Ultra-rare Sony 3-transistor radio TR-33 vintage 1955 - collectornet.net

The back says Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo Ltd. What IS this radio?

Here's an early, EARLY Sony transistor radio from 1955. It's an earphone-only radio--there's no speaker in it.

A unique feature here is this cover inside the back, protecting the chassis. I've talked elsewhere about radio makers' efforts to keep curious fingers out of the circuitry. This was Sony's 1955 approach. I don't know of any other Sony that uses the batteries this one does, a pair of N-cells. A few of the later, smaller Toshibas do, but no other Sony I can think of. And here's what the original Sony N-cell batteries looked like. They look like they just dropped down from heaven in this overly-dramatized picture. Notice that they have Sony's old name and logo on them and that they shout "Transistorized Radio."

Speaking of the old logo, this radio features it too, one of just a few of the Sony radios that did. This logo was used only from 1955 till 1958.

We've got three of the very early Sony oval transistors inside. And as you can see, the chassis is an impressive piece of work.

The back says Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo Ltd., Sony's actual company name until 1958 when they changed it to Sony. And it says "Sony-Radio"--with a hyphen in it.

This metal grille is a piece of charlatanry. I looked it up. It's a real word. This grille, like many others on earphone-only radios, is a fraud, a fake, there only to give the illusion that the radio has a speaker--which it does not. I find this sort of thing amusing.

The grille appears to be made of some sort of brass with a clear finish on it. It's been scuffed over the years as you can see, but remains unrestored. I'm not touching it!

As you can see, this little radio is not just a box, it's a shapely, well-crafted little beast and not at all toy-like as we would see in other earphone-only radios from other manufacturers.

The Sony TR-33, one of the earliest of all Sony radios and a very rare one indeed. Not many were made--and all that were, were sold in Japan as it is believed that this model wasn't officially exported anywhere.

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