More info on medical TK-41 used in Australia

[Aussie Bloke]

A while ago I've posted a thread about a RCA TK-41 type colour video camera used in Australia for medical practices at St Vincent Hospital in Melbourne in 1965 http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/hwtports/0...hp004692.shtml .

I've been curious about this camera for a while and I've just came across recently in the Google book search a bit of info stating that a Marconi medical colour television unit was supplied to Australia in 1960. Unfortunately I can't view the pages of the medical notes as it's classified but the info given off the search results is enough to give me a bit of an idea about early colour television in Australia and the possibility the info is in reference to that colour camera in the photograph. The bit of info from the search results can be viewed here:
http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=...-8&sa=N&tab=wp

So it looks like this camera is a Marconi variant of the RCA TK-41 with a Marconi MK-III style tilting viewfinder.

Also it may possibly have originated from Smith, Kline and French Ltd medical supplier according to the little info given too.

Anyhow I hope more information comes my way in regards of this camera and where it may have possibly ended up after being put out of service.

[NewVista]

So Australian Hospitals had color in the 60's but not the general population. Thanks to the conservative curmugeons in the Menzies' Government.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Gordon_Menzies

[dtuomi]

I wonder if they had a special procedure for getting that gear all scrubbed down before it went into the operating room.

David

[Steve D.]

Sure looks like an RCA TK-40/41 color camera with a modified viewfinder.

-Steve D.

[Aussie Bloke]

I've finally identified the exact model of this TK-41 type Marconi colour camera. It is a Marconi BD848 IO colour camera just like the ones used in the BBC colour experiments in the late 50s. A picture of the BD848 can be seen on the TV Camera Museum site on this page http://www.tvcameramuseum.org/marconi/bd848/bd848p1.htm . The resemblance is pretty much exact except there is vent holes in the viewfinder on the medical camera.

[ceebee23]

Great picture and sleuthing Troy!

I wonder what colour standard this system was using?

525/30/NTSC
625/25/NTSC
405/25/NTSC

The delay in colour broadcasting in Australia was largely budgetary ..the federal government did not wish to spend money to update the ABC's (our equivalent of the BBC) broadcasting equipment.

But given the Menzies government's disdain for television in general I am not surprised. (Television only arrived in Australia in 1956 after the IOC insisted television be available for the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne.)

Colour came to Australia as a result of the Labor government's electoral promises in the 1972 election.

[cbenham]

Originally Posted by dtuomi

I wonder if they had a special procedure for getting that gear all scrubbed down before it went into the operating room. David

I did industrial color television for medical drug manufacturers in the mid 1970s.
To take the camera and VTR on a rolling cart into the sterile core area required
washing the outside of all equipment surfaces down with a strong disinfectant, then the cart and the equipment went therough a 10 hour sterilization process using ethylene oxide gas. See the section on ethylene oxide gas sterilization here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterili..._(microbiology) Cliff

[NewVista]

Originally Posted by ceebee23

.. the IOC insisted television be available for the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne.)

Colour came to Australia as a result of the Labor government's electoral promises in the 1972 election.

These salient facts enhance my suspicion that the Liberal Party was cozy - and accomodating - with old guard "captains of industry" ...AM radio (resisting FM), movie theatre chains, later B&W television (a triopoly in capital cities) resisting color, cable (Labor Party also kept them safe from Cable competition)

[Aussie Bloke]

I know this is off topic but I think the John Howard government was also conservative and resisting the introduction of fibre optic cable internet and keeping the old copper wire instead and my young brother was often complaining about it big time. Goes to show the Liberals were afraid of change. Guess that's what happens when a bunch of conservatives run the country.