TubeTime

Yesterday I went to the local electronics flea market and picked up some interesting items. The first is a 3BP1 3″ round cathode ray tube. It was in the original box which was still sealed and coated with wax.

The label indicated that the tube was manufactured in 1945.

Of course I needed to open it to make sure the tube was intact. Many times these tubes are stored upside down, and often fragments of various internal parts will break off due to vibration, fall down, and ruin the phosphor screen.

I half-expected an Indiana-Jones-style puff of ancient air as I broke the seal.

And yes, it’s in perfect condition. The outside of the tube is slightly dirty but these tubes really didn’t need to be cleaned before leaving the assembly line to work properly.

The next find is an RCA 5820 Image Orthicon tube. This tube came in the original box which indicates that it was shipped to KGO-TV in San Francisco in 1953. It would have been used in the RCA TK-11 TV camera which was very common at the time.

This is a closeup of the front.

And here you can see the internal elements. The round bit in the middle is actually a very fine mesh screen.