World's Smallest All-Tube Spy Recorder - The Minifon P-55
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- Опубліковано 17 жов 2024
- Cold War amazement! This is the 1955 Minifon P-55, an all-tube hand held wire recorder that was true high tech for its time. Without all the batteries it is the same size as a Walkman! I do a tear down to reveal the genius and craftsmanship that lies within. Enjoy!
Read the P-55 manual on cryptomuseum.com:
www.cryptomuse...
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Would love to see more restoration videos of this. This thing is amazing
One of your best Fran, thanks
Thank you so much for sharing this Fran !!
That is such a cool piece of history you have there.
Fran,
in case you have to repeat such an actions with lots of screws, use my trick:
(i) Place the plate with all these screw heads upside down onto a scanner and scan it.
(ii) Print, cut and glue the image onto a foam plate of same size (thickness > expected screw length).
(iii) Drill small holes into foam at screw positions.
(iv) Start disassembling your item and stick screws at corresponding location in the image-on-foam, screw by screw.
By these means you will never mix up screws while re-assembling your item !
Oo! Techmoan is so going to want to get his hands on that!
8o)
Pretty weird because the first time I watched Techmoan's wire recorder video was last night, and then I wake up and Fran has made a video about one too. I'd never even heard of a wire recorder until last night
Fran beat Techmoan on this one!
@Marcel H True, but not this dinky little thing. I suspect Mat will be looking up flights from John Lennon Airport to Philly right now to get hold of it. It'll be like Spy vs Spy!
#o)
@@AaronJackson1 I guess you've never watched Hogan's Heroes... They featured wire recorders a few times.
Where do you think the term "wearing a wire" came from 😉
Wow Fran thanks for showing us that 😊
OMG this is the most impressive piece of electronic equipment I've ever seen for it's time period
2:36 Translation of the manual in German:
"10 simple hints for the correct handeling of the Minifon P55 "S" and "L"
1) Install the batteries in the correct manner i.e. + on + y - on -
2) Check the motor battery meter - the indicator must be in the white field. If the playback volume is to low, replace the anode and fillament battery.
3) Insert all plugs completly into the sockets until the end.
4) Check the adjustment of the potentiometer (keep in mind the distance)
5) Use the right accessory for the intended purpose - e.g. (neck/throat microphone when dictating in the car)
6) When changing the reels make sure that the recording "speaking" head is in its uppermost position.
7) Put the recording wire reels on until they latch, make sure that the wire runs through the recording head's slot
8) Work only with the minifon when the lid is closed. Don't touch the rotating reels or the recording ("speaking") head
9) Press buttons quick and firmly until they latch. When rewinding, if the red light shines, press stop button immediately
10) *For the sake of optimal recording and play back quality use minifon original accessories and sealed minifone recording reels.*
Beautiful 1950ies wording. Written by the engineers themselves - no marketing speak - except in the last line.
Wow...what an interesting piece of history you have there Fran. Thanks very much for showing us this.
So cool, some of tech you feature I’ve never even heard of before 😍
Very nice!
Thanks Fran.
Brings some memories! I demonstrated one as an educational student lecture to my classmates some time around 1957. I recorded a few seconds of the teacher’s voice before it was my time to give my presentation and then played it back at the beginning of my speech. Amazing!
You never cease to amaze me with the relics of days gone by that you present. Thanks Fran for all the work you put into your videos.
The green battery padding is identical with the stuff you used to find on old Ping Pong paddles. That's a neat thing.
I'm loving your 60's analog equipment on your bench. My dad's bench looked like that when I was growing up. Course, he wouldn't teach his little girl about much of it. He did show me how to sort resistors for him. Bad Boys, etc. Love your channel!
*That's what makes franlab unique on youtube* ❤❤❤
Wow Fran, what an incredible piece of miniaturisation. Must have been assembled by watchmakers. So great to see such engineering. Looking forward to next installment.
Incredible engineering... it's beautiful
That was definitely one of the cooler items I've seen you showcase in awhile. Very, very cool!!
What an amazingly neat workplace!
Awesome, Fran!
Holy cow that is one awesome artwork..
A piece of wire can’t wait to see you get it going fully restored
Awesome Fran 👍👏☺️
Amazing piece of history, and amazing video quality!
Congratulations on the new lab!!
Hi Fran, really great Vid!
