1953 Zenith Model K401 Personal Portable Radio

Fairly uncommon, though you see more of them in a broken state. Their cabinets are plastic and are easily broken.

I suspect this radio was designed by Budlong due to its curves.

It's a four-tube personal portable powered by a 477 B battery and up to three D cells for the filaments. It uses vernier tuning--not a common feature on radios this small.

This one is the drab grey version. Zenith had more flashier models using this same case. They used extensive reverse-chrome plating and came in either red, black or white.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• old
• radio
• antique
• tubes
• battery
• zenith
• personal

[umajunkcollector]

what was the switch for?

[batterymaker]

Tone control--though it doesn't give much of a difference, given the speaker's size.

[CoolDudeClem]

That starts up quickly for a tube unit. Can tubes warm up that fast, or was it already warmed up but just turned off briefly before starting the camera?

[batterymaker]

Battery tubes start almost instantaneously.  The delay you're referring to is common with tube rectifiers and mains radios.

[retrochad]

very nice radio! They really have those tubes tucked in there pretty tightly.

[breehound]

Great vid, beautiful Zenith. Keep them coming.:-)