Hi, recently purchased a Kriesler floor radio requiring restoration. It appears to have had previous repairs during it's life. I have pulled the chassis out and removed the already loose speakers. The timber veneer cabinet has polished up well with the odd knock/old repairs the only blemishes. I'm after some pointers on remounting the speakers properly (2xRola) and the testing of the radio electronics. The radio chassis has a date written on it 16/11/33. I'm a mechanic and not an electrician by the way.
Cheers Nathan.

Often the most helpful indicator in determining the model is the valve line up, so let us know what valves are in it.

Ok, numbers that I can make out, 80, 59, 57, 58, 57.

That will pre-date AORSM's and is likely to be a "Screen Grid Radio" (Autodyne) as 57 & 58 are the RF valves and are pentodes.

I have only ever worked on an EMMCO like that and it had been monkeyed with. The circuit of that , we could not find; I drew one and then, with second opinions from a couple of radio club members, played spot the errors that I had missed.

That circuit is in a Silicon Chip Vintage radio feature, as a Mystery set as it was a couple of SC readers that actually picked it as an EMMCO.

Whilst component values will be different, it may be a guide, as most of those things followed a similar plot.

While it may be a technical challenge but not worse than some car wiring looms. What I have done with sets like the EMMCO. Is reverse engineer it by drawing (AutoCad) pictures of the valves coils & transformers In the order I think they should be & then play join the dots.

Do photograph the inside of the pan before you remove anything. That way, if you have a senior moment, you can see where the part was before you removed it, or put its replacement in the wrong place.

Marc

Photos uploaded here and here.

Ok, numbers that I can make out, 80, 59, 57, 58, 57.

Assuming those are the correct valves (people sometimes put any old valve in a set to make it look complete), I can't find a reference to a Kriesler console model with that lineup, just these:

1933 Airzone 510
1933 AWA 120
1933 Raycophone 253AE
1933 Tasma 180C

That chassis looks to be in pretty condition for its age.

I might be able to find a matching photo in one of my books. I'll chase that up if nobody else comes to the party with an answer in the meantime.

There is the question of who said it was a Kriesler & why?

I have pics of some of the early radios, bakelite radio may be worth a look at. It has similarities to an EMMCO, who lileky built it if it is an Airzone?

Marc

There is the question of who said it was a Kriesler & why?

The thread title says "Kriesler", but it would be interesting to know how that was ascertained.

"who lileky built it if it is an Airzone?"

Airzone was building its own sets in 1933 according to this from Radiomuseum:

"Airzone started manufacturing crystal sets in 1925. In the 30s they moved to Parramatta Road at Camperdown in Sydney and expanded to 750 employees. In 1931 the company was reorganised as 'Airzone 1931 Ltd.' By 1936 the factory floor area was over 3400 square metres. In 1946 the company became part of Emmco. email manufacturers of Philco brand sets. After 1948 both Airzone and Philco branded sets were the same. Radio production finished after 1955. Airzone branded radios made after 1955 were manufactured by AWA."

I have to say that I've never seen an Airzone set post-1955. I wonder why they shut down at that time, given that Email went on to become one of Australia's largest manufacturing conglomerates before post-industrialism set in. They had too many divisions for me to remember and ended up being bigger than AWA could have hoped to be.

For the record, as far as I can ascertain, the only electrical appliance that was once made by Email that is still made in Australia are fridges, under the Westinghouse, Electrolux and Kelvinator brands.

Thanks everyone, a lot of info coming forward. The only indication I had that it is a Kriesler is the badge on the trim that surrounds the dial. The chassis appears to have been repainted silver at sometime as there is brush marks on the transformer.

The only indication I had that it is a Kriesler is the badge on the trim that surrounds the dial.

If we assume that the chassis is correct for the cabinet then I guess it's indeed a Kriesler.

The chassis appears to have been repainted silver at sometime as there is brush marks on the transformer.

That would explain it. The tuning capacitor looks to be pretty grungy by comparison and I guess the chassis itself was once in a similar condition. There seem to be rust patches poking through the silver.

I'll have to dig out my various radio picture books and see if I can spot it or something close to it.

It looks very similar to the Tasma 135 on page 55 of The Best Years of Australian Radio 2nd edition. Different fretwork on the speaker grill but same general layout. The chassis is a different layout but the stylised image shown may be just an "artists impression"

There's also a generic circuit for a 1933 Superhet on page 49 which looks like it was taken from The Superhetrodyne Book of 1933.

Warren

PS getting very nervous about my grammar typing this on my phone.

Have done a little googling and found this:
http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/Kriesler_consol_5_valves.html
Appears to be fairly similar. Was also going to mention the dial has "EFCO MFG Co. LTD Arncliffe NSW" printed along its lower edge out of sight when fitted in the cabinet. Where's the best place to get new wire/parts etc or is there anyone in western Sydney / Blue Mountains that would be able to restore this properly? I have no intention of selling, but what could this radio be worth restored?
Cheers Nathan.

Yeah, I saw that set on the RM site earlier, but yours has just the two controls at the front.

Re restoration, you could give this guy a call:

Duncan McDonald at Bringelly
Tel: 0427 015 662 or 02 4774 8118

I don't know him, or of him, so let us know how you go there.

Value? Going by HRSA auctions and eBay listings, console sets don't fetch much money, even those in very good condition. Some attract no bids at all.

Some years ago I did extensive research at Mitchell Library and spent weeks photocopying from Wireless Weekly,Radio Retailer etc....I think I have a circuit of that Kriesler Autodyne..it may have been sold as a 'kit set' as they Liquidated in 1933 and were subsequently rescued!