CAV'S WONDERLAND

I am too young to have experienced them in their heyday, but portable CRTs were…something that happened. And this one is super cute; the Spartus Mini Television. I didn’t find a model number, as it seems Spartus would allow the device to be branded by other companies who bought them to sell under their own name. It appears very similar to the Spartus model 0300, but there are some differences, like shape and logo placement, that make me think its a different model. It’s a tiny 5 inch screen, in a case not much bigger. It’s got all the basics, having antenna, antenna part 2, power (12V 1A), brightness, contrast, volume, and of course seeking knobs.

It clearly powers on, but I wasn’t able to get any signal from the antenna, and currently don’t have a way to plug in an alternate input, so for now it will stay sitting and looking all pretty until I find some strange use for it. (Click on images to open them in a new tab)

About the company: Spartus Corporation. It was started way back in 1934 as the Utility Manufacturing Company, producing mainly clocks and cameras. After briefly being called the Herold Manufacturing Company and Herold Products Company due to being purchased by sales manager Harold Rubin (who I guess didn’t know how to spell his name?) the company was dubbed in 1960 Spartus Corporation. It was acquired by Kidde in 1970, and it is during this time that Spartus was selling the mini television.