 |
|
Much of the credit for completion of the TR-55 must go to the sterling efforts of Yasuda and his circuit designers. The early transistors' yield still left much room for improvement, and their characteristics remained uneven. They would never be commercially viable while the manufacturers were still forced to select the good transistors and discard the defective ones. This was where Yasuda's team came in to play. At that time radio circuits were of the superheterodyne type. The team made as many as twelve different varieties of these local oscillator coils in an attempt to reduce the spread of characteristics. Transistors which were slow to operate would be paired with coils which hastened the effect; conversely, transistors with good characteristics would be coupled with an appropriate coil. Through this matchmaking process, the TR-55 unit would be painstakingly put together.
Of course, the circuits were not the only parts to be improved. The TR-55 was ahead of its time in that it used a printed circuit board. Though today we take printed circuit boards for granted, a large amount of research and improvement went into its design. Yasuda's pioneering team had to do everything on its own. Team members searched for a wide range of adhesives and tried them out on copper foil. They made photosensitive coatings and did the exposures. What they learned was that they needed to obtain an adhesive that could withstand the temperatures(230~250 )at which solder begins to melt. Also, instea of rolled copper foil, they had to use electrolytic foil, that is, copper electroplated onto a stainless steel cylinder and peeled off.However, there was no electrolytic foil in Japan. Morita lost no time in turning to Rubber and Asbestos, Ltd., a well-known American manufacturer of industrial adhesives, and arranged to import their coated foil.
|
 | | The TR-55, Japan's first transistor radio. |
|
74% of Japanese homes at the time had a radio, and Totsuko received many warnings against trying to enter the radio market at such a late stage. This was the sort of well-meaning advice that only made Ibuka and Morita all the more determined to take part. "The figure is 74% of households," they reasoned. "If we look at the market in per capita terms, there are plenty of opportunities." True, companies such as Silver, Standard, Columbia, National, Empire had their own battery-powered vacuum tube radios for the personal market, but these companies were making no headway. Ownership per person was close to zero, leaving more than enough scope for selling transistor radios.
The TR-55 catalog stated clearly: "The days of radios with cords are over. Why not make the change in your home? Your transistor radio can accomp any you wherever you go."
Prewar radios had nearly all been console types that were slightly lessbulky than a household Buddhist altar. The whole family would gather in the room where the radio was installed and listen to news or a music program, just as they would later do with the television before it too became a "personal" product. After the war, the U.S. forces brought in their portable radio sets. These battery-operated, vacuum tube models were coveted by the Japanese. These radios were quickly imitated, and locally made radios gradually began to shrink in size. However, the title of the country's first truly portable radio went to the TR-55 alone.
Yes, Regency was first in the market, but this company built its radios with transistors that were purchased from Texas Instruments. Totsuko was in fact the first company in the world to manufacture a radio from the transistors on up.
|
|
|
|
|
|
