Great to see this. I worked in the drawing office (1'56") and the engineering department (in the second minute) during my electrical apprenticeship at Mullard Simonstone near Burnley in the UK from 1979 to 1982, as well as many other departments in the glass factory and the CRT assembly factory. All Simonstone apprentices including myself did their first year at Mullard Blackburn a few miles away. We had a great engineering team and could design and build pretty much anything. Simonstone was the largest CRT manufacturer in Europe at that time turning out a CRT every 2 seconds 24/7/365. Sadly the factory closed many years ago and is now a business park. The processes shown in this video are for black and white tubes. Only colour tubes were made during my time there and some of the processes were far more advanced by then.
Thanks for the interesting info Tony, pleased you enjoyed it. I have acquired some silent film shot in the KB Factory in Hastings in the 1960’s I must get around to uploading it.
I was at Simonstone from 57 until 91 when it closed. Apprentice, plant electrical, electronics lab and finally drawing office. Finished on my 50th birthday.
The art of making such excellent documentaries has been lost long before CRT became obsolete. Replaced by flashy intros, short shots and long interviews. Not that anyone would care though what the technology behind their screen is anyway.
Mullard in the UK was similar to Sylvania in the US in many ways, for example like Sylvania, which was a subsidiary of GTE, Mullard was a subsidiary of Philips. And Mullard's electronics research activities in the UK in all areas of the industry paralleled Sylvania's own extensive involvement in everything from military and aerospace, to computers and industrial electronics. And sadly, both great companies are now history.
I know im asking the wrong place but does someone know of a tool to log back into an instagram account?? I stupidly forgot the login password. I love any tips you can give me!
@Kash Koa i really appreciate your reply. I found the site through google and Im in the hacking process atm. Looks like it's gonna take quite some time so I will get back to you later with my results.
What an amazing film! I wonder did anyone ever stop to think if all the heat/ chemical / HT voltage/ repetitious processes had an effect on worker's health? A 17" monochrome CRT is a heavy and explosive glass bulb!
I dunno. The only thing that comes to mind is fatigue and maybe injuries. I doubt that the heat and HT had any effects, unless it was IR heat generated by lamps and gas burners, you don't want to look at IR for too long without IR blocking glasses otherwise you might get glassblower's cataracts. I'm pretty sure that those chemicals eventually caused illnesses and environmental damage, this was made back when wastewater was often untreated and before the days of robots (robots started to see widespread adoption in the 1970s, after ICs began to be mass produced)
Amazing Video of the tube factory and labs. I still think the vacuum tube has many other poosibilities Thanks for video from me Anthony in Canada , ham radio VE4AKF
great documentary. who knew a decade later all this machinery was obsolete and new machines made to produce them faster with less human interaction. when i was a kid during the 70s i saw how tv's were made at an RCA tube factory, it still fascinates me today
Very interesting. Unless I’m mistaken, this was made by my late uncle. He made a vast number of educational films for Mullards/Phillips as well as various documentaries.
These were just monochrome tubes. Would like to see how they applied the the phosphor coating and shadow mask into the manufacture of colour tubes. Great video though, made in the days of the BVA. (British valve association)
My Pops told me that in the early 60s. He also told me I would be able to talk to the people in the car next to me. I told him he was "nuts!" Wish he could have lived to see it, and for me to apologize to him!
My father and grandfather were part of a generation that loved innovation and read lots of popular science magazines where things like cell phones, flat screen TVs, and even the internet were routinely predicted.
The research, design, tooling, resources and labor along with many other costs is a huge investment. Think of all the problems, headaches and countless meetings that go into determining if the whole effort is going to payoff in a given amount of time, plus the consideration of the economic forecast and the rapidly changing technology. That's a big gamble with all kinds of unforeseen problem like design issues showing up and new competition popping up.
What was the incentive for producing these documentaries ? Was it for internal training, advertising to customers ? Or advertising to potentialinvestors ? It seems like they show a lot of trade secrets
I think this type of film was for potential tv manufacturers to use their tubes, I have other films on washing machines and cleaners that were obviously meant for promoting the products.
in color TVs, if we have shadow mask and precise positions of blue red and green phosporus dots, how do picture streching, skewing, rotating and even resolution change work?
This has more to do with the deflection, geometry, scanning frequency etc. Advancements in the electronics that drive the CRT, rather than the CRT itself..
@@andygozzo72 You are right - I too was a bit concerned about what I thought was angular alignment error, but your comment reminded me that the cathode beam contained both electrons and ions; to avoid screen coating damage from heavy ion impact, the cathode's beam was directed down the neck at an off-angle, and the ion-trap ( a small permanent magnet help close to the outside of the neck using a tension spring strap around the neck ) was used to bend the lighter weight electrons back into the proper path for acceleration down toward the screen. ( I guess I always envisioned the heavier ions crashing into the first acceleration anode along the way )
That kink in the gun is intentional. It is done so ions from the cathode don't damage the phosphor - an ion trap. The electrons are steered straight using a magnet called, you guessed it, an ion trap magnet. With Aluminiumised screens the trap was not necessary.