If you sometime want to make that thing function, please take care of this "Mylar"-Cap. This is not a Mylar, it's a Paper-Cap, called ERO 100 and these are notorious for badly leaking after all these years. Here in Germany we call these often "Zahnpasta-Kondensatoren" ("Toothpaste-Caps") cause of the whitish-brittle sealing compound.
But there should be some more electronics hidden somewhere. The P55 has 3 Tubes (DF67, DF67, DL67). The original price for the P55 in 1955 was 730DM -or roughly estimated around 3000...3500$ today...
And not to forget another bad capacitor: WIMA tropydur, also known as "Malzbonbon" these were even worse than ER0 100
WOW Fran, I'm impressed with that recorder for sure. Ahead of it's time for late 50's,lol. Thanks for the Vid
It's so great to have Fran back taking apart some antique audio equipment... Yeah!
I have one of these units. I acquired it as an 11 year old as a gift-repair, in its original advertising box. Fortunately, I fortuitously did not tear it apart. The unit was saved by the fact that I could not get the one rear main screw out. My unit is in like new condition on the exterior. Unfortunately, I have no accessories. Great vid!
Thanks for brought this out,nice.
There's always something new to know out there.
Now that is an amazing piece of tech. I’d like to see more of that!!!! I hope you get it working and show us all
Thoroughly enjoyed seeing such an amazing piece of technology enhanced only by having you describe it too us with your voice. So glad to see the lab again and of course you and most happily glad to see things are going better for you now I'd be lost without your videos 😀
I would've messed up the wire with that tangle for sure. Nice demonstration of care and patience.
I was given several working adding machines from the 40-50s when I was a kid. I kinda regret tearing them down for parts, now that I have some appreciation for this stuff. :/
Hey Fran, I just found your channel tonight through this video and wanted to say Howdy as well as to validate you in your delivery and your communication. You're not only clear spoken but you engage we the audience in a conversational manner that not everybody does on UA-cam, as well as you. I look forward to exploring your channel further and I'll certainly subscribe :-)
I have this too. I bought in 1966 or something in Helsinki. These were already obsolete then. I have a green plastig bag for it. I’ve never tried to run it and never opened it so this was interesting.
Good thing you have steady hands Fran.
I know next to nothing about electronics, but I enjoyed having a look into this little piece of history. Thanks Fran!
From one technician to another. Very well presented. Good camera work.
Wow Fran, what a fantastic little machine.
And how wonderful to see you firing on all cylinders again!
woah, that circuitry is still futuristic....awesome video! mind=blown
That's so cool. You're amazing at what you do. Thank you for posting this one. Hopefully you'll have an updated version of this working someday. Take care.
Sooo coool very impressive for the time. I had no idea anything that small existed pre transistor.
Fantastic!
I wonder what else do you have in the vault...
It's a few things. Some things.
@@FranLab "a few"
How about that little sub miniature tube? what a bobby Dazzler!
Dave, it's spelt fRantastic
She's only finding these due too the tidal sweeps of moving. I'm often amazed at the things I find looking for something else, even if that something else is a functioning ball-point pen!
Very cool first tear down in the new lab!
THAT was fun! Thank Fran
That was awesome, thanks Fran.
Thanks for sharing this! Lovely piece of equipment!
I only have limited experience with tech from that era (Spent many hours enthralled disassembling a 1950-60s telephone exchange switchboard among other things as a kid), but even by today's standards, that is some impressive attention to detail and amazing engineering. Will be watching keenly for updates on this one!
Ok, I am a HUGE fan of old tech. Your detailed analysis and admiration of this old device won me over. I find, repair, and resell old tech like this simply as a way to play with it, admire it, and buy the next one. This thing is AMAZING. Subscribed. Where in the HECK did you find this!?
It is very elegant design. It is beautiful, thank you for sharing this
I enjoyed the peek-a-boo into the P-55... thanks Fran.
Great presentation Fran, and I commend you for taking the risk of dismantling it for your viewers sake... 10/10
Fran took the twist out of a 50's era recording. That's badass...
At about 9:00 in, reminds me of un- snarling an open-face spinning reel when teaching little kids how to cast and fish. When I was older we would sometimes troll in the ocean with springy Wireline, designed to take the fishing lures down deep and have minimal water resistance , but if you snarled that spool of wire (from too much back pressure on the spool with your thumb as you were letting the line out) you might never get it untangled without putting kinks in it and ruining the wire.
