Sixty years ago, Santa was getting ready to deliver something new–a transistorized, battery operated television, shown above in the November 1959 issue of Popular Mechanics.

The Philco “Safari” model played a full four hours on its built-in rechareable battery, and could also operate on standard AC power. The set had a 2 inch picture tube, but optical magnification increased the size to 80 square inches.  You can read more about the set at this link.

The November 1959 issue of Electronics Illustrated, shown at left, also chimed in with a feature about the set, as well as a battery operated 17 inch set which Emerson expected to have on store shelves the next year.