Stromberg-Carlson TV-12
A twelve-inch postwar table set whose sync circuit earned it a place in the textbooks - and whose glass you can still buy new today.
Overview
The TV-12 is an early postwar Stromberg-Carlson set that turns up more often in service literature and parts listings than in finished, working condition. It's a twelve-inch television, built in the United States, and described in contemporary listings as a 1940s set. One source dates it specifically to 1947. Stromberg-Carlson catalogued it in both a table model and a console version, so the name alone doesn't tell you which cabinet you're looking at. It is one of the company's first-generation post-war receivers, built when Stromberg-Carlson was still putting the same seriousness into sets that it put into its broadcast and telephone equipment.
The twelve-inch screen was the practical sweet spot for the late 1940s. It was big enough to watch in a living room, and small enough to keep the cabinet and the price within reach of a family that had just finished rationing. The earlytelevision.org postwar set list files the TV-12 as a postwar set, which is the classification you want when you're trying to date one of these. It's not a pre-war curiosity and it's not a 1950s console.
What makes the TV-12 interesting to a technician isn't the screen size. It's the sync circuit. The set uses a version of the RCA synchrolock a.f.c. circuit, and that detail is significant enough that it shows up in print. Synchrolock a.f.c. was one of the more elegant ways to keep a picture locked when the broadcast signal wandered. A 1951 issue of Radio-Electronics (January 1951, Vol. 22 Iss. 4) describes the TV-12 as employing "this version of the popular RCA synchrolock a.f.c. cireuit," with the typo preserved from the source. When a set gets cited in a service article three or four years after it was built, the engineers took it seriously.
Key Features
RCA Synchrolock A.F.C. Sync Circuit
This is the TV-12's one documented technical claim to fame. The set uses a version of the RCA synchrolock automatic frequency control circuit, the same family of design that appeared in a number of better postwar receivers. The point of synchrolock a.f.c. was to keep horizontal and vertical sync stable across weak or drifting signals. That mattered in 1947, when stations were sparse, transmitters were low-power, and a viewer might be fifty miles from the nearest antenna farm. The fact that Radio-Electronics (January 1951, Vol. 22 Iss. 4) singled out the TV-12's implementation years after the fact suggests Stromberg-Carlson's version was considered a clean, representative example of the approach, not a cost-reduced knockoff.
Twelve-Inch Screen and Available Mask/Safety Glass
The TV-12 uses a twelve-inch picture tube, and that number shows up consistently across parts listings. Reproduction masks and safety glass are sold specifically for "1940's Stromberg Carlson TV-12, and other 12" TV's." The safety glass was a separate pane in front of the CRT on sets of this era, and over the decades it yellowed, scratched, or broke. Somebody is still cutting new ones, which means the TV-12 survives in enough numbers to justify the tooling, and the original glass is the part most likely to be missing or ruined on any example you find today. Check the glass first. A cracked safety glass is a sourcing problem, and the repros exist because of it.
Table Model and Console Variants
Stromberg-Carlson listed the TV-12 in two forms. The earlytelevision.org postwar set list carries both a "Stromberg Carlson TV-12 console" and a "Stromberg Carlson TV-12 table model" as separate entries. The cabinet and the price weren't the same. Table models were the cheaper, more compact option for apartments and smaller rooms, while consoles gave you a piece of furniture that doubled as the television stand. Confirm which one you're looking at before assuming anything about size, weight, or value. The fact sheet doesn't record dimensions for either.
Service Documentation and Schematic Availability
A service manual and repair schematics survive for the TV-12. The listing is "Stromberg Carlson TV-12-L&P, Service Manual, Repair Schematics" on electronica-pt.com. The "-L&P" suffix appears only in that service listing and its meaning isn't documented in the available research. It likely denotes a chassis or production variant, but that is unconfirmed. Electrical service diagrams are also listed as available.
Historical Context
The TV-12 is a postwar set. That's how earlytelevision.org files it, and it's the most accurate description the available sources support. One YouTube restoration video dates its example to 1947, which fits the postwar timeline, though the fact sheet records no confirmed production run and no original price. It was still a known reference point as late as January 1951, when Radio-Electronics cited it in a technical article about sync circuits.
The company itself was doing well in this period. A 1953 trade report noted Stromberg-Carlson's net sales for the first nine months of the year at $46,398,403 against $31,333,383 for the same period in 1952. That's a substantial jump for a company competing against RCA, DuMont, and the other giants of early television. The TV-12 was part of that expansion. It also shows up much later, in the May 1994 issue of Antique Radio Classified, where a collector was advertising for a tuner for a Stromberg-Carlson TV-12, nearly fifty years after the set was built.
Collectibility & Value
The TV-12's collector market is thin and mostly parts-driven. There is no documented price for a complete, working set in the available research, and no confirmed production numbers. What does exist is a steady trade in reproduction masks and safety glass. The eBay seller vintagetvandaudio, with 100% feedback, offers "Mask and Safety Glass for 1940's Stromberg Carlson TV-12, and other 12" TV's" as a Buy It Now item, and the same product is listed across eBay's US, Canadian, Irish, and German sites with localized titles. Enough owners are restoring TV-12s that a specialist parts vendor keeps the glass in stock.
Service documentation is also available through electronica-pt.com. A TV-12 without its schematic is a hard restoration. With the manual and the -L&P service sheets, it's a project a competent vintage-TV hobbyist can finish. A TV-12 with its tuner intact is worth more than the cabinet condition might suggest.
One caution for buyers: the fact sheet notes a separate 1994 wanted listing for a "Stromberg-Carlson TV125" tuning knob, dial scale, and back. Whether the TV125 is a distinct model or a variant of the TV-12 isn't documented. Don't assume parts interchange. Also, the Russian-language eBay listing price that appears in a sidebar on a Philco page is flagged in the fact sheet as possibly referring to the mask-and-glass product rather than a complete set, so it should not be read as a TV-12 market value.
eBay Listings
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