vintage early Image Iconoscope Video Camera Tube, glass, circa 1930s

Description

This is a vintage early Image Iconoscope Video Camera Tube, circa 1930s.
This rare historic relic of the 1930’s is primitive, all glass, clean, early iconoscope video camera tube, and an exceptional collector or display item.   We suspect, but cannot prove, this is an early  development and test item.  Make your own opinion.
This early unit appears very similar to the apparatus portrayed in the Zworykin patent of 1935, see the last picture from the patent.  This is also found in https://ethw.org/File:Iconoscope_patent_diagram.jpg
This early glass-blown iconoscope video tube is intact with the internal scanning plate visible and loose.  The tube's vacuum might be intact, but uncertain.  There are 6 external wire connector points.  There is no observed written designations on the glass iconoscope tube.
This display item is sold as-is, not tested, as shown in numerous photographs, and has not seen electrons in over 90 years.
Condition:  Great condition. Clean, glass is clear and intact, glass vacuum might be intact, wire connectors accessible.  T
he internal scanning plate visible and loose.
The iconoscope  was the first practical video camera tube to be used in early television cameras. The iconoscope produced a much stronger signal than earlier mechanical designs, and could be used under any well-lit conditions. This was the first fully electronic system to replace earlier cameras, which used special spotlights or spinning disks to capture light from a single very brightly lit.
RESEARCH:  Some of the principles of this apparatus were described when Vladimir Zworykin filed two patents for a television system in 1923 and 1925.[1][2] A research group at RCA headed by Zworykin presented the iconoscope to the general public in a press conference in June 1933,[3] and two detailed technical papers were published in September and October of the same year.
With the development of the "Iconoscope" by Vladimir Zworykin in 1932 it was possible to imitate the conditions under which the human eye functions. He created a sheet with millions of light sensitive elemental capacitors that should have a function comparable to the receptors of the human eye.
During the representation of an image on the sheet of capacitors the elemental capacitors are charged dependent on the brilliance. So a charge image is developed which can be converted into a picture signal
The way was free for the development of modern image converter tubes.
Reference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iconoscope
https://web.archive.org/web/20060829085002/http://www2.fht-esslingen.de/telehistory/ikonoskp.html
https://ethw.org/Iconoscope
MORE TECH -
The main image forming element in the iconoscope was a mica plate with a pattern of photosensitive granules deposited on the front using an electrically insulating glue. The granules were typically made of silver grains covered with caesium or caesium oxide. The back of the mica plate, opposite the granules, was covered with a thin film of silver. The separation between the silver on the back of the plate and the silver in the granules caused them to form individual capacitors, able to store electrical charge. These were typically deposited as small spots, creating pixels. The system as a whole was referred to as a "mosaic".
The system is first charged up by scanning the plate with an electron gun similar to one in a conventional television cathode ray display tube. This process deposits charges into the granules, which in a dark room would slowly decay away at a known rate. When exposed to light, the photosensitive coating releases electrons which are supplied by the charge stored in the silver. The emission rate increases in proportion to the intensity of the light. Through this process, the plate forms an electrical analog of the visual image, with the stored charge representing the inverse of the average brightness of the image at that location.
When the electron beam scans the plate again, any residual charge in the granules resists refilling by the beam. The beam energy is set so that any charge resisted by the granules is reflected back into the tube, where it is collected by the collector ring, a ring of metal placed around the screen. The charge collected by the collector ring varies in relation to the charge stored in that location. This signal is then amplified and inverted, and then represents a positive video signal.
Item measurement:
12" High overall
6-1/4" Wide overall
Base to top of center tube 9 3/4" high
3-1/2" bottom diameter glass
Round hole on top is 1" diameter that is visible to viewing inside
Item weighs 13 oz
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