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

cost per speaker from lie to 3c— a major accomplishment. Traffic has worked with the Cam- den Trucking Section and other organizations in developinjr ad- vantageous over-the-road private carriajife operations. RCA Victor trucks are now operating on regular schedules between Camden on the one hand and Indianapolis, Lan- caster and New York City locations on the other hand. These trucks provide good service and because they are fully loaded both ways, also provide most economical trans- portation. Works to Minimize Costs Traffic works constantly with all organizations to keep premium transportation cost at a minimum. I'remium transportation is defined as e.xpense of service that is costlier than ether cheaper and normally available service. Production Con- trol, Purchasing and Sales people work closely with Traffic in sched- uling shipments for release in eco- nomical ipiantities and with suffici- ent time in transit to permit rout- ing via lowest-rated services. If the normal routing is not satisfac- tory, traffic personnel is contacted for the fastest and yet cheapest emergency routing. Distributors of RCA Victor products have not been overlooked either. More than 2,000 copies of a comprehensive 10-page Tratlic Guide for Distributors of RCA Victor Products have been re- leased to distributors and dealers throughout the country. During 1950 RCA Victor traffic personnel will expedite or trace over 20,000 urgently needed shipments. Some 12,000 passenger reservations will be made by the Passenger Transportation Groups. Traffic anal\ sts will audit about 250,000 transportation bills for correctness of freight rates and classification descriptions. Yes, company traffic is moving in thousands of tons of materials and products each month — that is the RCA traffic picture. It is a fast moving business, this keeping abreast of new ways to ship to assure the best and cheapest transportation commensurate with service requirements. ONE OF THE FLEET OF COMPANY-OWNED TRUCKS LEAVES THE INDIANAPOLIS PLANT WITH AN E.MERCENCY LOAD OF l.")-RPM RECORDS DESTINED FOR OVER.NICIIT DEI.IVKRV TO A IllSTRIBrXOR. Simple "Ruler" Measures Speed of TV Signals An ingenious television "ruler", called a "Microstick", which can actually measure the millionths of a second it takes for a television sig- nal to travel across the face of a kinescope, has been devised by the IJCA Tube Department as an aid to servicemen in television picture analysis. The Microstick is a transparent plastic ruler which in use is held flat against the safety glass of a television receiver to check a num- ber of factors important to recep- tion. The ruler is scaled for use with all picture tube sizes. The Microstick may be used to measure the bandwidth of a tele- vision receiver, calibrate vertical wedges in test patterns, determine the l)eat freiiuency of interference, and measure the air-path distance of "ghosts" or other reflected sig- nals. In addition, the ruler is useful for determining the frequency of "ringing" in video circuits and for measuring the duration of sync pulses, horizontal blanking, and other types of video signals. Conceived by .John Meagher, RCA Tube Department television special- ist, the Microstick is designed to aid technicians, students, and others in gaining a clearer understanding of the important time factors in television. Mr. Meagher is the au- thor of the widely used TV "Pict- 0-Guide" for television trouble- shooting. Design of the Microstick is based on the fact that the electron beam in a kinescope is deflected from the left to the right-hand edge of the picture in approximately 53.3 micro- seconds, forming one horizontal scanning line. Because of this, a ruler made equal in length to the width of the picture and divided into api)ro.\imately 53 equal divi- sions, each division representing one millionth of a second, is capable of measuring the duration of any signal pre.sent in picture. Knowing the duration of the signal or the number of cycles of signal that oc- cur in a given time, it is ea.sy to compute the frequency of the signal. JOHN MEAOHF.R OF THE RCA TUBE Df;PARTMENT. DEMON- STRATES THE ".MICROSTICK", A TRANSPARENT PLASTIC RULER WHICH HE DEVELOPED TO SIMPLIFY TELEVISIO.V PICTURE ANALYSIS. '^^' [RADIO AGE 2 3 V ^ \/^.