My grandfather got me into fishing, starting at age 5. An excellent introduction into the philosophy of patience, useful later in life when attempting to repair small gadgets such as this one.
Just came across your video/channel today. Very cool. Nice!
Love these old gadgets and you are very nice presenting them.
Keep it up! I have enjoyed.
Thank you for a fascinating presentation. And congratulations on getting Franlab back in business.
Years ago I used to buy a lot of government surplus items. I thought of advertising as "Yesterday's Technology, Today!". I was a caretaker in the graveyard of technology. You have an amazing collection of old electronics.
Thankyou Fran, for an amazing tech history lesson. The sensor & tube detail mind blowing. In awe as ever.
Brilliant Fran. I love examples of great design and engineering like this. Always love your videos 😊
Layers of amazing cutting edge technology in that Minifon.
I was also amazed at the quality and condition of the plastic spools, possibly very early polyethylene terephthalate,
and like modern PET, it still appears clear and solid.
PS, I thought I could spot another tube below and at right angles to the top one. Also amazing that a square shape gave enough strength to hold up to vacuum in a very portable device.
Thanks again for posting.
I would love to see this run! Fantastic machine, I love the old style, and the workmanship put into something like that compared to today's on a chip technology that takes zero craftsmanship to build. Thanks so much for putting this up!
Very nice speciment,it always amazes me that so much work went into developing all its parts and design.
What a beautiful machine. This was fascinating. Thanks, Fran!
Those caps might still work, test them. I'm using a century old one in my car.
I love how the people of the early 1950s still had so much detail in their work.
As for the drive belt maybe you could cut and sand some old tire tube & lap joint it around the large drum until the vulcanizing sets.
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing !
Cool video I always think it’s amazing how ingenious people can sometimes be and how we take stuff for granted nowadays in our throw away society.. I had an old Geiger counter that took a 30v battery I used 10x 2032 batteries stacked in 2 piles of 5 in a 3D printed holder.
Fran, Somehow I missed this video the first time around, but seeing it reinforces my faith in your ability to present fascinating and informative content. I love virtually “hanging out” with you during this 2020 quarantine to see what you come up with next. Like so many of your fans, I sincerely enjoy listening to your voice and I appreciate your gentle humor and wit. In a world seemingly gone crazy, you are an island of calm and serenity for so many of us. Please take care and get through COVID 19 safely.
"Fran, your mission, if you decide to accept it, is to rebuild this Minifon tape recorder, making it faster, stronger, better..... this spool of wire will self destruct in 5 seconds".
A conflation of two TV show opening themes, obviously! Or perhaps re-using the same spool of wire to record both shows, except that the bias oscillator isn't fully erasing the original audio as the second TV show audio is overlaid on it. Is print- through more of a problem with a wire recorder, or less of a problem, compared to actual recording tape? I realize I am showing my age by actually knowing what print- through is...
Bring the term wearing a wire into the light of day doesn't it. Magnetism being magnetism it will depend on how it was stored. On top of the old cerwin Vegas not so much lol
🤫
@@willrobbinson1 Danger, danger...Will Robinson (as I madly whirl around , metal tube arms flailing wildly) ;-)
Yessss! Classic Fran video with vintage tech. What a magnificent piece of tech!
Good one Fran!
Fran is pretty amazing too .
Really amazing Fran!!!
Great video! I used to work on the 70s equivalent, a Nagra SN. In the 50s I used Hivac valves in radio control receivers.
Thanks Fran, that is so cool to see wish you could do a restoration on that, and so nice to see you back at it, need more from the vault ...Congrats on the new lab
Amazing how much was crammed into this tube recorder, its unbelievable, I only thought they made things this small when they started transistorising electronics, but this is actually smaller than the earlier transistor cassette players
Holy crap! As an mech engineer, this is so cool. Hopefully you can restore it. Would love to see it operating
Wow! Amazing! All tubes!
Never heard of wire recorders before.
The level of intricacy and precision with this machine is simply incredible... And in an era where technology was still... BIG. This is nothing short of an engineering MARVEL.
When I was a kid in the early sixties I took apart one of my Grandad's old Medresco hearing aids. It had three tiny valves in it. It had a huge 1.5 V battery and a 22.5 V one in a big pouch which you kept in your pocket connected to the main unit which was clipped to your clothes with another lead going to an earpiece. I made a headphone amplifier with it. As far as I can remember the 22.5V battery lasted quite a while but the 1.5V one had to be replaced every few days. Compare this to my hearing aids that use a tiny zinc-air cell that lasts nearly a week!
