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September 1962 Radio-Electronics
 [Table of Contents]
Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics.
See articles from Radio-Electronics,
published 1930-1988. All copyrights hereby acknowledged.
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RF Cafe visitor
Richard Diehl wrote to ask that I post this "TV
Monocle Gives Extra Eye to Wearer" article from a 1962 issue of
Radio-Electronics magazine. Come to find out, Mr. Diehl is the
publisher of the LabGuy's
World website, which contains a vast amount of information on vintage
video tape equipment - which explains his interest in this article. The Electrocular,
designed by Hughes Aircraft Company, is an early version of today's helmet-mounted
display. As opposed to modern systems which present the image directly on
the display using an LCD substrate, the Electrocular projected the image from
a television-type CRT onto a glass plate in front of the user's eye. I'm not
so sure I would have wanted a device generating 3,000 volts for the electron
beam accelerator potential sitting next to my head, over top of my ear. A
cellphone's radiation might be safer.
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TV Monocle Gives Extra Eye to Wearer
Pilot wearing the Electrocular head-mounted video display.
This 30-ounce device gives the wearer "eyes in the back of his head" or
even at far-distant points. Electrocular is an actual TV picture tube, worn
on the head, with an eyepiece made of such material and so angled that the
wearer can view the image on the television screen or look right through it
at the scene beyond. The eyepiece is a dichroic (light-splitting) lens, set
at an angle of 45° to the viewer's eye. This lens is at the end of a short
tube, at the other end of which is another angled mirror which picks up the
image from the face of the TV tube (the longer tube) and deflects it to the
viewing lens at the side of the viewer's head.
Airport control tower controller wearing Electrocular.
Adjustments being made to computer using information projected
onto Electrocular.
The TV tube itself is 7 inches long and 1-3/8 inches outside diameter.
It produces a much bigger picture than might be supposed, due to its closeness
to the eye. The image has the standard 525 lines and the tube has 3,000 volts
on its accelerating anode. Only a few of the possible applications are shown
here. At upper left, an airplane pilot is supposed to be viewing a picture
of air traffic information televised to him from the ground while watching
the instrument panel and carrying on his normal flying duties.
In the photo at lower right, adjustments are being made at the rear of
a digital computer, while the TV camera is photographing the results on the
display screen in front. (This would seem to open some interesting opportunities
for the TV repair man.)
Lower left [upper right] shows a possibly vital operation in airport control
tower work, in which the problem of too many things to look at simultaneously
is being solved with the help of the little head-mounted TV set. Without it,
one would have to walk back to the fixed central display console for the information
now transmitted to the Electrocular.
Electrocular can also be used in wartime. Officers on the bridge could
view the board of a central information center many decks below, adding radar
information to that being obtained with their own eyes. Operators and gunners
on combat land vehicles could see a view of the field ahead as televised from
a plane above, as well as their own eye-level view. In industry, workers could
use Electrocular to keep instructions on wiring and installation of complex
components directly ahead of the eye while working, making it unnecessary
to turn away from the job to consult blueprints or printed instructions. A
surgeon wearing an Electrocular could continuously scan data on the patient's
pulse rate and breathing, without pausing in the operation.
Note: I could not find my hard copy of the magazine, so I had to use content
from the
WorldRadioHistory.org website.
Posted August 20, 2024
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