About the lifespan of CRT"S

[bgadow]

In regards to Admiral, I read a history of the company which gave a little detail about their attempt at crt manufacturing. The story said that they were never able to build a good color crt despite extensive efforts. When they finally gave up & tore the equipment down they found that the water purification system had been, apparently, sabotaged as scraps of metal were found in the tank. I notice that Admiral had unusually long warranties on their picture tubes for awhile & I wonder how that played into this.

I have one 10BP4 which tested very weak so I rejuvenated it. It then looked pretty good. The next time I used the set, a year later, I thought the hv had quit as there was no light on the screen. The crt is dead again. I know that it has had a full life-it has what look like ion burns, which couldn't help the gas situation.

Something I have noticed: as a rule Sylvania crts are not that great. I had a 15" Sears from the early 50s with an open filament Sylvania; the 21FP4 (?) in the Emerson I was just working on is pretty weak, and the Andrea I have has a Sylvania that tests okay but looks soft. I have also seen a few of their color sets that looked used up ahead of their time.