Television digest with electronic reports (Jan-Dec 1959)

VOL 15: No. 33 17 1 Semiconductor Picture Tube? A combination of the properties of the transistor & the electron tube may some day lead to a simplified TV picture tube in which heater & cathode are replaced by a small semiconductor crystal, i consuming a negligible amount of power. So say Westinghouse scientists — who add that it all depends on whether they can make practical use of a new effect they have found in semiconductors. A recent discovery — that a constant flow of electrons can be obtained directly out of the surface of certain semiconductor materials — has spurred researchers to determine how to use this electron-emitting property to substitute I unheated semiconductors for heated cathodes in tubes. One I semiconductor which yields this flow of electrons — silicon carbide — provides an electron density equal to that in the average tube. Says Westinghouse research director Dr. Clarence Zener: “One can visualize a tube in which the usual heated j cathode is replaced by a small semiconductor crystal having a built-in ‘junction’ like a transistor. The crystal would consume a negligible amount of power and would yield electrons instantly & indefinitely when a small electric I voltage is applied across it, [combining] into a single i operating unit many of the inherent advantages of both i semiconductors & vacuum tubes.” I He says electron emission from silicon carbide pro 1 duces currents up to one millionth of an ampere — a density I of electron flow “quite comparable to that from the cathode ' of a typical vacuum tube.” Adds Dr. Zener: “It is parI ticularly interesting that this perfectly adequate flow of electrons originates from a tiny, pinpoint source. Such a source would have many advantages in the construction of complicated tubes. It would simplify focusing of the electron beam and eliminate much of the complicated tube construction now employed for this purpose.” . Mislabeled TV cabinets, fashioned from simulated materials but advertised as hardwood, are causing “a large number of complaints” from consumers, FTC Chairman Earl W. Kintner reported last week. Testifying at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on a bill (S-1787) by j Sens. Capehart (R-Ind.) & Hartke (D-Ind.) prohibiting j, ' misbranding of furniture, Kintner said existing law “is inu i adequate so far as protecting the consumer at the retail A I level.” But he declined to take a stand on the CapehartI Hartke measure or on a similar House bill (HR-5778) Y introduced by Rep. Bray (R-Ind.) in March (Vol. 16:13). Congress should make up its own mind whether new legislation is needed, Kintner said. it i New co-op ad plan calling on manufacturers to give n dealers more flexibility in promotion of their own stores !*i| was drafted by NARDA’s board of directors last week in lit! I Washington at its 5th annual management clinic. Details I of the plan will be submitted at NARDA’s marketing conpi i vention next Jan. in Chicago. '■ Conrac Inc. plant No. 2 at Glendora, Cal., housing asf ^ sembly lines for Fleetwood TV receivers and broadcast & industrial monitors, was destroyed by fire Aug. 11. Rebuilding within 3 months is planned. jt I Emerson ad campaign for 1960 TV-radio-stereo lines ^ will embrace large newspaper ads in 100 key distributor : markets, and 24-sheet outdoor posters nationally, via agency Friend-Reiss. 1^1 4 addition to Hoffman TV line: Saddle-stitched 'i leather-bound portable at $240. It Admiral Booming, Too: To the upbeat statements of tv manufacturers quoted last week (Vol. 15:32), add this report from Admiral pres. Ross Siragusa: The company’s current backlog of orders totals $80 million, 33% higher than the $60 million outstanding at this time last year. (Consumer products comprise 90% of Admiral’s business, the remainder being military & industrial electronics.) The firm’s TV production is now running at a rate 60% higher than last year, and Admiral’s Harvard, 111., plant is on a 6-day 2-shift basis, with 8 production lines in operation. Siragusa attributes the TV upturn to the 23-in. picture tube and new portables with remote tuning. Admiral will show its new line of color sets to distributors next week. The sets, which feature front tuning, will start at $595 (RCA’s lowest price is $495), with 5 basic models available in a variety of finishes. * * * Olympic TV-radio sales last month set a record for July, pres. Morris Sobin announced last week. During July, he said, TV sales were up 44%, stereo up 216% and radio sales up 123% over July 1958. “We have the largest August backlog of TV in company history — some 300% above August last year,” he added. “What’s Wrong With Color TV?” asks NARDA chairman Mort Farr in his column in the Aug. Electrical Merchandising. The Upper Darby, Pa., retailer, who has made a big success in color-TV sales, gives these answers: (1) Not enough set makers in the act. (2) Anti-color-TV attitude of some manufacturers, service technicians and retail salesmen — including some RCA dealers. (3) Some dealers’ “fear of all high-ticket items.” Nevertheless, says Farr, in Dec., his color-TV gross amounted to 40% of his total TV-stereo-appliance volume. “More important, this business was done at a profit, and every sale included the sale of a service contract.” As for prices, he says: “The boat industry doesn’t hesitate to ask thousands of dollars for their product, and $500 isn’t too high to ask for an outboard motor. The auto industry adds $600 to $800 in extras to the price of every car and our customers gladly pay it. The price of color TV is not too high; we are just selling our b&w sets too cheaply.” New Sylvania transistor plant will be established in a 25,000-sq. ft. building at Manchester, N.H., formerly occupied by Arrow Needle Co. The newly purchased one-story plant, on a 10-acre site, will employ 800 to 1000 after manufacturing operations begin early next year. Robert M. Wood, mgr. of Sylvania’s Woburn, Mass., plant, will be mgr. of the new facility. Sylvania semiconductor div. v.p.gen. mgr. Dr. William J. Pietenpol, in announcing the purchase, predicted that transistor sales will increase fivefold from this year’s anticipated 91 million units at more than $231 million to an annual rate of about 409 million at $396 million in the next 5 years. Minnesota Mining’s on a slow boat to Japan. Its Jan.filed joint application with 14 Nippon firms to form a $1.5million subsidiary for producing magnetic recording tape among other products is still being studied by the Japanese govt., reports Aug. Fortune. “The original application proposed a 50-50 capital split between Minnesota & its Japanese partners, with 3M receiving a 10% royalty payment for its knowhow,” says Fortune. “But the Japanese govt, feels that Minnesota should have only a 15% interest in the company so it won’t ‘dominate the Japanese market.’ ” Latest edition of GE’s tube handbook, Essential Characteristics, features specifications of 1392 receiving & special-purpose types and 399 TV picture tubes.