A few notes on Polyvinyl Chloride from 1945

The Racol brand lived on for a long time after the demise of Radio Corp. Wire continued to be made under the Racol brand until the early 1990's by Powercentre Industries Ltd. 

Here are examples I have found at home and at work:

Original Racol made by Radio Corp:



Made by Pye in Wellington:


Philips:

Hi Daniel, that's some awesome detective work - I know you can still buy Racol wire, and I knew that the equipment had passed to Pye, then Philips - but I assumed Philips still owned the brand. I once found a facebook post of a photographer who was in Wellington central and photographed the picture theatre that stands where Radio Corp once stood and wrote a short piece on how he'd worked there for Philips in the 80's making wire.

I do love the old cloth-covered wire, but I have to admit the nice neat and easy to work on sets of the 50's with their colour coded looms and perfect insulation are a tribute to the decision William Marks made to import wiremaking equipment after the war. I'm repairing a model 91 at the moment and tracing the wires around the crowded chassis is so much easier when you can actually see the wire colour, and when it slips easily so when you tug one end to see where it goes, the other end moves.

Cheers, Steve