The text under the picture of the
TV says, "Progressive research, like that which
gave us the Graphechon tube, accounts for the superiority of RCA Victor's new 1950
home television receivers."
Ever heard of the revolutionary
Graphechon Tube, by RCA? Neither had I, until I saw it mentioned in an ad for RCA
televisions in a 1950 edition of The Saturday Evening Post. My curiosity
was piqued enough to do some research.
First, here is the text of the ad:
"Scientists at RCA Laboratories work with split-seconds of time too infinitesimal
for most of us to imagine. Their new electron tube, the Graphechon, makes it possible.
For instance, in atomic research, a burst of nuclear energy may flare up and
vanish in as little as a hundred-millionth of a second. The Graphechon
tube oscillograph, taking the pattern of this burst from an electronic circuit,
"remembers" what happened - and re-creates it in a slow motion image which can last
for a minute and a half. Scientists may then observe the pattern of the burst at
leisure... measure its energy and duration... gain new and useful information about
the behavior of the atom.
With the Graphechon we can now watch fleeting phenomena which occur at random,
outside our control. It not only applied to nuclear research, but also to studies
of electric current... or in new uses of radar and television. Like so many products
of RCA research, the Graphechon widens man's horizons."
According to Answers.com, this is the definition of a Graphechon Tube:
"(graf' eh kän) A storage tube having two electron guns, one for writing and
the other for reading and simultaneous erasing, on opposite sides of the storage
medium, which consists of an insulator or semiconductor deposited on a thin substratum
of metal supported by a fine mesh."
Here is a photo of an actual
Graphechon Tube, on the LampsEtTubes.info
website. Note: Some articles mistakenly spell the name as "graphecon."
"The GRAPHECHON is a charge storage tube intended for data-processing applications
where signal information must be transformed continuously from one time base to
another. Both guns have electrostatic focus and utilize magnetic deflection. Total
length : 47.8 cm (18.80 in)."
Other Saturday Evening Post Ads & Articles:
Posted January 1, 2021
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