The plans for this four-tube novelty set appeared in the 1940-41 Radio Television Reference Manual, a special edition put out by Radio Craft magazine. It’s a combination lamp-radio with a nautical theme. It’s a simple TRF set, with a 6K7GT serving as RF amp, 6J7GT as detector and first AF stage, and a 25L6GT final audio amp. A 25Z6GT rectifier rounded out the tube lineup.

The set actually contained two lamps. A 40 watt bulb in series with the tube filaments burned at diminished brightness whenever the set was turned on. If you really needed some light, there was a second independent socket for a larger bulb. The ship’s wheel served as the tuning dial. An external antenna was required, although the author noted that line cords with an extra wire that could be used as the antenna were available.

The article came with a couple of cautions. First of all, it warned against replacing the 40 watt bulb with any larger, since this would burn out the filaments. Also, since the radio’s chassis was hot, the article warned against touching any grounded object (“including yourself”) to the chassis.

The set’s on-off switch was simply the pull chain for the smaller bulb.

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