Case AIBDC: 0_2180
A large transistor radio with a grill front and a round dial, rounded at the edges and covered in a patterned textured PVC.The dial has an injection moulded polystyrene cover.
Chosen for 10 Most Wanted to attract radio enthusiasts to the game and because a former employee of Portadyne had said that he believed a Illes Hofmeister to have designed it. We wanted this information validated.
Contributing agents
Ian Holdsworth worked with Lorne Clarke, Archivist to the British Vintage Wireless Society. MoDiP is most grateful to both of them.
What we wanted to know & what we found out
- Designer: Illes Hofmeister
- Date: 1962 (circa)
Information we thought we had was also corrected: we thought the radio was made by Portadyne. We found out that actually it was made by another firm, Dynaport, and branded and retailed by Portadyne.
Evidence trail
- Telephone directory
- Service sheet
- Personal expertise
- Patent
- Periodical
The hunt
Telephone Directory
Archivist, Lorne Clarke, believed the radio to have been made by Dynaport not Portadyne and provided these 1941 telephone directory pages showing that the two companies, Portadyne and Dynaport, resided at the same address.
Service sheet
Lorne Clarke also found the page below, which lists 1962 models, and states that Dynaport Radio & Television Ltd were manufacturers of the Portadyne 1962 models.
Personal expertise
Lorne Clarke wrote:
From what I can see, the transistors and diodes used suggest that it this is indeed one of the 1962 models mentioned on the service sheet extract that I sent. I don't think we can pin it down to the exact model without finding a model number plate on the set or finding an advert with a picture. However, I am confident that it was manufactured by Portadyne and branded Dynaport c.1962.
Quite often the electrolytic capacitors were marked with their date of manufacture. Might someone be able to have a look at the ones in this set? It would provide additional indication of year of manufacture.
We took a look but there were no dates.
Patent
Additionally Lorne Clarke sourced a patent that shows that an Illes Hofmeister and Dynaport Television and Radio Ltd took out a patent in 1955 for 'Improvements relating to Cathode Ray Tube Apparatus'.
Periodical
Finally Lorne Clarke found a reference to an Illes Hofmeister in the London Gazette, 3 May 1960 described as 'a Radio and Television Designer'.
We believe the combination of Hofmeister taking out a patent with Dynaport and that we now know he was a radio designer validates the former employees claim that he designed this radio.
