Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

SEES VAST NEW TUBE MARKET Increasing Uses of Ekctronic Power and Electronic Controls Will Create Huge Demand in Manufacturing. Processing.Jeegarden Says. AVAST new postwar market for electron tubes, far exceeding the prewar demands of radio and communications, will be found in manufacturing and processing in- dustries as a result of increasing uses of electronic power and elec- tronic controls, according to L. \V. Teegarden, manager of the RCA Victor Division, Radio Corporation of America. The rated power represented by a single order recently received by RCA for power oscillator tubes for electronic power heating, Mr. Tee- garden said, was equal to the com- bined rated power of all radio sta- tions in the United States. "Improvement in the ((uality of products and dramatic savings in process time are being realized from the use of electronic power for an ever-increasing list of industrial heat-processing operations," he said. "These now include hardening, welding, and soldering of metals; preheating of plastic materials for molding; glue-bonding of wood; drying of textile yarns; bulk-reduc- tion of solutions, and many other processes. Added advantages found in many instances are savings in space, eciuipment, and costs. "As a result, it appears that in- dustry's postwar demand for jxiwer tubes, which constitute the heart of any electronic power generator, may be many times the total prewar de- mand, which came principally from the broadcasting field. The growth of electronic power heating applica- tions also presents an increasing market for other types of tubes, such as rectifiers and control tubes." An electronic power generator is essentially the same in principle as a radio broadcast transmitter, Mr. Teegarden explained, except that it is less complex in operation, and the high-frequency output is fed into the industrial material being treated, instead of being coupled to a transmitter antenna. "The particular types of power tubes used in many electronic power generators now being manufac- tured," Mr. Teegarden said, "are the RCA-892-R, the RCA-833-A, and the RCA-9C2I. These are three- electrode transmitting types, de- signed for use as high-frequency power amplifiers, oscillators, and Class B modulators. The RCA-802-R and the RCA-833-A are air-cooled; the RCA-9C21, water-cooled. They are ideally suited for industrial use by their rugged construction, dependability and high efficiency as power converters. "Tubes such as the RCA-8008 half-wave mercury-vapor rectifier are used in many of these genera- tors to supply high-voltage d-c power to the plates of the power tubes. In some types of automatic generators, control tubes such as the RCA-2050 perform an addi- tional service. The RCA-2050, a sensitive, gas-filled, four-electrode thyratron of the hot-cathode type, is especially useful for industrial heating control applications because it is virtually unaffected by tem- perature changes. "All of the tubes mentioned are long-life types that have proven themselves in industrial as well as broadcast services." RCA RADIO STATION MOVED BY AIR A COMPLETE commercial short- wave radio station, weighing twenty-five tons, has been trans- ported hundreds of miles by air for the first time in history, from Italy to "Somewhere in Southern France," according to word received here by RCA Communications, Inc. Moved at the request of the U. S. Army, the equipment was trans- ported within a few hours some weeks ago by the coordinated ef- forts of the Army Signal Corps, RCA technicians under the supervi- sion of Thomas D. Meola of Skanea- teles, N. Y., and the Twelfth Air- force. In operation, the station is limited to Government, press, and EFM ("Expeditionary Force Mes- sage) traffic. No straight commer- cial messages may be accepted. In a radiogram describing the station's movement by air, Merrill Mueller, National Broadcasting Company correspondent attached to Supreme Headciuarters, Allied Ex- peditionary Forces, in France, said: "Fourteen C-47's moved entire twenty-five tons of eciuipment, which included generators so heavy it took heavy cranes to load and unload them, in a few hours, whereas sur- face transportation on both sea and land would have taken days and, perhaps, weeks. Thus, another im- poi'tant step has been taken to facil- itate communications with South- ern France within a few weeks through the day and night-long work of all concerned." This is not the first time that this station, soon to be on the air in Southern France, has met an im- portant wartime communications need, according to RCA officials. It was shipped from .New York last winter, and went into service at Naples transmitting Government and press messages. Its location was then identified as "Somewhere in Italy." More than twenty RCA men, working with Mr. Meola, went along to install and operate it. On .June 13. a second RCA station which had been shipped from the Ignited States, went into operation at Ivome. first of Europe's war capi- tals to fall to Allied armies. Its installation and operation also were handled by the RCA staff working in cooperation with the U. S. Sig- nal Corps and the Board of War Communications. Still another fast, direct comnni- nications link with the p]uropoan war front was established by RCA Communications on September Hi, when a radio circuit between New York and Paris was reopened after being closed since June, 1940, by the German occupation. [28 RADIO AGE]