Cathode-Ray Tubes and Their Applications

A joint service-industry program of standardization and specification of cathode-ray tubes has resulted in improvements in performance as well as in uniformity of production and has laid the foundation for more intelligent design of electronic equipment using these tubes. Much progress has been made recently in both techniques and designs of cathode-ray tubes and circuits. Both brightness and resolution of the fluorescent spot have been improved. New intensifier-type tubes have been developed for high accelerating potentials with high deflection sensitivities, considerably extending the range of visual observation and photographic recording of cathode-ray traces. Better response of deflection amplifiers to transient or pulse signals has been attained, together with improvements in linear timebase circuits for presenting such signals on scales measured in microseconds rather than milliseconds, and in timing circuits for calibrating them. Signal- and sweep-delay circuits have been developed to facilitate viewing certain types of patterns. New techniques have suggested new applications of cathode-ray equipment in many fields of laboratory, military, and industrial measurement. Mechanical devices can be tested readily for vibration, balance, and speed; electrical circuits and components may be inspected; optical problems may be studied, as by the cathode-ray spectrograph; and the nondestructive testing of many metals can be accomplished. It is expected that the improved cathode-ray tubes and techniques developed during the past few years, many of which have not yet been publicly described, will be applied to laboratory and production equipment as well as to television transmission and reception.