Radio Broadcast (May 1929-Apr 1930)

How Can Radio Satisfy the Public's Artistic Demands? RALPH H. LANGLEY, Director of Engineering, Crosley Radio Corporation, says, "Radio . . . is an even greater improvement over the old phonograph than the automobile over the horse and buggy. Surely it is entitled to the same beauty and distinction of design. . . . We need new and honest treatments . . . which make no apology to the past ..." Mr. Langley, when in charge of receiving set design for the General Electric Company, was responsible for the first super-heterodyne models with sealed "catacombs." THE TREND IN CABINET DESIGN IIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIII! % By R. H. LANGLEY Crosley Radio Corporation iflHERE have the modern designs for radio sets come from, and where are they going to? Is there any definite history back of our present radio cabinets, and can we think of them as final, or will there be further developments? These are interesting and important questions, worthy of careful examination. Radio receivers (they used to be called "wireless receivers") have been built for a great many years. Back in those early days a receiver consisted of but few parts, and they were fastened down to a board, so that the connections would stay in place. It may be somewhat of a surprise to know that our present highly complicated receivers are built on this same plan. To be sure, there have been tendencies away from this arrangement, but to-day, apparently, we are back again at first principles. The first step away from the "breadboard" design was the introduction of a front panel, with some of the devices mounted on the panel and some on the base. One of our wellknown manufacturers has a patent on this construction. Then came sets in which the panel replaced the base completely, and everything was mounted on it. Hundreds of thousands of receivers of this type were built and sold, and many of them are still in service. The desire to conceal all the wiring, which at best was unsightly, was the probable reason for the return to the base mounting for all the parts. The old "breadboard" has been replaced by a punched steel chassis, and all the wiring is inside this base. In most modern sets, the a.c. power unit is also mounted on this same steel base, and this form can perhaps be regarded as the highest development in design. The relation of the loud speaker to the present status of set design is also interesting. Why is the loud speaker still a separate device? The fact is that, in spite of all that can be said about the advantages of having the loud speaker at some different point in the room from the receiver itself, the present arrangement is an inheritance from the earlier days, which we have not yet discarded. It is a relic for which we seem to have some sentimental attachment. The day is probably close at hand when we shall forsake this time-honored division of our equipment and build the receiver and speaker in one unit. Early Receiving Methods In the early days the only method of hearing radio signals was by use of head telephones, and these had to be at the end of a cord so that the operator could wear them. For some time after broadcasting started, head telephones were used exclusively. When the loud speaker came, it was used for some time interchangeably with the head phones, and a jack was provided by which either might be plugged in. To-day the use of head phones has almost disappeared, but the loud speaker still dangles at the end of a cord, and even in the cabinet sets, is a separate device, mounted independently in the cabinet. The dealer to-day likes to sell a complete equipment, in one ensemble, at a "complete" price, and the buyer undoubtedly prefers to buy it that way. It is closely parallel to the "completely equiped" automobile which we buy to-day, as against the separate purchase of a dozen necessary accessories, which was the rule a few years ago. To provide this completeness in radio sets, the manufacturer (or in some cases the dealer) • JUNE -1929 • • 69