ATWATER KENT ADVERTISING BELL & HUDSON ESSEX HAM RADIO RARE DUAL PIECE AUTOMOBILE COLLECTIBILITY c1910-20 Start Price USD 54.95 Current Price USD 162.49 Time Left - Bid Count 2 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Thursday, August 28, 2008 End Time Sunday, September 07, 2008 Location New York, NY See more about 'ATWATER KENT ADVERTISING BELL & HUDSON ESSEX HAM RADIO' Description     ATWATER KENT ADVERTISING BELL & HUDSON ESSEX HAM RADIO   Click to View Image Album  Click to View Image Album  Click to View Image Album  Click to View Image Album  Click to View Image Album  Click to View Image Album  Hello and welcome to my auction. I’ve been off of Ebay for some time due to some medical problems that are now behind me so I’ve started listing again. I am a long time engineer and Ham Radio enthusiast, selling off some extra stock and some rare tubes and components in my collection. I'm out to do honest business here as usual, so you won't get burned with shoddy product. This auction is for an extremely rare piece of radio advertising/memorabilia, with a flip-side of automobile collectibility. What I have here is a c1910-20s Atwater Kent advertising bell, made of cast metal. It states "Tune in on an Atwater-Kent radio". On the obverse, it says, " Ring for Hudson and Essex", along with a dealers name. I believe this be to be an advertising piece for a dealer of Atwater-Kent car radios or Radios and cars separately. The dealer might have been a dual dealer in cars and radios and then combined the two, as Atwater-Kent did enter the car-radio market in the early years. The Essex brand was absorbed in 1922, making this bell definitely pre-date 1922. Atwater Kent closed his factory in 1936. In my years of radio collecting, I've never come across anything like it at all, I was amazed to find it to begin with and I'm sure I will never see anything like it again, as it's the only one I've seen in 30 years of collecting. The bell is in good condition, with some minor rust. The ringer is solid and works nicely. The bell stands about 3 inches in height, with the ringer portion being about an inch of that height. It is dirty. The bell could use a brushing to clean it up a bit. I didn't touch it at all, as I thought a cleaning would take away for the age of the piece. Guaranteed good on arrival. Sold as-is otherwise. ATWATER-KENT HISTORY: Atwater Kent invented the closely timed ignition system, and operated the world's largest radio factory in Pennsylvania. Some key dates: First manufacturing 1896, Philadelphia move 1902, Ignition Systems 1907, First radio instruments 1921, Open set 1922, Mahogany box sets 1924, Metal box sets 1926, Superheterodynes 1930, Closed plant 1936. Kent was always interested in automobiles and, particularly, in the means of igniting internal combustion engines. He patented the Contactor, a breaker point mechanism, and the distributor to enable the use of a single coil. Income from his ignition systems enabled Kent to enter the radio business with a fully equipped manufacturing facility, a national service organization and an appealing concept, the open set. After entering the radio receiver market with Models 1 through 8, Kent put it all together with Model 10. The set had two radio frequency amplifiers, a detector and two audio frequency amplifiers, all assembled on a mahogany board. The circuit of the Model 10 was continued in most of the Atwater Kent radio sets of the middle twenties. It was finally displaced by the screen-grid tube in Model 55. During the 1930s Kent brought out about 15 new radios each year. Included were Consoles, Table Radios, auto radios, DC sets and Battery sets. In the middle thirties Kent recognized the changing market for radio receivers. His business was based on moderately priced consoles with a tolerance for high-quality table models. However, he did not accept the market for cheap sets and closed down rather than compromise his name and reputation. In 1936 Kent closed the factory and moved to California where he spent a well earned retirement. I will pack and ship this anywhere in the US for $7. This item will be securely packed and shipped. Outside the USA, international shipping cost applies. QUESTIONS? ASK BEFORE BIDDING, NOT AFTER. YOUR BID IS A CONTRACT TO PURCHASE THE ITEM. TERMS: PLEASE DO NOT BID IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THE TERMS OF THIS AUCTION. DO NOT BID IF YOU DO NOT READ THIS DESCRIPTION THOROUGHLY. THESE TERMS APPLY TO YOU WHETHER OR NOT YOU have READ THEM, but please read them for your benefit anyway. WINNING BIDDER MUST PAY WITHIN TEN DAYS OF CLOSE OF AUCTION. SHIPPING: shipping is NOT NEGOTIABLE per item. However, if you buy multiple items, I will combine shipping costs to save you money in such instances when AND ONLY WHEN items can be packed safely in the same package without adding extra risk of damage to the enclosed items. Please elect to purchase insurance for your items, as we cannot be liable for items damaged in the shipping process which are not insured by the winning bidder. It is best to super-size the photos in any given auction, to make a personal judgment on the item for yourself. NON PAYING BIDDERS WILL RECEIVE NEGATIVE FEEDBACK. DO NOT SEND ME A CHECK IF YOU THINK IT MIGHT BOUNCE. I WILL CHARGE YOU any and ALL related FEES THAT ARE ASSOCIATED WITH YOUR BAD CHECK. I take PAYPAL, BANK CHECKS (domestic sales only) and MONEY ORDERS! CHECKS MUST CLEAR BEFORE ITEM IS SHIPPED. WE HOLD CHECKS 10 DAYS BEFORE ITEM SHIPS Payment       I accept the following forms of payment: PayPalMoney OrderPersonal Check     FREE scheduling, supersized images and templates. 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