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Old 01-27-2008, 01:38 PM
Newton
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Exploding GE Color TVs, 1960s

Hello, I am new here.
I had my own TV repair shop from 1962 to 1968 and have not worked on TVs since. However I have taken an interest in GE color TVs from the early 1960s because of other reasons not related to the restoration of these sets.
There have been claims that these early GE color sets had tended to explode (implode) magnetic wise. That is, they suddenly became an intense magnetic field that was generated inside the TV set in a split second that caused any near by steel items (including nails in the walls) to be pulled to the GE TV set with great force.
In one instance during 1965 or 1966 one GE color TV set did this in Chicago and claimed the life of a child that was watching the GE color TV. The child was not killed by the TV, but was killed by a metal item from the room that passed through his body on it's way to the GE TV set.

Claims indicate that only GE color TVs (or TVs made by GE sold under other names) of the early 1960s were involved, no other brands of color TVs were known to have this problem.

I am interested in these GE TV sets of this time frame for this reason and any information on these sets would be of great help to my investigation of the cause of these "explosions". Also I would like to aquire a Sams copy on these GE sets for study.

CRTs and yokes are of great interest in this quest.

I know this request seems unusual, but I really could use the information and I do understand analog electronics, so I can keep up to speed during a conversation related to these devices.

Thank you,
Newton
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Old 01-27-2008, 01:52 PM
MRX37 MRX37 is offline
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I don't believe any TV could generate a magnetic field powerful enough to pull nails out of walls. This sounds like a myth to me.
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Old 01-27-2008, 02:01 PM
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Eric H Eric H is offline
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Sounds like Urban Legend to me, it would be impossible for any TV to generate enough magnetic force to pull nails out of the wall or even nearby objects.

There was some concern about excess X-Rays from sets at that time and I think GE was one of the biggest offenders, but even that was overblown.
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Old 01-27-2008, 03:48 PM
Brach
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Hello Newton!

Wow, the way you describe your story combined with the likelyhood that GE could have and would have kept the media hushed through secret illegal methods bring me to think it could be true.
This is very likely to be the best place to find out for sure. Many extremely well-educated and honest people are often here.

I can hardly wait to get to the bottom of this!
I just hope that the one or two guys that may know are not still being paid or threatened to keep thier mouth shut!

You can search and find many GE color sets here. Some are from your time frame with beautiful pictures on them.

Maybe GE had a handful of very oddly defective color sets with some wild engineering blunder or parts from china... I guess back then japan was more likely to supply.

Could japan have been like china today? Causing us trouble by pretending not to know lead is in thier products? Like lead won't cause multitudes of people to aquire cancers or even worse to cause multitudes to not be able to think very well. Gee... I wonder if that is part of the reason people like me can't keep our thoughts straight half the time?
I saw one product from china recently that had a hole in the package telling you to touch it! Like people need to touch a cell phone cover to like it better?
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Old 01-27-2008, 04:08 PM
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excessive hi voltage

I don't remember which series but Generous Electric did have to sets that the HV would go as high as 40k, could cause you to glow in the dark I suppose.
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Old 01-27-2008, 04:10 PM
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The GE experiment

Come to think of it maybe they used those tv's to help make the Eldridge disappear. The Naval ship involved in the so-called Philadelphia experiment.
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Old 01-27-2008, 04:11 PM
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That still sounds like an Urban Legend to me...
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Old 01-27-2008, 04:17 PM
MRX37 MRX37 is offline
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I can believe abnormally high X ray emission, and possible radiation poisoning. I can believe a defect in the picture tube causing it to implode during operation, sending flying glass everywhere, but a magnetic field strong enough to pull nails out of the wall? No. I'd bet money that's a myth.
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Old 01-27-2008, 04:19 PM
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Some calculations might be in order here to determine how much magnetic force would be needed to pull the nails from the walls as you describe. I'll bet there isn't one thousandth of the copper needed to do that in ANY television set ever made. There is also the problem of a power supply. Only so much current is available through that teeny cord. Calculations of the electromagnet needed to do this will show you how much current would be needed. If the current did not come from the wall, an electrical charge would have to be stored inside the set. I think you'll find that enough capacitance to do this would have been cost-prohibitive in the early 60's, and probably also would not fit inside the cabinet.

John
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Old 01-27-2008, 04:33 PM
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Hey! I wonder if I could duct-tape an old GE color TV to the front of my truck and use it to make those people who drive slow in the left lane move over.

Seriously, no.

Newton is a lawyer, chumming for a class-action suit, maybe? If one TV expert here would just say, "yeah, that might happen", then there's a chance to establish "reasonable doubt".

Maybe the one case mentioned, if not completely urban legend, there was a spinning cyclotron in the next room... Or maybe it happened in Almogordo.
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Old 01-27-2008, 04:40 PM
Newton
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Brach,
Thank you for the reply. Yes I agree the whole thing sounds strange, but this happened not just once, but several times with GE color sets of the 1960s. All the "exploding" (actually imploding) GE TVs were turned on at the time this intense magnetic event occured.

According to the claims, the GE design engineers were at a loss about the whole thing and were unable to come up with an reason why or how this would happen. But it was just GE color sets, no other brand.
GE may have tried to push the whole thing under the rug at the time. Not sure.

Since this happened in 65 or 66, I would guess that the sets would have to be made before that date. The Chicago incident stood out because of the death of the child watching the GE color TV in the living room. His mother was in the kitchen and escaped injury. The GE color TV set was the exact center of the "explosion" (implosion).

The child was killed, not by the TV, but by a metal object in the room that passed through his body on the way to the TV. The nails in the wall were pulled out with enough force to twist them. The TV was destroyed, but no damage to the apartment, other than the displaced metal (iron steel) objects.

It appears that for a split second, "something" caused the TV to create a very intense magnetic field that caused the "explosion" (implosion).

Of course, we all know a CRT can implode, but this was "something else" very different.

My next step is to scan the Chicago news papers 65 66 to see if I can find any thing, but this could be a long process as there was no fire, justs a exploding TV set and a death.

I am investigating the "something else" part.

Newton
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Old 01-27-2008, 04:46 PM
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Impossible. The only device I have ever encountered that has a danger of attracting metal objects at a distance is the superconducting magnet used in the bubble chamber at Fermilab. There they have a line painted on the floor to indicate the limit at which tools that are dropped are likely to be pulled in towards the magnet.
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Old 01-27-2008, 04:53 PM
3Guncolor 3Guncolor is offline
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It never happened. I can't see how a TV could store the power to do it. Is there any newspaper record to back up the story? I would think so if it really happened.
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Old 01-27-2008, 05:22 PM
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How about a "shorted" thermistor in the degaussing coil circuit? Seems to me that might be a possible cause, although I doubt the "pull" would be very strong, but I don't know, either. I can't remember seeing a "shorted" thermistor in a degaussing coil circuit. They usually crumble and open.
Kevin
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Old 01-27-2008, 05:49 PM
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If I remember my Zenith with the degaussing coil and thermistor, the thermistor was parallel to the coil, as it heats up the resistance in the thermistor decreases and less current flows through the coil and more through the thermistor, so if it shorted the coil would never be in use at all, even when the tv powers up. I think.
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