Cold War amazement! This is the 1955 Minifon P-55, an all-tube hand held wire recorder that was true high tech for its time. Without all the batteries it is the same size as a Walkman! I do a tear down to reveal the genius and craftsmanship that lies within. Enjoy!
Read the P-55 manual on cryptomuseum.com:
https://www.cryptomuseum.com/covert/rec/minifon/p55/files/p55_manual.pdf
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Read the P-55 manual on cryptomuseum.com:
https://www.cryptomuseum.com/covert/rec/minifon/p55/files/p55_manual.pdf
Join Team FranLab!!!! Become a patron and help support my YouTube Channel on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/frantone
- Music by Fran Blanche -
Frantone on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/frantone/
Fran on Twitter - https://twitter.com/contourcorsets
Fran's Science Blog - http://www.frantone.com/designwritings/design_writings.html
FranArt Website - http://www.contourcorsets.com
If U wanna see another Minifon,
check Meister Jambo. He has a
more modern transistorised
version of it, it' s Running!
He has another "Drahttongeraet",
that is sounding.
Did this ever got restored? 👀
By now you probably know that the vacuum tube is a beam tetrode and those drive belts are available from PRB with a minimum order. And when I was servicing a Linear Pocket Secretary the counter belt I made from silicone on a round pin rotating in the drill-press and when cured and cut into rings made a few belts that actually worked.
i so enjoy your videos thank you Fran , stay cool.
I`ve worked on a bunch of these P-55s and the two things that ALWAYS go on them are the drive belts and the rubber O rings on the supply spool. Strangely enough, the rubber on the take up side is always intact. Taking apart the cylindrical drive mechanism is a royal pain in the ass just to replace the drive belt. And replacing the spindles that hold the spools after servicing them is a separate pain in the ass because the spacing between the O rings on the spindles and the cylindrical drive wheel that operates their movement has to be just right or else the mechanism won`t run right at all when going into play or rewind mode. I have one that I restored, and it runs properly, but it takes hours trying to set everything just right in the drive mechanism to make it run smoothly. I`ve experimented on enough of them, (and unfortunately trashed enough of them thru total mess ups) to be able to finally know how to work on the drive end of one of them.
“Theres no cheap ass caps in here” love it
It looks like OOparts !
Case was aircraft magnesium alloy – they really cut no corners with this thing!
Thanks Fran, that was a great video. Wow, maybe one day after watching you i will understand the big picture of al all these small projects. Gotta start small, then into the bigger stuff.
Hi… !
Curious, I have a similar device, but it needs a good repair because "unfortunately" I left it for many years, poorly stored.
It has a very funny story of how I got it, where it came from and what it was used for, in the past, before 1975!
Compliments
I love to hear this kind of stuff! Especially all tubes!!!!
Die Deitschn sann scho Hund… 😀
…Wow … what a flashback. Remember my father had one of those and I use to play with it.
Fran,
in case you have to repeat such an actions with lots of screws, use my trick:
(i) Place the plate with all these screw heads upside down onto a scanner and scan it.
(ii) Print, cut and glue the image onto a foam plate of same size (thickness > expected screw length).
(iii) Drill small holes into foam at screw positions.
(iv) Start disassembling your item and stick screws at corresponding location in the image-on-foam, screw by screw.
By these means you will never mix up screws while re-assembling your item !
This is the best and by far, the most informative video I have witnessed on this amazing Minifon recorder! Thanks for this! ..I hope you have /will follow up on this (replacement of belt etc..) in the future Great Job Fran!!! Billy
Just reading a Perry Mason story – The case of the green-eyed sister – and the description of a German miniature wire recorder he uses sounds very much like the Minifon.
Amazing that the battery terminals have survived