5 Apr
2012
5 Apr
'12
8:40 a.m.
On 5 Apr 2012 at 8:59, William Donzelli wrote:
I have wondered if the whole CRT safety glass issue
was the result of
some sort of nationwide scare - the real reasons are probably lost to
time. The stories of tubes imploding and sending shards of glass out
the front like a shotgun sound fantastic - but it seems that really
never happened (I should say "never"). Even with the big 12 inch radar
scope tubes from World War 2 with the glass in the face much thinner
than those in the late 1940s or 50s tubes - the necks were always the
weak part and took all the damage.
Good question. Our family 10" Philco (1948) had a sheet of glass in
front of the CRT, as did our 1953 large-screen RCA. I wonder if it
was more to protect the face of the CRT from being scratched by the
overzealous housekeeper.
Dig into an old RCA tube manual and I think it notes the CRTs without
special faceplate protection.
--Chuck