Regency TR-1

Regency TR-1.

The Regency TR-1 was the first commercially sold transistor radio.

History

Two companies working together, Texas Instruments of Dallas, Texas and Industrial Development Engineering Associates (I.D.E.A.) of Indianapolis, Indiana, were behind the unveiling of the Regency TR-1, the world's first commercially-produced transistor radio. Previously, Texas Instruments was producing instrumentation for the oil industry and locating devices for the U.S. Navy, and I.D.E.A. built home television antenna boosters, but the two companies worked together on the TR-1, looking to grow revenues for their respective companies by breaking into this new product area.^[1] In May 1954, Texas Instruments had designed and built a prototype and was looking for an established radio manufacturer to develop and market a radio using their transistors. None of the major radio makers including RCA, Philco, and Emerson were interested. The President of I.D.E.A. at the time, Ed Tudor, jumped at the opportunity to manufacture the TR-1, predicting sales of the transistor radios at "20 million radios in three years".^[2] The Regency TR-1 was announced on October 18, 1954 by the Regency Division of I.D.E.A., was put on sale in November 1954, and was the first practical transistor radio made in any significant numbers. One year after the release of the TR-1 sales approached the 100,000 mark. The look and size of the TR-1 was well received, but the reviews of the TR-1's performance were typically adverse.^[3] The Regency TR-1 is patented by Richard C. Koch, US 2892931 , former Project Engineer of I.D.E.A.

The circuit of the Regency TR-1 was refined from one originally designed by engineers from Texas Instruments, and reduced the number of parts required, including two expensive transistors. Although this severely reduced the audio output volume, it enabled the radio to be sold for only a small profit. The initial cost of the Regency TR-1 was $49.95 (the equivalent of roughly $400 in year-2010 dollars) and sold about 150,000 units.

The TR-1 used Texas Instruments' NPN transistors, hand-picked in sets of four. The radio was powered by a 22.5 volt battery, since the only way to get adequate radio frequency performance out of early transistors was to run them close to their collector-to-emitter breakdown voltage. The high rate of battery consumption made the TR-1 very expensive to run, and it was far more popular for its novelty or status value than its actual performance. This can be compared with the first MP3 players, which although technologically interesting, were very expensive, with only very limited storage capacity (as low as 32 megabytes) and consequently could only store a very limited number of tracks with indifferent sound quality.

Still, aside from its indifferent performance, the TR-1 was considered a very advanced product for its time, using printed circuit boards, and what were then considered micro-miniature components.

Design

A mandarin red Regency TR-1 transistor radio showing its earphone jack.

The design of the Regency TR-1 was outsourced by I.D.E.A. to the industrial design firm of Painter, Teague and Petertil. The program was created within six weeks by way of telephone and design sketches exchanged through mail. The design won an award from the Industrial Design Society of New York and was selected by the Museum of Modern Art for the American Art and Design Exhibition in Paris in 1955.^[4] The TR-1 was initially offered in black, bone white, mandarin red, and cloud gray. It was later uncommonly offered in olive green and mahogany. Other later, rare colors included lavender, pearl white, turquoise, pink, and lime. It was advertised as being 3" x 5" x 1.25" and weighed 12 ounces, and used a 22.5 volt battery. The packaging consisted of a cardboard box and the color was stamped into the end. An optional earphone could be purchased for $7.50.^[5]

Manufacture

Regency began manufacturing the TR-1 on October 25, 1954. The manufacture was a collective effort of manufacturers around the country: The transistors and transformers came from Texas Instruments in Dallas. The capacitors came from International Electronics, Inc. of Nashville,^[1] Erie Electronics of Erie, Pennsylvania, and Centralab of Milwaukee, WI. The speakers came from Jensen of Chicago, Illinois. The IF transformers came from Vokar of Dexter, MI. The volume control came from the Chicago Telephone Supply of Elkhart, Indiana. The tuning capacitor came from Radio Condenser Co. of Camden, New Jersey. The Richardson Company of Melrose Park, Illinois and Indianapolis supplied the circuit board material to Croname of Chicago, IL who manufactured the circuit boards. The actual plastic case for the TR-1 was produced by Argus Plastics of Indianapolis, Indiana.^[5]

References

External links

• Schematic of Regency TR-1