Westinghouse WR-682A manufacturing date;

Manufacturing date Nov. 25th 1940 proven, serial# 004964

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Hi,

I'm familiar with the RCA BP-10 personal radio. Almost a quarter of a million were made between 1940 and 1941.  But, I was totally unaware that Westinghouse produced an identical radio at the same time.  Do you have any idea how many WR-682A radios were produced and why Westinghouse was able to copy the RCA design? 

Danke,

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Wolfgang, the item has been removed from eBay. Was it a picture which was showing a date and serial number ? Thanks, Vincent.

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The eBay photos showed the manufacturer's tag.  It had a serial number of 003037, but no date stamp.  The tag also looked amost identical to those on RCA BP-10s.

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Maybe Wolfgang saved the page?
Or took a screen shot.

It's quite likely of course for a Westinghouse branded item to be at same time as RCA.

Eventually in the consumer sphere the "Westinghouse" was only a badge. Nothing to do with the "real" Westinghouse (which I worked for in 1983 to 1985 inclusive, nearly 3 years designing Industrial Control with Z80, i8051 and NEC 78HC11 for Combustion Control Division).

A very similar to RCA BP10 made by Marconi/Marconiphone/HMV in UK in 1947. The identical chassis was in an Ever Ready (UK) Set. The next year Ever Ready added LW band.
- Marconiphone PB17B  RCA tubes in Factory
- Marconi PB17B Maybe Mullard or other Dx91 tubes in Factory
- Ever Ready (UK) but seems to be Marconi built Chassis
- Ever Ready (UK) but with added LW

Since Marconi/Marconiphone/HMV are sort of the UK RCA, this is no surprise. But the Ever Ready (UK) model using the RCA/Marconi/HMV chassis is slightly.

So a "Westinghouse" (only box and RCA chassis, or entirely Westinghouse) in 1940 version / clone of the RCA BP10 is no surprise. Most of the models of 1940 using the RCA tubes are basically identical designs only packaged differently. A few manage to vary from the original RCA recipe.

You see same on 1950s UK "wooden box" radios with DK96, DF96, DAF96 and DL96. Almost all clones of the Philips/Mullard MW/LW reference design.

I've seen retail products today that are poor copies of the lab evaluation board. You wonder do some companies employ more than an artist to design case

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I also came across another BP-10 clone on eBay several weeks back.  It was a General Electric model JK-44 made in Canada.  Mechanically and electrically is seemed to be identical to the BP-10 except for the grill cloth and inside labels.

 

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The Westinghouse WR-682A was relisted on eBay a few weeks ago.  I managed to be the winning bidder.  The radio is an exact copy of the RCA BP-10 with the exception of the grill cloth and Westinghouse labels.  The serial number fairly low.  I wonder how many were produced.

Attachments:

• WR-682A top view (120 KB)
• WR-682A label (105 KB)

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