The videograph tube—A new component for high-speed printing

A cathode-ray tube having a faceplate penetrated by an array of many fine wires, has been developed for high-speed printing applications. Charge patterns are deposited on moving paper in response to a modulated electron beam which scans the inner ends of the wires in the CRT. The pattern on the paper is dusted with an electroscopic powder to make it visible. Copy having a resolution of 10⁴picture elements/inch can be produced at a rate of 2 feet/second. The tube is being used in high-speed facsimile equipment and in a computer output printer which prints magazine address labels at a speed of 130,000 labels per hour from digital information stored on tape. Television pictures have been reproduced field-by-field at standard rates. The tube has wide application in systems where high-speed, remote print-out or local reproduction of copy is required. The cost of the recording paper is about one-tenth that of light-sensitive materials.