Has ANYONE else heard of this??

[rca2000]

I meant to ask about this during the convention, but somehow I forgot to.

I have, in an OLD book on tv technology,Partially written by Zworykin, a small article about a DEMOUNTABLE 31 inch BW CRT. It was an experiment by RCA, for a large-screen crt to be used in a group setting. It was NOT in a "normal" type of glass or metal housing that was sealed, rather, it was NOT sealed and hooked to a vacuum pump and such. I have a couple of pictures taken from the book--I know they are NOT too good, but it is from a page in a book, and at least it gives an idea of what I see in the book.

Does ANYONE know?? was this in any way successful?? and WHY would it be attempted at all?? it seems like a LOT of trouble to me, look at all of the "stuff' involved,. you can see the vacuum pump and drive equipment for the HV and such of the CRT in the one picture. The other pix shows the tube in "operational" condition.