1958 Mohawk Midgetape Pocket Tape Recorder and Batteries

[batterymaker1]

I've had this piece in my collection for close to ten years, but it took a YouTube video to make me restore it.

This is a Midgetape Chief 400, and was possibly among the first series of battery-operated tape recorders. It was made by Mohawk Business Machines of New York in 1958.

It is also unique in that it is a cartridge tape recorder. The cartridges are metal and have the reels stacked one on top of the other. Like their modern cassette counterparts, these are two-track models and deliver either 30 or 45 minutes per side. They use standard 1/4" tape.

Rewinding a tape is an interesting chore: You lift the small chrome strip on the top of the player. It becomes a crank. Rotating the crank in a clockwise motion rewinds the tape--and it takes a LOT of cranking.

The Midge was introduced a few years earlier and started out using subminiature tubes in their transports. The Chief 400 was the first model to use transistors.

They were used for dictation and even covert recording by private investigators. A Midge was part of the electronic equipment sent up during the Manhigh II upper-atmosphere manned-balloon program. All of this portability weighed three pounds, fit easily in the palm of your hand and cost $269.50--nearly $2000 in today's money.

I saw the Midge in many vintage electronic magazines, and I got the chance to purchase one at our local club meet around 1998. It still had its original Burgess 10.5 volt motor battery intact. Inside the leather flap, I found the name of its original owner: Henry Banks.

Mr. Banks was an Indy 500 Racer during the 1930s and 1940s, and during the 1950s and 60s, he was the head of the United States Auto Club. I suspect he purchased his Midge to record events and dictation.

At the time I purchased it, I wasn't that interested in making reproduction batteries, so the Midge languished in the collection.

Fast forward ten years later.

A fellow collector in Midland, Texas got hold of an earlier tube-model Midge, complete with its batteries and outboard speaker/amplifier. He was interested in resurrecting it, and I offered to make repro batteries for it. He then produced another video which gave the dimensions of the motor/filament battery pack and HT battery.

To my surprise, his motor battery and mine were the same size, only his had a third contact for the filament voltage. So I pulled my Midge out and started making a repro for it.

While I was at it, I decided to find out what secrets my cartridge had on it. Before I could do that, I had to do a recap. All of the caps were 1950s vintage Nashville ceramic electrolytics. Just about every early American transistor radio has them, and they are dried out. So, out they went.

Upon reassembly, I dummied together a temporary power supply using C cells, and I switched the Midge on.

There were only two things on the tape--a conversation between two or three people discussing secret recordings, and a press release relating to the 1969 Indy 500.

Did either recording have Henry Banks' voice in them? I sent copies to Donald Davidson, the revered Indy 500 historian. Mr. Banks was his mentor, and he said he'd recognize his voice immediately. Unfortunately, neither recording had his voice on it.

Next, I decided to see how well the Midge recorded. So, I found a blank spot on the cartridge and did a quick recording of me and my daughter. The results were better than I imagined:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QRtE...e=channel_page

Now that the player was restored, I pressed forward and built the 10.5 volt motor/amplifier battery. The harness uses seven AAA batteries and the entire assembly fits into the cover perfectly.


As of today, I have the earlier tube model batteries just about finished. As I stated earlier, his pack shared the same dimensions as mine, but his was 9 volts for the motor, 1.5 volts for the filaments. His harness is almost identical to mine, except I've added a single AA for the filament voltage.

Then came the fun part: I needed to create a repro for the 30 volt HT battery. It is by far the smallest repro I've ever made. Very fiddly, it consists of two N cell holders wired in series via two small pieces of circuit board. The original used two small brass brads for its contacts. I took two small brass screws and cut the heads away from the shafts. I then carefully tack-soldered each head onto the N cell holder contacts. Two 12-volt garage-door opener batteries were then installed into the holders. Final product delivers 24 volts, so it's missing a sixth of its optimum value. Such are compromises....

In any event, I believe the little battery will fit into its harness and, along with the motor/filament pack, will power his tape recorder for the first time in over 50 years.

Attached are my YouTube videos of my Midgetape:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7PLq...e=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8QR8...e=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsYJe...e=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWy4U...e=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpZZv...e=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNpo3...e=channel_page

Here is Chad's Tube Midgetape. Note the outboard tube amplifier needed on his for playback:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qsfW...e=channel_page

Finally, some pix. Hope you enjoyed this long-winded adventure.

Bill

[batterymaker1]

Next, the batteries--here is the battery for my Midge:

[batterymaker1]

And the batteries needed for Chad's Midge. First, the tiny Y20 HT battery:

[batterymaker1]

And his Motor & Filament battery pack:

[batterymaker1]

Finally, some vintage pix of the Midge in use. One shows the player inside the cramped Manhigh II gondola, the other is a brochure of the 300 series. Also a pic of a typical cartridge.


If anyone wants me to, I'll scan the 400's sales brochure and post the pix of it as well. I just recently purchased it.

I'm thru posting tonight, honest....

Bill

[chipp1968]

Very nice .Im beginning to take a liking to Battery operated things

[Robert Darwent]

Wow! Just superb Bill, really excellent work. And the repro batteries are just outstanding as always from you.

Well done again!

Regards