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Charactron was aU.S.registered trademark (number 0585950, 23 February 1954) of Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation (Convair) for its shaped electron beamcathode ray tube. Charactron CRTs performed functions of both a display device and aread-only memory storing multiple characters and fonts. The similarTypotron was a U.S. registered trademark (23 November 1953) ofHughes Aircraft Corporation for its type of shaped electron beamstorage tube with adirect-view bistable storage screen.[1]
The Charactron CRT used an electron beam to flood a specially patterned perforated anode that contained the stencil patterns for each of the characters that it could form. The first deflection positioning of the electron beam steered the beam to pass through one of the (typically 64 or 116) characters and symbols that could be formed. The beam, which then had the cross-section of the desired character, was re-centered along the axis of the tube and deflected to the desired position of the screen for display. Alternately, as in the accompanying image, the entire matrix was filled with the electron beam then deflected through a selection aperture to isolate one character.
The term Charactron is sometimes mistakenly applied to another type of CRT properly called amonoscope which generates an electrical signal by scanning an electron beam of uniform cross section across a printed pattern on an internal target electrode.
There were two basic types/uses of Charactrons:
The technical expertise, and trademarks, for the Charactron ultimately passed toStromberg-Carlson,General Dynamics, Stromberg DatagraphiX,Anacomp, and finally Lexel Imaging Systems.
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