Vintage Pakette Radio 1946 Mini radio with leads and clips - see notes

Description

1946 Pa-Kette
Pa-Kette Electric Corp., Kearney, Nebraska
Distributed by Western Manufacturing Company, Kearney, Nebraska
Crystal detector radio
3 1/8 x 2 x 7/8 inches / 79 x 50 x 22 mm
Black Bakelite cabinet
A pocket radio, but not a portable radio — the ground and antenna wires needed to be anchored to something metal. The "speaker" was in fact a large earphone — you could hear broadcasts only by holding the radio against your ear.
This was the first of several models ("Pee-Wee", "Tinytone") sold by Western Manufacturing Company over the following decade.
The Pa-Kette was originally advertised for .99 plus postage (see Radio Mirror ad below, sent to me by Dan Hughes). This radio is memorable now for its unique way of packaging a crystal radio, for its cabinet size and layout — a true shirt pocket radio in design even if not quite in fact.