RCA Tube Manufacturing In Lancaster PA (1966)

I wonder what the Getter Girl was so happy about? Nobody else smiled like that.

Fran Blanche

Click the little wheel in the video window and select the resolution....

Anton

I'm loving these and the EIKI does a commendable job. Do you upload the original, full quality and resolution videos by any chance for us patreons?

Ewen McNeill

Thanks for sharing these. It’d be great if you could also upload them to the Internet Archive, so there’s a second copy in case YouTube decides it doesn’t like them any more.

Drewski Brewski

I have a tube price sheet from the 1960's that was inside my grandfather's tube tester. That was an eye opener; because of all that labor, and other factors I'm sure, tubes have never been cheap. I recall prices between $2‐$10. From 1965, that equates to $17-$87 dollars in 2021.

Dr Andy Hill

Fascinating look at the hazardous manual labor that mostly Women were expected to do in the 60s, I always keep thinking back to the Radium girls. This process although not as hazardous, is truly the poorly ventilated world of asbestos and lead. The younger lady seemed rather amused at being on film.

Mike Stubbs

This is an AWESOME document- thank you for preserving it, and thank you so much for your illuminating commentary!

I am fascinated with how they came up with the 'getter' that arrests any free gases to give the maximum possible level of vacuum. Fascinating reel, loving every one so far!

Shame Boy

My great uncle Willie worked in the Remington Rand plant making vacuum tubes for UNIVAC computers, it's neat to see the actual process. Think you could do a video about the telecine itself and how it works some time? I love that kinda stuff.

nj Phil

Fran… thanks so much for doing this. These films are awesome.

John Russell

Excellent :)

Darrell Palmer

Back in the mid ‘70s when I was in college, I spent a few summers doing electronic assembly work and I was the only guy. The manager who hired me the first time made a big deal about it. I can remember him taking me out to the floor to introduce me to the supervisor (who was a woman) and he said to her “Hey I just hired a new assembler and it’s a guy” like it was the most amazing thing.

Matt Wietlispach

Wow! That's a huge amount of manual labor! I'm somewhat amazed that they didn't have more automation. And all the assemblers were women. Back in the days of tubes and point-to-point wiring, Collins Radio employed women almost exclusively for assembly and they had to wear hair caps to keep hair out of mechanical instruments. I was told that women have better skills with hand-made items because they had more precise finger control than men. Even today, women work the circuit board finishing lines with microscopes and tweezers putting SMD parts on circuit boards. Men are either not interested, don't have the temperament, to do the tedious and repetitive tasks required for precision assembly. My grandmother told me this when she took me on a tour of one of manufacturing lines when I was a child in the early 70s. I remember asking her why only women were building stuff. Strange how even today women dominate the precision assembly jobs there. Brought back wonderful memories. Thanks Fran!