About the Company
Trav‑Ler was a reel‑to‑reel tape recorder brand associated with Casian Ltd, a company based in London, United Kingdom, that produced consumer‑oriented tape recorders in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The reel recorders sold under the Trav‑Ler name were designed for everyday use rather than professional recording, and most models used tube electronics typical of consumer decks of that era. The brand name reportedly stood for “Train‑Road‑Aeroplane‑Vessel‑Lasting‑Exceptional‑Recording” and was marketed for portable recording and playback in homes or informal settings. The known period of Trav‑Ler reel‑to‑reel production spans approximately 1958 to 1962 in the United Kingdom, with some later examples appearing in the United States under the same or similar badge.
The original Trav‑Ler machines were consumer level, single‑track or two‑track mono decks with speeds and formats typical of the period. A basic Cassian‑branded Trav‑Ler model produced around 1960–1963 was a half‑track mono recorder with a single 3¾ inches per second speed, a 7‑inch reel capacity, and modest performance figures consistent with mid‑century tube‑based consumer tape decks. These units were sold with simple controls and standard RCA outputs for connection to external amplifiers.
In late 1960 the rights for manufacture and distribution were purchased by Aerialite Ltd of Cheshire, but by about 1962 Trav‑Ler‑branded machines had largely disappeared from the UK market, indicating that production under that name was of limited duration and scope.
There is evidence that some Trav‑Ler recorders or related audio products were marketed in the United States, with units such as the Trav‑Ler TT 591 reel recorder appearing in American listings. These U.S. examples are often cited as “trav‑ler” but may have been imported units or localized productions tied to other companies such as Karenola Radio & Television Corp. of Chicago, which used the Trav‑Ler name on various audio products. The American context likely reflects badge‑engineered or re‑branded units, rather than a single continuous manufacturing line from the original UK maker.
There was also a Trav‑Ler Professional model introduced around 1960, described as a higher‑end battery‑portable unit with transistorized electronics, a single tape speed of 7½ inches per second, built‑in level metering and a speaker/amplifier unit. This model suggests Trav‑Ler attempted to respond to evolving technology and consumer expectations, but it too did not become widely adopted.
In summary, Trav‑Ler’s reel‑to‑reel tape recorder history can be outlined as follows:
Brand: Trav‑Ler (originally by Casian Ltd, UK)
Country of origin: United Kingdom (with later U.S. appearances)
Active production era: circa 1958 to 1962 in the UK
Market focus: Consumer home/portable audio
Technology: Initially tube‑based electronics; some later transistorized units
Typical formats: Half‑track mono decks, single‑speed operation
Distribution: Sold in the UK and later encountered in U.S. channels under local badge names or re‑branding.
Trav‑Ler reel‑to‑reel machines are now rare vintage collectibles that illustrate the variety of small manufacturers and badge names in the early era of consumer analog tape recording, and they reflect the transition from early tube‑based consumer designs toward more modern transistorized products that dominated the mid‑1960s onward.