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Further reading □ Overview □ History □ Charactron Tube □ Fonts □ SC4020 Speed □ Architecture □ Tube □ 16mm Camera □ Hardcopy □ Vought Camera □ Order Code □ Printing □ Drawing □ Film Production □ UAIDE 1970 □ UAIDE Contents 1964-1973 □ UAIDE Papers □ 1968: Honey □ 1968: Sarno □ 1968: Yarbrough □ SC4020 Manuals □ Engineers Training □ Information Manual □ Programmers' Reference Manual □ Other □ Diagrams drawn by computer
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⟶ ACL ⟶ Technology ⟶ SC 4020
⟶ ACL ⟶ Technology ⟶ SC 4020
ACL ACD C&A INF CCD CISD Archives
Further reading ⇓

□ Overview
□ History
□ Charactron Tube
□ Fonts
□ SC4020 Speed
□ Architecture
□ Tube
□ 16mm Camera
□ Hardcopy
□ Vought Camera
□ Order Code
□ Printing
□ Drawing
□ Film Production
□ UAIDE 1970
□ UAIDE Contents 1964-1973
UAIDE Papers
□ 1968: Honey
□ 1968: Sarno
□ 1968: Yarbrough
SC4020 Manuals
□ Engineers Training
□ Information Manual
□ Programmers' Reference Manual
Other
□ Diagrams drawn by computer

SC4020: Charactron Tube

SC4020 and the Charactron Tube

The speed of the SC4020 came from the charactron tube. The tube was developed by Convair in 1948 and appeared for the first time in a microfilm recorder in 1954. Large charactron tubes were used as the main interactive display terminals in the US SAGE system air defense system.

The charactron tube places a mask in the tube shaped like the characters of the alphabet. The beam, on its way to the tube face, gets extruded though the mask and takes on the appearance of the character. In consequence, characters can be displayed at high speed on the tube face. The following excerpt from a Stromberg-Carlson promotion film for the SC4020 describes the charactron tube's basic principles.

Charactron Tube Pioneers

Charactron Tube Pioneers
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