INVICTA TL31

Basically this is a Pye D16T in disguise - and not a particularly good disguise with the only additions being the three horizontal wood pices over the speaker grill and a discrete "Invicta" logo on the bakelite cover below the screen.

This set is a key post-war design. When television resumed in June 1946, resources were scarce and what resources there were the Government were keen to see used for export - Britain was bankrupt and home luxury items were faced with a cripling high purchase tax. The few TV manufacturers able to supply any sets managed little more than to build what were basically their pre-war models. But Pye had been developing their television technolgy since before the war had ended and their results were the only truely new design then available. Significantly more compact than pre-war sets, the picture and general stability of operation was streets ahead of pre-war sets too.

But television design was progressing at a fast rate. It is interesting to compare this set with it's later replacement, the Pye D18T. The later set was the first set British set capable of running from both AC or DC mains, thus dispensing with the heavy and bulky a mains transformer. The D18T's screen and cabinet size is the same as this TL31's, but these developments resulted in a set that is significantly lighter.

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This particular set comes with a bit of history of its own. An engraved plate screwed to the top of the set indicates it was presented to one Leo Bridges in April 1947. Further research indicates it was presented as a reward for foiling an armed robbery.