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RCA/GE 15G CRT Construction Article
Here’s an interesting article about the construction of the 15G tubes by RCA and GE. It came from a mail order radio course newsletter dated April 1954. I haven’t seen this before and thought it might interest the group.
Rick |
#2
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Thanks for posting that article. Wonder how many tubes GE produced? I have never seen a GE 15GP22. My GE 15" set has a RCA tube in it. At least the base is marked RCA.
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John Folsom |
#3
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Interesting article, thanks.
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Thanks - haven't seen this article before. I hope the alignment of the lighthouse by microscope didn't have to be re-done for every mask, but that would explain why GE never got into real production!
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#5
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Due to our seeming inability to rebuild these 1954 wonders in hi-tech, hi-falutin 2011, I'm reminded of the nursery rhyme- "...All the King's horses, & all the King's men, couldn't put Humpty-Dumpty back together again..."
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Benevolent Despot |
Audiokarma |
#6
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With the price for rebuilding a 15G being what it is, you'd think some rich philanthropic collector out there would have comissioned the building of an entirely new tube by now. Seems to me that some factory in China would be able to cobble an all glass, highly reliable tube together for next to nothing for these sets.
Even if they had to keep the planar shadow mask to make it work with the CTC-2 chassis, it would be a lot better to have a tube with a HV anode button rather than the leaky prone weld seam the 15G has. I figure a production run of 500 tubes at $1,500 a piece would cover it, but it's just a pie in the sky idea.
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Evolution... |
#7
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This makes the assumption that the machinery still exists and hasn't been dismantled to allow room for the super 3D LCD display production line. In addition the production of materials such as funnels, faceplates and guns has probably been dismantled as well.
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#8
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I'm afraid you're right..I have a bud who worked for a major mfger of automotive electronic parts, he told me that once demand dropped below a certain level for a certain part, it was discontinued, & not only that, the toolings/fixtures/whatnot were either tossed or recycled...In say 2050, a 1985 Corvette, f'r instance, may literally NOT be able to run, because the computers on it have all gone "Shazbott" & no replacements are available...
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Benevolent Despot |
#9
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Nah, aftermarket ECU's are plentiful and always will be.
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Evolution... |
#10
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Looks like GE made some under license with RCA parts so that they could gain experience.
http://scottbecker.net/tube/sheets/093/1/15GP22.pdf Bases were not rebranded tho as tubes in GE 1st production sets have original "RCA" branding on them. |
Audiokarma |
#11
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I know I'm continuing an off-topic thread drift, but re:ECU's -- ever heard of MegaSquirt? It's a fuel-injection computer that many folks are using to convert early Bosch analog D-Jetronic and early digital L-Jetronic systems to modern highly controllable digital injection. Improvements are reported to be outstanding over stock.
Given that they can put the equivalent of a Commodore 64 ca. 1982 on a single FPGA chip (and originally done so by someone NOT a degreed engineer in Germany I might add as her first FPGA project!), it wouldn't be a stretch to consider automotive ECMs on cars like that 1985 Corvette with a single-chip replacement. While not original, it's not any more outlandish than modern AM/FM conversions done on tube car radios. |
#12
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As computing power gets cheaper it wouldn't be difficult to imagine new PCMs being available for some classic cars 50 years down the road.
As to what you'll burn in them that's another matter. Probably be retrofitted with Atomic Engines by then anyway. |
#13
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My VW runs on it, and the Corvair has Megajolt.
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Evolution... |
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