Ther quality of sylvania valves were much better than Mullards. Mullard tv tubes were bad back in the fifties they wernt aluminised, other manufactures were.after a couple years of use they went dim. Our tv then jhad a mw4364 tube in it after 2 years had to be renewed emission was down. Mullard valves seemed to me to be a poor mans valve,. built like british cars using the that´ll do mentality. on the other hand RCA valves wer.e made with great care.- Take a look at a 12ax7 or 12au7 comparer then to a ecc81 or an ecc82.
Great to see this. I worked in the drawing office (1'56") and the engineering department (in the second minute) during my electrical apprenticeship at Mullard Simonstone near Burnley in the UK from 1979 to 1982, as well as many other departments in the glass factory and the CRT assembly factory. All Simonstone apprentices including myself did their first year at Mullard Blackburn a few miles away. We had a great engineering team and could design and build pretty much anything. Simonstone was the largest CRT manufacturer in Europe at that time turning out a CRT every 2 seconds 24/7/365. Sadly the factory closed many years ago and is now a business park. The processes shown in this video are for black and white tubes. Only colour tubes were made during my time there and some of the processes were far more advanced by then.
Thanks for the interesting info Tony, pleased you enjoyed it.
I have acquired some silent film shot in the KB Factory in Hastings in the 1960’s I must get around to uploading it.
I was at Simonstone from 57 until 91 when it closed. Apprentice, plant electrical, electronics lab and finally drawing office. Finished on my 50th birthday.
@@neilcurson4505 Hi Neil. I remember you from the electronics lab. Hope you're doing well!
@@tonythemadbrit9479 81and still going thanks .
Fantastic thanks!
What is amazing to me is the amount of automation already in use on the production line considering this was made in the 50s.
Let alone all of the production engineering.
The most complete and descriptive explanation of picture tube manufacturing I’ve ever seen. Excellent video. Thanks.
14:05, the graphite coating man looks like he has complete job satisfaction. Great video, super interesting.
Super-detailed, beautiful documentary! The amount of work and care put into the manufacturing process is amazing. Thanks for uploading!
The art of making such excellent documentaries has been lost long before CRT became obsolete. Replaced by flashy intros, short shots and long interviews. Not that anyone would care though what the technology behind their screen is anyway.
Mullard in the UK was similar to Sylvania in the US in many ways, for example like Sylvania, which was a subsidiary of GTE, Mullard was a subsidiary of Philips. And Mullard's electronics research activities in the UK in all areas of the industry paralleled Sylvania's own extensive involvement in everything from military and aerospace, to computers and industrial electronics. And sadly, both great companies are now history.
I know im asking the wrong place but does someone know of a tool to log back into an instagram account??
I stupidly forgot the login password. I love any tips you can give me!
@Kash Koa i really appreciate your reply. I found the site through google and Im in the hacking process atm.
Looks like it's gonna take quite some time so I will get back to you later with my results.
@Kash Koa it worked and I actually got access to my account again. Im so happy:D
Thank you so much you saved my ass !
@Marco Lucas No problem :)
I remember when 110Degree deflection tubes were being developed we obtained some Sylvania tubes at Mullard Simonstone for evaluation.
In 2020 watching a ton of people doing all sorts of hand operations, and constantly hearing the word "Automatic" wow, that was a lot of hand work.
What an amazing film! I wonder did anyone ever stop to think if all the heat/ chemical / HT voltage/ repetitious processes had an effect on worker's health?
A 17" monochrome CRT is a heavy and explosive glass bulb!
I dunno. The only thing that comes to mind is fatigue and maybe injuries. I doubt that the heat and HT had any effects, unless it was IR heat generated by lamps and gas burners, you don't want to look at IR for too long without IR blocking glasses otherwise you might get glassblower's cataracts. I'm pretty sure that those chemicals eventually caused illnesses and environmental damage, this was made back when wastewater was often untreated and before the days of robots (robots started to see widespread adoption in the 1970s, after ICs began to be mass produced)
Beautiful film. Many thanks for sharing.
It's hard to imagine all those tubes and many others buried in landfills now.
Manual production workers look to be much more dignified and important in white coats.
Nos tempos de ouro a mão de obra era grande. E a vida era mais simples e melhor! Rio de Janeiro RJ Brasil
Awesome! Technologically definitely light years ahead of contemporary sheep shearing.
Amazing Video of the tube factory and labs. I still think the vacuum tube has many other poosibilities Thanks for video from me Anthony in Canada , ham radio VE4AKF
great documentary. who knew a decade later all this machinery was obsolete and new machines made to produce them faster with less human interaction. when i was a kid during the 70s i saw how tv's were made at an RCA tube factory, it still fascinates me today
Really awesome video, thanks for the upload!
I love this video. Watched it many times. I love my 1969 el34 s.
Pleased you enjoy it Jeff, I share your passion for Mullard valves/tubes!
Very interesting. Unless I’m mistaken, this was made by my late uncle. He made a vast number of educational films for Mullards/Phillips as well as various documentaries.
You should be proud of your late uncle Sarah, all of the Mullard films were of a high standard.
