]

Oh, Philco did that a lot. Plus sharing the same cabinets among two or more different models, as well as occasionally sharing the same (or very similar) chassis among several different cabinets.

"Waste not, want not..."

[Arran]

I would think that the TV booster is probably rarer then the PT26, it can also be used to boost FM signals I believe so it's not entirely useless even if you aren't into TVs. I guess it's really up to you, but if it were mine I would keep it as it is since it's an early example of an aftermarket TV accessory. Philco came out with their first TVs in late 1947, and were well established in the market by 1950, it would be neat if you could find a 1949-50 Philco TV to go with your booster.
I think in addition to reusing the same cabinet as a radio for a TV booster they also reused radio cabinets for intercoms. Philco not only reused cabinets by they reused Chrysler and Ford car radios in chairside and a console models respectively, in the spring of 1942 since there were no new cars to install them in.
Regards
Arran

[wa2ise]

Philco also made radios in Australia and/or New Zealand, and often used the same cabinets years after they stopped using them in the USA. Australian/NZ Hippos exist. They probably shipped the molds and tooling from the USA to Australia at the time.

This New Zealand set looks a lot like American Philcos.
[Image: http://www.wa2ise.com/radios/philco401.jpg]