Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric H
Some of the early 50's tubes were actually more rectangular than what came later in the decade, the early 60's is when they really got squared off for the most part.
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What you have seen that appears to be more rectangular tubes in the "early 50s" and actually in the 40s were in fact round tubes like the very popular at the time 10BP4. Sometimes the manufacturers opted for a rectangular mask around the round tube. A good example of this would be looking at a picture of an RCA 8T-243. The strange thing is that they were doing this I believe before they were doing the "double D" mask which is round with the top and bottom blocked off. Perhaps all of this relates to JeffH's concept of what looks more realistic as far as viewing. The odd thing is that they did the rectangular designs first. Not to mention that many 40s sets were projection sets and the viewing area was very similar to a modern flat panel design.
Now in the early 50s the first true rectangular tubes became standard. Although they have the now classic looking rounded corners, they are in fact deemed rectangular in the engineering guide books put out by companies like Sylvania. That design stuck around until somewhere in the early 60s when the more rectangular shape that most of us would consider standard up until the end came into play.
What I don't get is why color tubes sort of went through the same development process only a number of years later. They began completely round and transitioned in the mid to later 60s to what we consider standard. Why were they round when truly rectangular black and white designs were already in place? Somewhere there is an interesting article from about 1954 about an experimental color tube that was rectangular with I believe an inline electron gun array. I might be wrong on the gun(s).
Like many folks, I prefer the round tube over the rectangular. I mentioned and RCA 8T-243 as an example of a set that I knew people could look up and I happen to have one. I always annoys me that like a year or two later RCA made pretty much the same set with a "double D" mask which to me makes for one heck of a better looking set. I also preferred round tube color sets back in the 80s when people were practically giving them away. I liked the look of the set in general better and in many cases I believe they produced a better picture. But then I am the type who would rather listen to my music on an LP as opposed to a CD, so go figure....