These were just monochrome tubes. Would like to see how they applied the the phosphor coating and shadow mask into the manufacture of colour tubes. Great video though, made in the days of the BVA. (British valve association)
There is a Mullard film here: ruclips.net/video/0Qd4IX3wpZk/видео.html it does get on to manufacturing after the cartoon explanation.
The health and safety chap was away the day they filmed and boy does it show!
Just look at all those diffusion pumps!
Fascinating! Excellent video! Amazing processes!
I remember as a kid someone told me that one day tv’s will be hung on the wall like a picture didn’t believe em
Yes, I can see your point, a lot of things that were science fiction years back have come to life.
My Pops told me that in the early 60s. He also told me I would be able to talk to the people in the car next to me. I told him he was "nuts!" Wish he could have lived to see it, and for me to apologize to him!
My father and grandfather were part of a generation that loved innovation and read lots of popular science magazines where things like cell phones, flat screen TVs, and even the internet were routinely predicted.
Excelente audio.
Complexity and quality - the latter surely lost to history
Highly interesting and informative.
Mullard Radio engineering products were the best in the world..
Fascinating thanks for sharing!
Love this video tutorial
No wonder the radio and TV men always said "Mullard valves are Top Shelf stuff"
Yes the film was made in the 1950's
Awesome, thanks.
The research, design, tooling, resources and labor along with many other costs is a huge investment. Think of all the problems, headaches and countless meetings that go into determining if the whole effort is going to payoff in a given amount of time, plus the consideration of the economic forecast and the rapidly changing technology. That's a big gamble with all kinds of unforeseen problem like design issues showing up and new competition popping up.
I guess this is pre-1960s, no aluminium internal coating.
Aluminum coatings began to be applied on Color CRTs in the 1960s
Just ran across this. Will be watching!!
The narrator sounds like he says "yes your majesty" a lot.
What was the incentive for producing these documentaries ? Was it for internal training, advertising to customers ? Or advertising to potentialinvestors ? It seems like they show a lot of trade secrets
I think this type of film was for potential tv manufacturers to use their tubes, I have other films on washing machines and cleaners that were obviously meant for promoting the products.
@@billparsonsfilmarchive2828 makes a lot of sense yes
The narrator sounds like the guy from Rob Roy who gets cut almost in half
Можно сказать - учебный фильм и популяризатор науки того времени. Сейчас рассказать так просто, как делается современный процессор, не получится.
Top 10 videos killed the informative documentaries.
Its an MW-4369?
I've noticed that the commentary in British doco's of the time always used "Received pronunciation" All terribly proper old boy....
That was when QC meant something now its a 10 year old Chinese kid with a rubber stamp who has no idea what QC is.
Try about 5 or 6yr old
Ẁhat was the name of the insulating coating on the heater? It sounded like alundon.
"Alundum", more commonly called "alumina" today. It's aluminium(III) oxide.
in color TVs, if we have shadow mask and precise positions of blue red and green phosporus dots, how do picture streching, skewing, rotating and even resolution change work?
This has more to do with the deflection, geometry, scanning frequency etc. Advancements in the electronics that drive the CRT, rather than the CRT itself..
It took a load of 'Steam Punk' to assemble these bad puppies...
Im surprised the cathode assembly is not total in line with axis of the tube but skewed a noticeable bit.
that may be deliberate, known as an 'ion trap' gun, has a moveable magnet fitted to the neck of the tube in the tv to adjust for max. brightness..
Ion Trap
@@andygozzo72 You are right - I too was a bit concerned about what I thought was angular alignment error, but your comment reminded me that the cathode beam contained both electrons and ions; to avoid screen coating damage from heavy ion impact, the cathode's beam was directed down the neck at an off-angle, and the ion-trap ( a small permanent magnet help close to the outside of the neck using a tension spring strap around the neck ) was used to bend the lighter weight electrons back into the proper path for acceleration down toward the screen. ( I guess I always envisioned the heavier ions crashing into the first acceleration anode along the way )
Thank God TV was only a fad!
The blue gun looked a bit "off beam" in that last tube. :-)
That kink in the gun is intentional. It is done so ions from the cathode don't damage the phosphor - an ion trap. The electrons are steered straight using a magnet called, you guessed it, an ion trap magnet. With Aluminiumised screens the trap was not necessary.
I appreciate how he says TUBE, and not CHOOB, as most Brits, Aussies and Kiwis say today.
all this for black & white TV
Ther quality of sylvania valves were much better than Mullards. Mullard tv tubes were bad back in the fifties they wernt aluminised, other manufactures were.after a couple years of use they went dim. Our tv then jhad a mw4364 tube in it after 2 years had to be renewed emission was down. Mullard valves seemed to me to be a poor mans valve,. built like british cars using the that´ll do mentality. on the other hand RCA valves wer.e made with great care.- Take a look at a 12ax7 or 12au7 comparer then to a ecc81 or an ecc82.
Graham Pinkerton Mullard used to make valves for RCA for a time when they couldn'd handle the demand in America during the 1960s
Mullard or erm was it Philips? Dont forget Mullard belongt to the Philips group. So did Valvo and Telerfunken too.
what a load of rot
OMG really what a surprise haha knob