Van der Heem & Bloemsma IV Engels

Art Deco ("Haagse Stijl") oak cabinet with details in coromandel wood made by H.P. Mutters & Zn., The Hague. Valves: A425, A409, B406, B403. Some minor damage was restored by furniture restorer Ruben Spelbos in Utrecht.

Data about the former owner

The radio was presumably bought in the year 1929 by Theodoor (Theo) Abels, who lived from 1886 until 1979. He was a mechanical engineer and worked since ±1910 for the Royal Dutch Navy in the former Dutch West-Indies. After his military pension in the nineteen thirties, he remained active and moved with his family to Malabar, where he lead a tea plantation and headed the power station of Malabar and Bandung. The radio itself always remained in The Hague. After Abels' death in 1979, the radio ended up in a number of attics and was finally sold in the beginning of 2007.

Data about the cabinet

H.P. Mutters & Zn., or "De Koninklijke Nederlandse Meubelfabriek H.P. Mutters & Zn", came into existence at the end of the 18th century. In his workshop Herman Pieter Mutters built cabinets in the style of his time (Louis XVI and Empire). The workshop was situated in Molenstraat, near the Koningspoort. This Mutters married a family member of Vincent van Gogh, Sara Johanna van Gogh. One of the children, also called Herman Pieter, took over the business. His son, again called Herman Pieter, took over from him. This third H.P. Mutters had studied in France and after his return befriended King William III. The factory made the interior of the Royal Waiting Room of the Hollands Spoor train station in The Hague and some palaces. Under Herman Pieter IV, large passenger ships were fitted with a beautiful interior. The "ss Amsterdam" and the "ss Rotterdam" of the Holland America Line, for instance. But also foreign ships were fitted with an exquisite design. The very luxurious first class of the Titanic, for one. The sister ship of the Titanic was also decorated by Mutters. From 1900 onwards, Mutters made "modern" furniture, designed by artists and architects like Lion Cachet and Hendrik Berlage.

Data

Valves

Serial number	2078
Dimensions (h×w×d)	32 × 58 × 32 cm
Made in	1926
Purchased in	2007
Voltages	4V/60V/120V/-4,5V


	Click on a valve for more information
	Circuit

Top view

Visible are two coils, one for 300-800 m and one for 800-2300 m, four valves, each with their own rheostat, a wavelength switch and a number of binding posts. Each valve has a tap in the rim of the lamp holders, that makes it possible to measure correct filament voltage. A later version of this radio (February/March 1927) had two extra push/pull switches for switching between long wave and short wave.

The inside of the radio

In the upper left corner a Sterling push/pull switch, next to it the green Sterling variometer. Below the push/pull switch the first coil base and below that a low-capacitance Utility switch. In the middle four German Hegra rheostats, below left, the two low frequency transformers (one with the brand name Erres and one by Telefunken, the 326; 1:4). The original Erres 1:3 transformer is shown in the right picture (from a review in Radio Expres, 1926). Between both air-gap condensers (by General Radio Company) the second coil base and a Dubilier condenser in combination with a Loewe resistor are visible. In the middle, between the valves 1 and 2, a Lissen choke coil. Both telephone jacks are by Sterling. The four lamp holders are flush-mounted. The chassis is entirely made of triplex.

The tuning knobs, one with fine tuning, were made in the United States by Kurz Kasch Company in Dayton, Ohio.


The radio was checked (by a dyslectic person: 2087 instead of 2078) on December 30, 1926...	...chassis and cabinet were integrated on January 3rd, 1927. I bought the radio on January 3rd, 2007, exactly 80 years later.

Type plate

The panel with the type plate can be removed, behind it the holes for the wires leading to the binding posts are visible.

Stamp of the cabinet maker: H.P Mutters & Fils, La Haye

First advertisement for the H & B IV in Radio-Expres, October 1st, 1926

A view of a part of the Internationale Radio Tentoonstelling Amsterdam (I.R.T.A) in October 1926.

Electrotechnisch Bureau D. Teske, Douzastraat 5, Leiden, shows radios made by Van der Heem & Bloemsma on a sales stand. Probably end of 1926. (With many thanks to L.J. Gussenhoven for providing the picture)

The radio on a period cupboard

Front