Most collectors are aware that Ozarka made a quite long line-up of radios under 2 different names. J. Matheson Bell, former vice-president of Montgomery Wards, named his first company Ozarka and his second, J. Matheson Bell Radio Company. Few know that he also sold radio vacuum tubes under the name Ozarka, one of which is shown below along with its shipping box. It is un-likely that Matheson had his own tube manufacturing facility so the source of his tube stock perhaps came from Montgomery Ward as they had their own golden colored tubes. Wards probably had RCA or another reputable maker supply their tubes.

The golden UV Ozarka tube with machine made bulb is shown above. There are no marks on the tube except for an “A” etched on the top that can be seen in the last picture above. Similarly, A markings seem to be in-line with how Ozarka identified their tubes and will be shown in subsequent pictures. It has the specs of a 01-A proven on the box writing. The box has the correct address of their facility in Chicago.

The first picture above was provided by a local collector in my area. It is a Ozarka radio with 4 Ozarka tubes showing how they are marked as a types A and 1 as a detector. This confirms the way in which they id,ed their tubes. The second picture, I assume is a 01-A and paper tag stating Shafer-Ozarka Radio Company meaning he had at least 1 business partner. The last 2 pictures on the right above are, to me, a controversy. The third picture was taken by collector Robert Gillespie and was taken before a sale he made. Obviously, I purchased the square box and golden tube. Collector Larry Daniel bought the round container and golden tube. The wording on the square shipping box states S-J 1 as the tube inside. The wording on the round box states SJ-1 but that may have been a mistake. I recall Larry was happy to have gotten the box as he had a tube which he thought was correct for that box, the SJ-1 spherical tube shown in the last picture on the right above. I can only confirm that the spherical tube states SJ-1 on the base but not that it was marked by Ozarka or CMLC. I can confirm that a spherical tube the size of a spherical Vacobub will fit into my square shipping container perfectly if that is what could have been in my box. It is also possible that Ozarka used up their stock of S-J1 containers and added their newer golden 01-A etched as A. The specs stated on the square and round boxes indicate an 01-A tube.

The SJ-1 tube shown in fig. 1 above seems to have been made by the Chicago Minature Lamp Company. The 1st patent document on the left above, filed in 1922, above show a picture of the SJ-1 tube and it looks much like the SJ-1 tube in fig. 1. Furthermore, the patent was filed by Robert T. St. James so calling his tube the SJ-1 makes a great deal of sense. It also makes sense that both Ozarka and CMLC were based in Chicago so CMLC may have made the SJ-1 and the type A tubes. The document on the right above is an ad for the Chicago Miniature Lamp Company.