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E. H. Scott & Ravenswood

TheRed1

TheRed1

Console Conservationist
I was going to post this as a follow up to Kenny's post about his Scott mystery receiver but I figured it needed its own thread as it was kind of a whole new can of worms. The beginning of the story is extremely well told in this thread by crooner:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showpost.php?p=351240&postcount=18

I've been trying to find information on this company's final chapters after E. H. retired and they started their final downward spiral. There appear to be some interesting consoles built under the "Scott Custom" name and that company's subsequent incarnation as Ravenswood. Their gimmick was rear and side firing speakers with hinged "reflectors" (see below).

An internet source I found claims that at some point production was moved to Annapolis, Maryland's Chesapeake Instruments consumer product manufacturing facility. The ad below also says that Ravenswood was from Annapolis. The name of the company apparently changed from E. H. Scott Radio Company to E. H. Scott Audio Company and finally to Ravenswood, after the resolution of the lawsuit.

Does anyone here own any E. H. Scott/Ravenswood equipment? Or have any knowledge of the E. H. Scott/Ravenswood company in their declining years (late 50's/early 60's)?

Oct. 1958:
ScottCustomOct58B.jpg


Apr. 1962:
RavenswoodApr62BAnnapolisMd.jpg
 
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Very interesting!

That 1977 Audio article that I quote on that old post, is one of the best I've read regarding E.H. Scott, specially the ultra advanced features of his consoles.

It however, mentions E.H. Scott Radio Labs as dying "quietly in the early 50s". This presumably after Scott had sold the company. It actually continued producing consoles and early hi-fi components during this decade.

No longer the chrome laden beauties of the 30s, but the company was still doing some business and advertising in magazines.

The end for E.H. Scott was hastened by the other Scott, Hermon Hosmer. H.H. was determined to dominate the booming hi-fi market, and the older Scott was pretty much in the way. I also believe he wanted to capitalize on the fame the "Scott" name had, because most middle aged folks associated it with the E.H. Scott consoles of the 30's and 40s.

There is very little information about the lawsuit between Scott Radio Laboratories and H.H. Scott. I believe I read about it in an old magazine, but can't recall any further details.

While E.H. Scott was able to win a lawsuit against his arch rival McMurdo Silver in 1940, the weakened Scott of the late 50s was easily beaten by Hermon Hosmer Scott.

Interesting that Ravenswood moved to Maryland in the early 60s. Perhaps they had to sell the building in Chicago as the result of the litigation....
 
Did some more research and it appears E.H. Scott was inactive during part of the 50s. If anybody has a magazine advertisement scan from earlier than 1958, this would prove otherwise.

Apparently some outfit called John Meck Industries, bought E.H. Scott in the early 50s and this is when it "died quietly" according to the Audio Magazine article we've been reading.

Then the remaining assets and trade name were bought by Annapolis Electracoustics Co of Maryland, around 1958 or 1959.

The new owners wanted to take advantage of the Scott name, and launched a new line of stereo consoles and hi-fi components.

This was met with resistance from the budding H.H. Scott who filed a lawsuit for trademark infringement.

Even though E.H. Scott predated H.H., the argument was that a trademark becomes invalid after a certain period of inactivity.

So, they key would be to find out if E.H. Scott actually produced anything during the "John Meck" era.
 
E.H. Scott left the company in 1945 (he was forced out...) and died in 1951.

The 1946 model 800B AM/FM/SW is considered by many to be the last of the high quality Scott radios - it had two chromed chassis, a large console with phonograph and sometimes a TV. They offered an optional noise reduction unit outsourced from another Scott... Herman Hosmer Scott. The 16A and 510 were similar later designs (without the shortwave band). The Sams Photofact index lists E.H. Scott models up to 1954, and there's a model called the "Ravenswood" in 1951. I suspect most of these were TVs.

Ravenswood does not appear as a manufacturer in the Sams index. I suspect that all of the "Scott Custom" products were outsourced, like the Strombergs we have seen.

