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First advertisement for a radio...
First advertisement for a radio...
Item # 630770
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November 25, 1905
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, New York, November 25, 1905
* Very first advertisement for a radio for sale
This issue is quite famous for containing the first advertisement for a radio for sale. Although inconspicuously located near the back of the issue, it is a landmark item for any early radio collectors. See photos for the ad.
This advertisement for the Electro Importing Company's new radio transmitting-and-receiving package, the "Telimco Wireless Telegraph Outfit", ("Guaranteed to work up to one mile"), first appeared in this very issue and then began running weekly starting two weeks later.
The Telimco system included a battery-operated spark transmitter plus a tapping-coherer receiver, also battery operated. (The use of a spark transmitter and tapping-coherer receiver meant it could only be used to send and receive telegraphic dots-and-dashes, and not full audio.)
This small ad measures just 2-1/4 inches wide by 1-1/8 inches high & it is generally believed that this was the first-ever advertisement run by a company selling complete radio systems to the general public.
Hugo Gernsback later reported that some people were so suspicious whether the Telimco Outfits could really be sold so cheaply, that the New York City police department sent over an officer to check things out and make sure the ads weren't really some sort of scam.
The Telimco brand name was a contraction of The Electro Importing Co. In addition to Telimco Wireless Telegraph Outfits, you could also buy Telimco Experimental X-Ray Outfits, Telimco-meters, Telimphones, etc.
(credit for above to "EarlyRadioHistory.us")
This issue is the complete, genuine edition with all 20 pages and is in excellent condition. The issue measures about 11 by 15 3/4 inches.
Category: The 20th Century
No Longer Available
