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RCA TRK-12/120
(click on picture for high resolution image)
The TRK-12 was introduced, along with 3 other less expensive sets, at the 1939 World's Fair in New York. The TRK-12 cost $600, more than the cost of a modest car at the time. The picture tube was mounted vertically, with a mirror in the cabinet lid, because it was so long that, if mounted horizontally, the cabinet would have been almost three feet deep. Click here for technical information, schematic diagram, owner's manual, or for pictures of the set on RCA's assembly line. The set had four chassis: one for the television circuits, one for the television power supply, one for the radio and one for the radio power supply. One photo from a 1939 magazine shows a fifth chassis, the purpose for which is unknown. RCA also made an experimental projection version of this set in 1941. Click for a 1945 modification, apparently for a brighter picture. A 1946 article in Radio and Television News describes the set in detail. Photos of a 1946 television repair shop show a TRK-12 on the bench. A 1944 Popular Mechanics article describes the chassis. In 1939, RCA installed a TRK-12 in an airplane, and demonstrated television reception over Washington, DC. The set even inspired a Valentine Day card and appeared in several magazine advertisements. During World War Two, RCA put TRK-12s in hospitals in New York to entertain injured servicemen. After the war, an unusual set was made using a TRK-12 cabinet. RCA's service manual for this set described how the set should be viewed:
The set came with an instruction card inserted behind the television control knobs. The TRK-12 has a socket on the rear to allow connection of an external phonograph, such as the RCA model R-100.
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