This exhibit is the CRT from the Sinclair portable television FTV1. This was much talked about at the time as being the emergence of the flat screen TV. However, it was a far cry from the 2008 LCD screens we now associate with flat screen TV.
The construction was innovative. A rectangular disk held the electrodes and screen and the front was a flat sheet bonded to the dish. The EHT was 2,300 Volts and derrived from a high frequency oscillator.
The FTV1 was released on 16/09/1983.
The phosphor is deposited on the back wall of the tube and is viewed through the optically pure front flat glass. The aspect ratio is corrected by a lens placed in front of the tube within the case.
The connections are printed onto the front glass and brought out through the seal to form connection tabs that then mate with an edge connector.
The top of the image shows the remains of the connection tabs. The main structure is a precision instrument and the electrodes are formed onto and within flat sheets that are held within glass rods. Using glass rods in this way has long been a part of CRT construction. The electron gun is to the left and the deflection plates are to the right.
Tipped slightly the electrostatic focus electrodes, sheets with holes, can be seen. The evacuation tube is on the extreme left.
This image clearly shows the dish and flat plate construction of the envelope.
The screen is on the left and to the right is the x axis deflection plate. To cause the beam to curve down and impinge upon the phosphor a transparent charged layer is formed on the inside of the flat top plate.
A glass support rod and critically aligned focus system.
x axis deflection and printed connections to the transparent Z axis deflection plate can be seen.
The envelope is 44 mm in wide, 110 mm long and 18 mm front to back. The screen is 38 mm x 19 mm.
