Charactron

<h2 id="applications">Applications</h2>
<p>There were two basic types/uses of Charactrons:
</p>
<ol><li>Direct view — where the intended user watched the face of the tube.  An example was the 19-inch-diameter (480 mm) tube of the AN/FSQ-7 SAGE <a href="/facts/Semi_Automatic_Ground_Environment/qAPVULus">Semi Automatic Ground Environment</a> computer console.</li>
<li>Photographic output — where the display screen was photographed by a <a href="/facts/Microfilm/4VfjjRRG">microfilm</a> camera for recording of computer generated data.  The Stromberg-Carlson SC-4000 series system was a typical use of the 5-inch-diameter (130 mm) tube</li></ol>
<p>The technical expertise, and trademarks, for the Charactron ultimately passed to <a href="/facts/Stromberg-Carlson/jxzujGAW">Stromberg-Carlson</a>, <a href="/facts/General_Dynamics/LoTpPuU6">General Dynamics</a>, Stromberg DatagraphiX, <a href="/facts/Anacomp/g0AmFJLk">Anacomp</a>, and finally Lexel Imaging Systems. 
</p>
<h2 id="patents">Patents</h2>
<ul><li><a href="https://patents.google.com/patent/US2735956">U.S. patent 2,735,956</a></li>
<li><a href="https://patents.google.com/patent/US2824250">U.S. patent 2,824,250</a></li></ul>
<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Nimo_tube/KrqM0WQY">Nimo tube</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://www.deadmedia.org/notes/45/457-comment.html">Description of a Direct view Charactron used on a UNIVAC 1107 computer in the late 1960s</a></li>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20181023034748if_/http://worldpowersystems.com/ARCHIVE/Charactron/index.html">The Charactron</a> at the <a href="/facts/Wayback_Machine/nmQ3a6JC">Wayback Machine</a> (archived October 23, 2018)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.chilton-computing.org.uk/acl/technology/sc4020/p005.htm">Image of the Charactron tube</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.chilton-computing.org.uk/acl/technology/sc4020/p002.htm">Descriptive film of the time and a photo of Charactron tube developers</a></li>
<li><a href="http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/sage/3-62-0_Display_System_Vol1_Aug58.pdf">Theory of Operation for the SAGE display system. Detailed description of Charactrons Page 37 ff.</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>"Typotron, 5" character-writing CRT-type storage tube data sheet" (PDF). Hughes Aircraft Corporation. 24 November 1954. Retrieved 29 August 2017.[permanent dead link‍] <a href="http://www.mif.pg.gda.pl/homepages/frank/sheets/201/6/6577.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.mif.pg.gda.pl/homepages/frank/sheets/201/6/6577.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Charactron open-in-new

Charactron