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

®KfiUJSi Now It's History . . . The first year of "Wide Wide World," the adventurous NBC pro- gram, has been recorded on 38 reels of film and placed in the reference de- partment of the Library of Congress in Washington as an authentic history of contemporary life. According to the NBC announcement, this is the first such assemblage of an entire series of live shows to be admitted by the Library. The collection was presented on March 4 to L. Quincy Mumford, Librarian of Congress, by Davidson Taylor, NBC Vice-President in Charge of Public Affairs, and Sherrod E. Skin- ner, Vice-President with the sponsor- ing General Motors Corporation. Said a spokesman for the Library, the collection is "a valuable documentary —a two dimensional record of these times that will be of great value to scholars of the future." Get Your Copy Now . . . The RCA Tube Division is publish- ing again. This time it's a 24-page catalog, "RCA Photosensitive Devices and Cathode-Ray Tubes." The con- tents are technical data on 45 types of phototubes, six types of TV camera tubes, and 56 types of cathode-ray tubes, together with tabular data and a socket-connection diagram of each tube type. You can get your copy for 20 cents from RCA Tube distributors or from Commercial Engineering, RCA Tube Division, Harrison, N. J. Record Economy . . . A novel coupon plan which enables customers to obtain free three $3-98 records in the course of a year and to buy up to 24 additional $3.98 records at $2.98 each has been inaugurated by the RCA Victor Record Division. It works this way: the customer buys his coupon book from the record dealer for $3.98, then chooses free any classi- cal or popular $3.98 album in the dealer's stock, for which he turns in the first of the 27 coupons. Each month for the next year he is notified of the advance release of two albums, and he can buy one at the dealer's for a coupon and $2.98 each. In July and October, the customer can obtain free two more $3.98 albums by presenting the special coupons to the dealer. The total saving on record purchases through the year adds up to $31.96. Clinic for Brewers . . . Emissaries of ten of the major brew- ing companies spent three days at Camden recently for a briefing and demonstration of RCA's latest equip- ment and techniques for electronic inspection of beer, ale and other bottled beverages. The objective was to acquaint users and purchasers of the RCA inspection machines with advanced methods for obtaining maxi- mum speed and efficiency at the in- spection stage on the production line. The RCA-developed "inspector" looks over 150 bottles a minute with its electronic eye. Calling All Fork-Lifts . . . Now you can talk by radio with the operators of your fork lifts, strad- dle trucks, towing tractors, yard cranes and other materials-handling vehicles. RCA has introduced a new two-way radio system which can be used inter- changeably, without conversion de- vices, in electric materials-handling vehicles operating with 24-, 32-, or 36-volt batteries. The new equipment features built-in voltage-conversion facilities which promise more eco- nomical radio operation and extended battery life. Conversion from 24- to 32-volt operation involves only the interchange of two plugs, while a jump from 32 to 36 volts requires only rotation of the radio's vibrator. Westward Ho . . . It's out to Los Angeles for RCA's commercial aviation sales department. In a move to speed and facilitate cus- tomer service, all sales activities for the RCA line of custom aviation equipment for commercial and private aircraft have been transplanted from Camden, N. J., to 11819 Olympic Boulevard, Los Angeles, in RCA's manufacturing plant for electronic aviation equipment. David H. Robin- son, Manager, RCA Custom Aviation Equipment, explains that the reloca- tion is intended to provide proximity with engineering and manufacturing facilities and to enable customers to obtain design, manufacturing, and sales assistance at a single establish- ment. A prominent item handled by the department is RCA's "weather eye" radar which enables pilots to detect storms lying as much as 150 miles ahead. 32 RADIO AGE