1953

	9/10in	12in	14in	15in	16in	17in	Projection
1950	40%	56%	2%		-	-	2%
1951	13%	80%	4%		-	-	3%
1952	4%	71%	9%	14%			2%
1953 Jan-June	3%	47%	24%	11%	3%	11%	1%
1953 June-Sept	-	25%	36%	14%	2%	20%	-

The trend towards larger screen sizes had been rising consistantly since the start of the 50's. However the narrow deflection angle of CRT's would require very deep cabinets if the screen size were to be able to increase further.

One solution to this problem was investigated by the Philips research laboratories in Eindhoven. They produced a prototype set using a special CRT in which the electron gun was bent back more than 90 degrees to it's normal axis. An additional magnet was then used to bend the electron beam back to what would be considered the "normal" direction rather like a very exagerated ion trap. Apart from reducing the necessary depth of the set it also had the advantage of allowing for an effectively much longer tube neck which in turn allows a long narrow focus coil to be used ; this produced a much more uniform magnetic field leading to imporvements in focus.

With the weakest part of a CRT being the neck I dread to think how many of these tubes would have accidently imploded during servicing with this neck acting as a lever.

Electrostatically focussed electron gun.	Experimental GEC 12-inch 90-degree CRT. However the electron gun is still quite long.

As well as increasing screen sizes, other develeopments included the introduction by Brimar of two C.R.T's using electrostatic focusing (the C14GM and C17GM). Although this avoided the mechanical complexity of previous focussing systems, the electron gun structure required much greater alignment accuracy during production with associated increased production costs. An advantage of the system was reduced defocussing at the edges of the screen, an increasing problem as deflection angles increased. The reuction was partly down to a reduced electron beam diameter and also by varying the focus electrode's voltage during the scan cycle.

With most C.R.T.s now having a 70-degree deflection angle, GEC took the next step and exhibited an electrostatically focussed 90-degree C.R.T. Being a 12" C.R.T., a size that was already considered very muchat the low-end, the C.R.T. was clearly an experimental design only.

Companies

The G.E.C.'s premisis at Welington Street in Leeds are destroyed by fire. It would take two years for it to be rebuilt.

News From Abroad

An experimental transistorised television.

In America, at the start of the year, an experimental television was shown which was fully transistorised. The single-channel 5-inch model used 37 developmental and experimental transistors and consumed a total of 14 watts (around 1/10th that of a typical valve table set). Sensitivity was reasonable, giving a clear picture five miles from the transmitter on the Empire State Building, using a self-contained aerial.

Norway's first television test transmissions commence on the 30th January.

On the 1st of February NHK’s Tokyo Television Station opens the first public television service in Japan. Broadcasting from mid-day to 1:30pM and then 6pM until 9pM, the 9pM closedown being so that "it will not interfere with childrens sleep". Initial estimates were that some 3-4000 sets had been installed, although later it was said that just 866 households had television. The first sets were apparemtly of American manufacture and were quite expensive, with 10" sets costing of the order of £110 and 17" models almost twice that. The station was subsidised by the Japenese government, and was followed by the first Japenese television station, NTV, which opened around six months later on the 26th August. Within the next five years, the number of television sets in use in Japen was to rise to near the million mark. From the outset, the TV service was seen as a good medium for education and on day one ten schools had been equipped with television.

In April, Venezuala opens it's first television station at Caracas. Over one-and-a-half tons of studio equipment had to be rushed out from Britain and was then the largest single shipment of TV equipment ever air freighted from Britain.

On the 2nd of June, Canada’s third television station, CBOT Ottawa, went on the air just in time to join the Montreal and Toronto stations in showing telerecordings of the coronation, the films having been flown across the Atlantic by the Royal Air Force.

On June 7th RCA make the first broadcast of its 'NTSC' colour television system, which was compatible with black and white receivers. The first commercial receiver followed in December ; manufacturered by Admiral it was exceptionally expensive, being priced at $1,175.

Also in the US the first cable pay-TV system is set up in Palm Springs, California. Another was constructed in the Carmel/Pebble Beach area of California and subsequently cable is introduced in a number of other US cities. However most operations prove unsuccessful.

In December the RCA Laboratories in Princetown, U.S.A., demonstrated a system for recording and reproducing colour television signals on magnetic tape.

Television services begin in Belgium, Hawaii, the Philippines and Switzerland.