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Research In order to produce a truly authentic replica of the original 'Octagon' much research has to be done. For my previous replicas I had access to original parts and finished assemblies. Here I could take measurements and photos. Unfortunately with the 'Octagon' there are only a few surviving units located in North America. Steve Mc Voy and Peter Yanczer have given me sufficient information to perform the task of producing a replica of this unit. This mechanical television was named after the distinctive shape of the cabinet
Photograph showing a1928 advertisement by General Electric. Only a small series of Octagon set have been made for field tests and have never been commercialized on large scale. Seems only four original General Electric Octagons survived.
Following the successful production of replicas of the TeKaDe Telehor, the Baird Televisor and the Daily Express Kit our actual project is the (re) construction of
The .
Two replicas are now finished and one has been shown on the 2007 Early Television Convention in Hilliard. (Columbus OH) There the replica has been shown for the fist time with moving images from a NTSC DVD player, converted to 48 lines with an
More pictures of the 2007 convention on the Early Television Museum site The second replica build up by Jan is now on display in his Nostalgic Media Museum
Contact Denis for an option History Information about this American mechanical television monitor can be found on the following sites
Picture courtesy of Wayne Bretl
A small batch of replicas, made on request of collectors and for museums are available now
Early Television Foundation: The foundation recently acquired a GE Octagon This set needed full restoration and Steve Mc Voy has send me pictures and dimensions, while he proceeds in this works. Relative pages: General Electric and The Queens Messenger. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Early Television Museum
The Octagon at the Early Television Museum is far from a complete original set. A supposition is that the set has been build at G;E; only for publicity purposes in the 40 or early 50 ies. Nearly all television sets, mechanical, prewar electronic and early color, are in working condition witch makes the ETF museum at Hilliard Columbus, a very unique living museum. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The MZTV Museum has a Genuine, complete GE Octagon on display in Toronto. One of the few (4?) known Octagons See the splendid INTERACTIVE presentation.
^ And on the MZTV site double Click again on the 1928 octagon icon (Give time to load) The set is in very good condition and gave me the needed insight for how to give a good finish to my replicas.. Thanks to Michael Adams, Curator The museum has been closed to public and has moved to a new location at corner of Queen street and River street. Reopening is planned for the spring 2008
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Schenectady Museum & Suits-Bueche Planetarium second of the few (4?) known Octagons.
Donated to the Museum in the early 1970s from the family of Edwin W. Rice, Jr., who was president of GE from 1913-1922
Ernst F. W. Alexanderson The GE Engineer working on Television in 1927-1930
Scenes out the first televised act: The Queens Messenger
"Courtesy of Schenectady Museum & Suits-Bueche Planetarium."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Henry Ford Museum Third of the few (4?) known Octagons.
Picture courtesy of Wayne Bretl Splendid Octagon on display in the ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Private collection . Fourth of the few (4?) known Octagons ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And on the site of Tom Genova Television History - The First 75 Years
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