Here's an ad supposedly from 1957, in which Admiral claims credit for the monitor and camera of a military closed circuit TV system using an image orthicon tube. They kind of skirt the issue of whether they produced the tube itself, but they do manage to use the term "development of the image orthicon" in one place.

In addition, they say "The image orthicon may not be pictured for reasons of security." This seems like it would be nonsense by 1957, but they may mean that the camera cannot be pictured, or it may mean that this camera used a miniaturized image orthicon, which may have been secret yet (?).

When I think of things like "cutting edge" and industrial/commercial technology, Admiral never comes to mind. But, whaddya know, they did have something going on!

Admiral was a huge defense contractor in the 1950s and 60s, and made quite a lot of very high tech radio and radar systems.

For example, they made the UHF radio for the B-58 Hustler bomber.

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Will

Admiral, Magnavox, Bendix and Philco all made some pretty advanced avionics equipment. I remember ARR-receivers made by Admiral, and used in the Corsair and Crusader aircraft. Magnavox made Intercommunication (AIC) boxes and a ton of sonar-related stuff. Bendix made some cool IFF stuff - transponders and control boxes. Philco and Philco-Ford made vibration monitoring equipment for older jet engines. Some of the Philco tech-reps lost their jobs while overseas when Ford sold Philco. They got hired the next day by TRW, who bought up the contracts.

Of course, Motorola was all over the place as well - ILS/Carrier landing systems, Radar beacons, and Comm systems.

RCA made about every UHF radio tube for the Collins Radio stuff we fixed back then. All other manufacturers white-boxed their stuff - Sylvania, GE, Raytheon, and Tung-Sol. But RCA somehow got away with slapping a label on their RCA boxes and selling to Uncle Sam.

Sad, but most of the big-time avionics companies are now foreign owned, meaning we don't have much to call our own anymore. I always liked the stuff that was NOFORN/NONATO. Of course the aircraft that flew that stuff are no longer with us either.

Now, the Brits (BAE), the French, and Raytheon are the big players.

Cheers,