Sony TC-50
This is the Sony TC-50 cassette recorder. This unit came out in 1968, and was the smallest cassette machine produced at the time.
This model is famous as it was the model chosen by NASA to be taken aboard the command module of the Apollo moon missions.
There is a strong possibility this unit has actually been used by NASA, but not apparent in the pictures. The units used by the Apollo program (there was more than one) had a metal sticker on the front with operating instructions, as well as a special serial number stamped. The jacks were taped to make then unuseable. Velcro was affixed to the rear of the unit to facilitate the machine being stuck to the wall in the microgravity environment.
I have acquired two TC-50's. One was found at an estate sale back in 2007 or so. It was in very good cosmetic condition, but the motor had a problem that I made worse when trying to fix (it was my first attempt at a TC-50 repair). Later in 2013, I went to a now out-of-business place called "The Black Hole" in Los Alamos, New Mexico.
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Sony TC-50
This is the Sony TC-50 cassette recorder. This unit came out in 1968, and was the smallest cassette machine produced at the time.
This model is famous as it was the model chosen by NASA to be taken aboard the command module of the Apollo moon missions.
There is a strong possibility this unit has actually been used by NASA, but not apparent in the pictures. The units used by the Apollo program (there was more than one) had a metal sticker on the front with operating instructions, as well as a special serial number stamped. The jacks were taped to make then unuseable. Velcro was affixed to the rear of the unit to facilitate the machine being stuck to the wall in the microgravity environment.
I have acquired two TC-50's. One was found at an estate sale back in 2007 or so. It was in very good cosmetic condition, but the motor had a problem that I made worse when trying to fix (it was my first attempt at a TC-50 repair). Later in 2013, I went to a now out-of-business place called "The Black Hole" in Los Alamos, New Mexico.
The Black Hole was a place that was selling all kinds of old pieces of equipment and junk from Los Alamos National Labs!! There, I found several vintage tape recorders (even a huge Ampex video reel-to-reel machine, but too bulky to bring back home--we were on a family trip). One of the recorders was...drum roll...another TC-50! Boy! Was I excited! Another chance to (this time successfully fix) a TC-50. Yet this TC-50 was in bad cosmetic shape. It had lost the battery compartment cover, it was scratched up, and it had...stickers...added to it. Stamps. Extra cosmetic stuff.
It had VELCRO on the back. It had the INSTRUCTIONS sticker IDENTICAL to the Apollo units on the front. It had a sticker for US Government Property, and Property of LASL (Los Alamos Scientific Laboratories, I believe). It had tape on the microphone and remote jacks. It also had a special number stamped on the front of the unit. All of these details, including the stamped number, MATCHED UP with what was done to the Apollo units!
Now the unit you see pictured is a conglomeration of the two machines. I still have the outer casing for the Apollo unit (currently in storage at my old house out of state) so don't worry, I did not throw it away! I wanted to have a nice original looking good-cosmetic-condition unit for use. So the Apollo recorder got the outer metal case from the failed-to-fix estate sale find recorder. The Apollo unit just needed tiny pieces of foam put inside the motor to hold the brushes against the rotor, as the old foam had long since deteriorated (I believe that, along with a bad solder joint of one of the motor windings is what caused the estate-sale-find TC-50 to fail, and by the time I found that problem, it was too late). With new foam in the Apollo TC-50, the unit is working again even with the original belt (a belt that may have gone to space!!).
So if you ever meet me and you see me with this recorder, even though the outer casing is from a different unit for cosmetic reasons, keep in mind that if you record your voice on here, you may very well be recording your voice on the same unit that astronauts recorded themselves onto back in the age of Apollo!
Once I have access again to the bulk of my items in storage out of state, I will add photos of the original Apollo casing of this recorder.
Some basic technical info:
AC bias
DC erase
Frequency response: 80-8kHz
Runs on 3 AA batteries (4.5VDC)
Auto level control