If you're interested in photo technology, you might be interested in this link Bryan Geyer sent me: "Inside Sony Kumamoto: A rare glimpse inside Sony's super-secret sensor factory," from Imaging Resource.
"I've had a lot of admiration and respect for this company ever since the initial Sony Trinitron CRT was released in 1968," Bryan writes. "Our first color TV set was the original Sony seven-inch Trinitron portable model, purchased in 1968 directly from Sony's 5th Avenue NYC showroom. I was absolutely certain that the RCA patent had it wrong, and resolved not to buy a color TV until there was a tech breakthrough. Although CRT technology is now obsolete, this electronics company has never stopped its obsession to be a creative leader, and this tour of their sensor fabrication site certainly demonstrates that intent.
"And I cannot conceive of 300mm diameter wafers. The standard when I left the microelectronics industry (in 1989, after a 32-year career) was 32mm, with 50mm in sight."
...And a year later, in 1990, Bryan used everything he had to start Really Right Stuff in San Luis Obispo, California, now a leading manufacturer of tripods, ballheads, quick-release systems, plates, and clamps—and all still 100% U.S.-made, "down to the last screw," as they put it.
Mike
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In the 'sixties my Dad worked for Ampex Corp. In '64 he went to Japan with a team of engineers to work with Toshiba to come up with a color TV tube that used only one gun. Up until then color TV tubes used 3 guns. So why do it other than for the challenge? American Airlines wanted to put a small TV tube in each seat of their planes. Can't do that with 3-gun tubes because the three guns would never stay aligned properly.
Sony beat them but not by much. Sony produced the Trinitron TVs and American Airlines never put the TV tubes in their planes. Too expensive.
Posted by: John Krill | Wednesday, 27 December 2017 at 02:50 PM