[NJARC] Need info on the Brunswick Radio company

[Aaron Hunter]

Phil

>From different sources I'll list, the Brunswick model 15 console was built by
the Brunswick Radio Corp. around 1930 or 1931.

The company started life in 1845 as the Cincinnati Carriage Making Company,
by founder John Moses Brunswick.  The product line was expanded to include
cabinets, tables, billiard tables and chairs. In 1873 Brunswick merged with
Julius Balke�s Great Western Billiard Table Manufactory to become The J. M.
Brunswick and Balke Company. After another merger in 1884, it became �The
Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company".

In the early 1900s, Brunswick was supplying wooden cabinets to Edison (for
phonographs).  Then about 1916, they introduced its universal-reproducer
phonograph, later marketed as the Ultona.  Around 1919, they started
manufacturing their own records to go with their phonograph line.  Around
1924, Brunswick offered a phonograph radio combination.  But these first
radios were supplied by RCA and it wasn't until after December 1928 did they
manufacture their own radios by buying the Bremer-Tully Manufacturing
Company.

In April 1930, the record and radio division of Brunswick-Balke-Collender was
sold to Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc.  It appears Warner Brothers shut down
the radio division about 1932 as it's interest was in the Brunswick record
label name.  They licensed the name to the American Record Corporation where
it was used by them until 1938.  CBS and Decca later made use of the
Brunswick name under license to Warner Brothers and the Brunswick name
reappeared on a radio around 1939.

The Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company celebrated it's 150th anniversary in
1995.

The model 15 in question was offered in at least three different versions,
Battery, AC and DC.  All three were TRF sets.

Sources:
http://www.brunswick-billiards.com/history/timeline.html
http://www.garlic.com/~tgracyk/brunswick.htm
"Radio Diagram Sourcebook With Tube Complement Guide" by Richard Gray
"Radio Collector's Guide" by Morgan McMahon
"Directory of American Disc Record Brands and Manufacturers, 1891-1943" by
Allan Sutton
"Radio Manufacturers of the 1920's" by Alan Douglas
"Collector's Guide to Antique Radios, Fifth Edition" by John Slusser

Aaron Hunter

"Vourtsis, Philip (Phil), ALINF" wrote:

> Hi,
>   I received a letter from a fellow with a Brunswick model 15 console.
> He is looking for any information about the Brunswick company. I would
> be glad to pass any info you can provide on the reflector to him since he
> does not have internet access.
>
> Phil Vourtsis
> Pres.- New Jersey Antique Radio Club
>
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