Yep Fran. I agree. Superb for its age. I’m a 69yo Retired electronics technician so I appreciate this high tech recorder. I was in Toronto, Canada at 11 yo (1961) when I first took interest in electronics. Tubes then & Transistor radios by about 1963 if memory serves me correctly. This must have been a very expensive device at that time. Hope you can restore to working order.
Cheers - Trevor in West Australia
Hey Trevor, I got interested in electronics at about the same age, just ten years after you. I joined the Navy and started out as a WLR-1G tech, all synchros, servos and vacuum tubes. I can't recall for sure, but I don't think there was a transistor in the entire system.
What I learned from it was how to troubleshoot. Now, almost 40 years later I'm a Network Engineer and am constantly shocked at how so many college-trained minds cannot look at a system in its totality and narrow down its functional components to isolate a problem.
Great to see you back in the lab with another technical / teardown video.
I need one of those 2 prong "spanners" in my life.
What a wonderful well-crafted machine that recorder is. Hope you can get it working again. I have never seen a square tube ( valve here in the UK ) either.
5:56 - Literally "wearing a wire"!
That is indeed exactly where the term came from lol
@DARK APPERITION No shit, Sherlock.
@DARK APPERITION Ekhm, it's a Meme.
@@override7486 "Its just a meme bro" "Just saying" "No offense"
Thanks Fran. I love your enthusiasm and your sensitivity to this old equipment. I noticed the tube (valve) was from England where I am. Interesting we supplied this highly specialised part to a German manufacturer not long after the war. Show us if you get it working
Nice, thanks for the walk through. We're so used to miniaturization that many of us are unaware of the early work before we got to this point.
It's like looking forward in time by taking a peek inside the past. Amazing 50's tech!!!
What a beautiful handcrafted masterpiece.
Loved this video!
Thanks for showing us this Fran. Staggering engineering.
Amazing piece of technology, thank you. The 1960s Volvo speedometer was the same spiral-barrel type of dial.
Brilliant, when I was a child I was given an obsolete RC TX/RX kit and the receiver had 1 miniature square valve and 3 germanium transistors, the HT came from a 22.5V "hearing aid battery, so I would imagine these min valves where originally intended for hearing aids.
Astonishing! Both in its design and execution.
Really curious Fran, are the batteries supposed dry cell, and b leak proof of the time? I used to have a rather fancy transistor radio in the late 60's which had an ever ready 9 volt cell, which had a cardboard shell. Used to extend their life by heating them in the oven. Driving my mother to despair.
I hope you'll get it working again and demonstrate it! This is such a fascinating machine!
Fascinating, and good to see you back in the Lab doing what you love. I'd like to see it restored and hear the sound quality. It would make a nice companion to a Minox camera...
Please continue and restore this, this is amazing!
Oh my, this is the good stuff! Thank you for showing it to the world!
Techmoan and his sentient puppet army has you surrounded... Give it to them or be overwhelmed
what a cool device! Thanks for sharing.
*[Techmoan wants to know your location]*
@@pearlmax Pretentious? He's one of the best on UA-cam for old audio equipment. Why's he a douche? The joke here is just that I'm sure Techmoan is envious of this recorder.
I can hear him salivating in the "Tube" background. Hope Fran can get that thing working.
pearlmax Jesus chill out lol
@@pearlmax ...Why not plug these tech youtubers yourself then, instead of attacking Techmoan? Just say "hey, not really a fan of Techmoan, so here's other tech channels I recommend", or something like that.
Here, I''ll help you with some tech channels I follow:
Tanner Tech - ua-cam.com/channels/R1ARVDHnmTC3sUOkS4mUsg.html
Uncle Doug - ua-cam.com/users/Stratosaurus1
D-Lab Electronics - ua-cam.com/users/dlab500
8-bit guy - ua-cam.com/users/adric22
Big Clive - ua-cam.com/users/bigclivedotcom
Retro Radio Farm - ua-cam.com/channels/NXdUWfWZHpaDdrOyesz1Cw.html
NearFarMedia - ua-cam.com/users/NearFarMedia
@@pearlmax You should probably labor on having a bit of self awareness.
You come of as extremely pretentious. Among other things.
so is that where the saying "wearing a wire" come's from???
Fran always has the coolest stuff... : )