Here's a brief summary: http://www.longandflatsociety.com/WB6AZPBoatanchors/RCHScottHistory/tabid/457/Default.aspx

There's a book on E.H. Scott - "...the Dean of DX"
 
Thanks Crooner & Tom Bavis for some great information. I do have some ads from as early as Feb. 1957 for Scott Custom TV/Radio/Phonographs. Do you suppose they were produced by the John Meck Industries version of Scott or by the Annapolis Electroacoustics Co.?

This post on some site called AudioBanter is interesting. It would indicate that Ravenswood survived perhaps into the 1970's.

http://www.audiobanter.com/showpost.php?p=643775&postcount=1

And this one has E.H.'s full name: Earnest Humphrey Scott...as well as a good biography:

http://hhscott.com/e_h__scott.htm
 
I found that same message and some responses at Google Groups - 1969 was a typo - it was 1959. Apparently Scott / Meck went bankrupt in 1956, and the Annapolis company bought them out (for the name, mostly, I think). I think the E.H. Scott book goes into this, but I'm not sure I'll spend $30 to find out...
 
Cool,just found this new thread,the E.H Scott Ravenswood names caught my eye.For me this certainly was a very interesting history to follow after coming across the mini 4 watt Scott Custom rarity.Good to see many facts & pictures surfacing in these informative threads.I think as time goes on and our cherished vintage equipment outlives us and gets passed on that many folks may find Audiokarma a very enjoyable,valuable resource to research when they get curious about their vintage equipments past history.Great Reading!!Thanks for posting the follow up....Altec Concert Kenny..
 
dnewma04 said:
Wow, so EH Scott/Ravenswood made the first Bose Waveradio. Very cool.
Click to expand...
They were definitely targeting the same market segment. The big difference is that Scott "Custom"/Ravenswood went out of business using that strategy back then.

I just got a copy of the book "The Art of Clairtone" which explores the marketing of the "Project G" console. The "G" had large, black, cantilevered aluminum orbs housing Wharfedale speakers that you could aim for different stereo effects. For an orchestral effect you aimed them at the walls and the sound bounced around the room like billiard balls. They also went out of business but the reasons for that appear to be numerous and varied. Very cool book, though - being that it is a well-illustrated, glossy coffee table book devoted to the history of Clairtone consoles. The first console book in my collection that I didn't have to compile myself.
 
E. H. Scott began in the 1920s designing and offering superheterodyne kits in the pre-electric era. Their heyday was the 1930s, when they built the famous chrome custom equipment. During World War II, they built equipment for the military and Merchant Marine. Following the war, the demise of the company went like this:

Scott was a native of New Zealand. There were travel restrictions through the war, and when the war ended, Scott returned home to NZ. However, he was unable to return to the US for several months. In that time, John Meck and Hal Darr took control of the company, offered public stock, and demoted Mr. Scott. When he finally returned to the US, he quit the company and took out ads in the Chicago papers announcing that he was no longer associated with the firm.

The last “classic” Scott sets are those they designed prior to his departure, including the 800B, the 16A and the Musicale amplifier. These were the main offerings up until about 1950. At that time, Meck introduced the 310, 510, 1210 series. There are actually about a dozen different 1950s Scott models. In 1952, the manufacturing was moved from Chicago to Plymouth, Indiana. The quality of the “10 series” and the later 2000 model never came close to the original sets. By October, 1956, the company was bankrupt, and the assets were sold.

The name and logo were used by two groups, Liberty Music in NYC, and the Annapolis group (later “Ravenswood”). Their downfall was that they did not market the name nationally…most sets with the Scott name and music note logo were sold via Liberty stores in the northeast US. As a result H. H. Scott sued in 1961 to stop the use of the Scott name since they had “relinquished” their right to advertise nationally. In June, 1961, the court agreed with H. H. Scott and barred the Scott name from the Annapolis group. This led to the Ravenswood line. The Scott factory in Chicago was located at 4450 Ravenswood Ave for most of its golden years. The building still stands today.

