1930's Catalog Page from the A.C. Becken Company
Sunday, May 11, 2014 at 9:55AM Vintage NuTone Door Chime Advertisements
Most people have forgotten that NuTone started as a Door Chime Company. Beginning in the 1930's, Door Chimes were a very popular upgrade to many homes. NuTone offered well engineered and stylish designs that would suit the homes of that period.
Door Chimes we special products, each model was given a name that helped express its style or sound. Each time the Chime was rung it was meant to add a pleasant moment to the daily routine of the household.
NuTone produced many fine advertisements in magazines, newspapers and their Chimes were featured items in wholesale and mail order catalogs.
This catalog page is likely from the A.C. Becken Company of Chicago, Illionis and dates from the late 1930's. A.C. Becken was a Jobber of watches, clocks, watch bands, jewelry boxes and probably NuTone Electric Door Chimes. As noted on the page:
"The clanging door bell is a nerve-wracking as the shrill screech of a parrot. But NuTone Door Chime is as welcome as the melody of the birds in the spring"
These early chimes have simple model numbers like "593C1" or "593C3 Model D" so the practice of giving names to each chime had not started yet. It's interesting that all of the chimes will operate on 110 volts AC power or dry-cell batteries and each of them include a "special transformer".
The color selections are traditional with finished like Ivory and Bronze and then there are the bold colors like Red, Green and Black. The chime tubes were available in either Brass or Chromium.
The most expensive chime on the page is the model "593C4 Model C" with a price of $11.60. It interesting to consider that the average household income in 1939 was $1368.00. I wonder how many people in 1939 would spend nearly 1% of their household income on a door chime?
The most intrging chime on the page is not a chme at all, it's a "Dinner Chime" Model 593C9.
"Three tones including duplication of famous NBC chime tones."
" Can be furnished in rich bronze or stippled black"
The price of the Dinner Chime is $5.12. It was explained to me that it was very common in formal households to use a Dinner Chime to announce the call to dinner and to call for the servants during a meal.
I actually own a vintage NuTone Dinner Chime and I will post pictures of it for everyone to see.
Cindy & Christopher
More Interesting ads for Vintage NuTone Door Chimes
Here's a page from a Becken catalog circa late 1930's or very early 1940's. I shows what may be the very first "K" Model Chimes (K1 through K4)
At the top of the page we have Models 589K1, which is a 2 tube 1-Note Chime and a 589K2, which is also a 2 tube chime which rings 2-notes. In the picture it is shown with the optional Third Tube, which cost an additional $2.00
Below we have the "Majestic" in both 3 and 4 tube models. I really like the illustration of the pipe organ and how it is meant to conjure up an image of what the chime will sound like. At a cost of $38.50 in say 1935, the NuTone Majestic would cost around $675.00 in today's money.
The average annual income in 1935 was round $1500.00. Spending $38.50 for a NuTone Door Chime would represent spending 2.5% of your annaul income. Also, lets not forget that you still needed a Transformer, Push Button, Wiring and someone to install the Chime.
Here is a catalog page from the Richmond Hardware Company, Richmond Virginia.
It features "The Greatest Name in Door Chimes" NuTone Chime Door Signal.
This ad is probably circa late 1930's through early 1940's.
Is features one of my favorite NuTone Chimes, the"Mount Vernon" which I believe was may have been in production for more than 25 years. I have actually work in a home that was buit in the late 1950's that had an original NuTone Mount Vernon Chime. With its solid brass tubes, it produces a very pleasant sound when rung.
This is the very first ad I've seen which features the "Cathedral" name for the long tube chimes. It shows the "Trinity 4" and "Trinity 3" chimes which have a "New Plastic Cover - with Night Light". The ad says that the covers are available in Ivory or Brown.
On the very nest page of the Richmond Hardware Company catalog we find something interesting.
Here we have the "Majestic 4" and the "Majestic 3", which if you look closely look very much like the "Trinity 4' and "Trinity 3" on the previous page. If you read the description carefully it describes the "New, Exquisite Catalan Cover" compared to the Plastic Cover of the Trinity Chimes.
This would date these NuTone Chime to the late 1930's and very early 1940's. It would seem that the "Majestic" Chimes were the premium NuTone Chimes of that time.
Lets not over look the simpler NuTone Chimes of that time. The A-100 is a very interesting chime and for $1.30 it was probably a very popular choice for many people. The TC-995 may be NuTone's first Kitchen Clock Chime, a type of design the continued on until the early 1970's.
I actually have a NuTone Majestic 3 with a Catalan cover that I am restoring. It will be featured in an article here soon.
I'm not sure where this ad comes from and I don't know who the woman featured at the top is, perhaps she represents the ideal, discriminating buyer of NuTone Door Chimes.
I think this ad dates from just before WW2 based on it including the "Monticello" Long Tube Chime. I've had two occasions to work on a Monticello Chime and they were both dated 1943. I don't think this model was produced after the war.
We still have the "Trinity 4" Cathedral Chime with its Ivory or Brown plastic cover, but the Majestic Chimes are not shown.
This ad does show the "Commander" with its Brass Tubes and Antique Ivory cover. This was a very popular style of NuTone Chime and it's one of the models that often is for sale on auction sites.
Cindy & Christopher
A Full Page Ad From American Builder - 1948
This ad was clearly targeted towards the new home builder in 1948.
The Special Offer! of "MEMO" billing was probably an attempt to generate sales in new home developments of 25 or more homes.
I like the requirement of having to install a NuTone Chime in a Model Home along with a Identification Card so potential buyers would know it's a NuTone Chime. To show how some things never change, on the mail in coupon, NuTone wants to verify that the request is actually real and it asks for the name of the Wiring Contractor along with his address. This is still done today, when a quote is written for a housing development.
Even thought this ad is from 1948, all of the NuTone Chimes are the newer "K" Model Chimes. I think that except for the K38 Combination Chime and Clock, all of the other models shown are Chimes that NuTone had made before WWII.
Cindy & Christopher
