This rack was made in 1946 by the American Radio Institute of New York. After World War Two, television was seen as a tremendous growth industry, and radio training schools expanded their courses to include television. Returning GIs enrolled by the hundreds.

This unit was used in ARI's Buffalo, New York branch. Since there were no TV stations on the air in Buffalo in 1946, ARI needed a program source for its classes. This rack produced an "Indian Head" picture for that purpose.

The picture is created by a monoscope,  a type of cathode ray tube which has the pattern permanently burned into it.

It contains over 150 tubes and has a video monitor and waveform monitor.

If anyone has information on the American Radio Institute, it would be greatly appreciated.