The M31 gallery of...
1961 6TP31, 1962 6TP31A
4 1/2"H x 2 3/4"W x 1 1/4"D
A number of radio models -- tabletop tube sets as well as portable and pocket transistors -- sported tuning dials which mimicked the look of the automobile speedometer of the day. This wasn't unique to radios: many household objects of the time borrowed the speedometer look -- and so by extension, speed, progress, modernity... There are washers and dryers and thermostats and electric ranges which used that speed motif in an attempt to signal their users that they indeed were using appliances which were modern and efficient.
So leave it to some anonymous designer at Toshiba to model a radio dial after something so static and pedestrian as a bathroom scale and have it come off looking so supremely stylish!... And better, it wasn't just the dial evoking that look, it was the entire radio cabinet!
While other Toshiba sets have garnered nicknames among collectors as a sort of visual shorthand when talking about a particular model ("Cat's Eye" is a lot easier to place than is "7TP-303," for instance), the "Bathroom Scale" nickname is literally descriptive. For a while, "Shaver" was being used to denote the 6TP-31s, but as soon as some bright collector coined the scale name, the scales fell from our eyes and we could see what had been there all along, right in front of our faces...
Nearly all collectors see the 6TP-31 and the -31A not only as two of Toshiba's truly "classic" transistors, but also as belonging among the best and most unique transistor radio cabinet designs overall.
cover of instruction booklet for the 6TP-31...
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© 2007 by Robert Davidson, transistors@abetterpage.com
So leave it to some anonymous designer at Toshiba to model a radio dial after something so static and pedestrian as a bathroom scale and have it come off looking so supremely stylish!... And better, it wasn't just the dial evoking that look, it was the entire radio cabinet!
While other Toshiba sets have garnered nicknames among collectors as a sort of visual shorthand when talking about a particular model ("Cat's Eye" is a lot easier to place than is "7TP-303," for instance), the "Bathroom Scale" nickname is literally descriptive. For a while, "Shaver" was being used to denote the 6TP-31s, but as soon as some bright collector coined the scale name, the scales fell from our eyes and we could see what had been there all along, right in front of our faces...
Nearly all collectors see the 6TP-31 and the -31A not only as two of Toshiba's truly "classic" transistors, but also as belonging among the best and most unique transistor radio cabinet designs overall.
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1960 Display Cabinet
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Concentric Ring
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Travel Radio
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Four Weenies
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Deep Vee
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Hers 'n' His
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Earphone-Only
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Gets No Respect
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Coffin
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309A
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Bathroom Scales
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314A
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3 shirtpockets
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SW mini-portable
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7TP-30
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2 SW shirtpockets
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3 coatpockets
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As Advertised in LIFE
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As Advertised in LIFE
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Not Advertised in LIFE
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Cat's Eye box
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Bath Scale box
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8TM-41 box
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