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

FRANK M. FOI.SOM. Rl'A I'KKSlllKM . L. W. TKK(^AU|iK.N . Ml K I'KI-.SIDKM IN CHARGE OF TECIINKAL PRODUCTS, RCA VICTOR DIVISION. AND NILES TRAMMF.I.L, PRESIDENT OF NBC, EXAMINE THE MILLIONTH TELEVISION PIC- TURE TUBE PRODUCED BV RCA. THE MILLIONTH TV TUBE Production of "Milestone" Kinacope at Lancaster Plant Observed by Television Viewers on 11-Station Network TllK millionth television picture tube to be produced by the Ra- dio Corporation of America rolled off one of the production lines at the fompan.v's Lancaster, Penna., plant on .June 7. under the eyes of KCA officials and millions of tele- viewers alonjr the Atlantic Coast and as far west as Chicago. The tube, which climaxed three years of intensified efforts to produce suffi- cient kinescopes for the mushroom- ing television industry, was a 1(>- inch metal-cone tube. Upon its com- pletion and subsequent test, the tube was inserted in an RCA Victor receiver and presented to the \'all('y Forge Hospital for veteran.s. In an address which was part of the activities celebrating this mile- stone in television progress, Frank M. Folsom, RCA President, recalled the spectacular rise of the video in- dustry since 1946. "In that period," he said, "we have seen the number of television stations grow from five to 67, so that today this new service is with- in reach of 70 million people. We foresee continued progress. Tech- nical improvements will be forth- coming from our laboratories and they will be passed along as they are perfected." During the special 4.5-miniitc [RADl O AGE 1] tck'\ision salute, which also sig- nalized the official opening of Lan- caster's fiivst television station. WGAL-TV. scenes of activities within the busy tube plant \vere transmitted over an NBC Tele- vision Network of 11 stations. Using facilities provided by coaxial cable and radio relays, viewers in Washington. Philadelphia, P.oston. Baltimore, Richmond, liuffalo. Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Lan- caster and New Haven were given an eye-witness step-by-step visual description of the actual manufac- ture of the millionth tube. With Commentator Ben Grauer explain- ing the sequence of scenes as they were picked up by a battery of .\'HC image orthicon cameras, TV set owners watched the "milestone tube" from its beginning. ;is a number of individuid parts, to its completion as a high-quality kine- scope, checked, inspected and in- serted into a receiver. Tube Assembly Revealed ■|"hese viewers saw jets of intense (lame weld the metal cone to the glass tube forming the neck and to the glass face plate which eventu- ally would be the viewing .screen of the kinescope. They witne.ssed the insertion of the finely-engineered and inti-icate electron gun into the neck, and then the majority of viewers learned, for the first time, how the fluorescent material which forms the picture screen was poured into the tube as a liquid solution and allowed to settle out into position on the face plate. During the telecast from Lan- caster. NBC shifted the action briefly to its New York studios for the address by Mr. F'olsom and a musical selection by Miss Blanche Thebom, Metropolitan Opera star. Mass-production of the complex and sensitive television i)icture tube on a conveyor-belt and automatic machinery basis, first achieved at the RCA Lancaster plant in 1916, assured the industry of a large- volume su))i)ly of the most vital comi)onent in a home television re- ceiver. This wtLs followed by the mass-production and mass-market- ing of home television receivers and the oi)eniiig of today's mass- television era. Source of about half of the tele- vision picture tubes now in use in AN IMACE ORTHICON CAMERA. TIED INTO AN 11-STATION .VBC TELEVISIO.V .NETWORK, FOLLOWS THE PROGRESS OF THE MILLIONTH KI.VESCOPE ON THE PRODUCTION LINE AT THE LANCASTER, PA., TUBE PLANT OF KCA.