E. H. died on October 27, 1951 at his home in British Columbia. He never lived to see the final downfall of the company he built.

Kent King - E. H. Scott Collector & Historian
 
TheRed1 said:
I was going to post this as a follow up to Kenny's post about his Scott mystery receiver but I figured it needed its own thread as it was kind of a whole new can of worms. The beginning of the story is extremely well told in this thread by crooner:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showpost.php?p=351240&postcount=18

I've been trying to find information on this company's final chapters after E. H. retired and they started their final downward spiral. There appear to be some interesting consoles built under the "Scott Custom" name and that company's subsequent incarnation as Ravenswood. Their gimmick was rear and side firing speakers with hinged "reflectors" (see below).

An internet source I found claims that at some point production was moved to Annapolis, Maryland's Chesapeake Instruments consumer product manufacturing facility. The ad below also says that Ravenswood was from Annapolis. The name of the company apparently changed from E. H. Scott Radio Company to E. H. Scott Audio Company and finally to Ravenswood, after the resolution of the lawsuit.

Does anyone here own any E. H. Scott/Ravenswood equipment? Or have any knowledge of the E. H. Scott/Ravenswood company in their declining years (late 50's/early 60's)?

Oct. 1958:
ScottCustomOct58B.jpg


Apr. 1962:
RavenswoodApr62BAnnapolisMd.jpg
Click to expand...

I have one of the side firing speaker type consoles mentioned here. Some of you had helped me identify the Stromberg Carlson amp and tuner that were housed inside. i thought I had a few better picts. Atleast there is a view of the side facing speakers and reflector.See this thread http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=192333
 
IIRC, E.H. got hit by a double whammy-being barred from coming back to the USA for awhile, & then got hit by the gov't for war profitteering on the "RF shielded" radio sets he designed & built for the Navy...I have 2 of them an RBO-3 & an SLRM. The underhanded, low-down & dirty deal by Darr & his cronies to wrest control of the company away from Scott was really WRONG.
 
Thanks Kent for your contribution to this thread!!:thmbsp:

kent3256 said:
E. H. Scott began in the 1920s designing and offering superheterodyne kits in the pre-electric era. Their heyday was the 1930s, when they built the famous chrome custom equipment. During World War II, they built equipment for the military and Merchant Marine. Following the war, the demise of the company went like this:

Scott was a native of New Zealand. There were travel restrictions through the war, and when the war ended, Scott returned home to NZ. However, he was unable to return to the US for several months. In that time, John Meck and Hal Darr took control of the company, offered public stock, and demoted Mr. Scott. When he finally returned to the US, he quit the company and took out ads in the Chicago papers announcing that he was no longer associated with the firm.

The last “classic” Scott sets are those they designed prior to his departure, including the 800B, the 16A and the Musicale amplifier. These were the main offerings up until about 1950. At that time, Meck introduced the 310, 510, 1210 series. There are actually about a dozen different 1950s Scott models. In 1952, the manufacturing was moved from Chicago to Plymouth, Indiana. The quality of the “10 series” and the later 2000 model never came close to the original sets. By October, 1956, the company was bankrupt, and the assets were sold.

The name and logo were used by two groups, Liberty Music in NYC, and the Annapolis group (later “Ravenswood”). Their downfall was that they did not market the name nationally…most sets with the Scott name and music note logo were sold via Liberty stores in the northeast US. As a result H. H. Scott sued in 1961 to stop the use of the Scott name since they had “relinquished” their right to advertise nationally. In June, 1961, the court agreed with H. H. Scott and barred the Scott name from the Annapolis group. This led to the Ravenswood line. The Scott factory in Chicago was located at 4450 Ravenswood Ave for most of its golden years. The building still stands today.

E. H. died on October 27, 1951 at his home in British Columbia. He never lived to see the final downfall of the company he built.

Kent King - E. H. Scott Collector & Historian
Click to expand...
 
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