Annex National Museum of Scotland

[peter scott]

I visited what is the store of exhibits not currently on display along with a party of my ex-work colleagues today. There is much to be discovered but I was specifically interested to see if they still had some of the EMI television equipment that I had last seen more than 30 years ago in their cellar. Much to my delight it was still there and I hope to get a closer look on a future visit. They had a couple of receivers in store, an HMV900 and a 907. They also have a production Emiscope which was unwrapped for me to photograph and also a prototype Emiscope that I hope to see next time.

Sorry, I haven't worked out how to display images of greater than 70k yet so here are some links instead.
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh10 ... 0Large.jpg
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh10 ... 9Large.jpg
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh10 ... 4Large.jpg
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh10 ... 0Large.jpg

One of the curators showing us round confessed to a special interest in sound reproduction and gave us a wonderful demo of the EMG playing a Kathleen Ferrier recording of Gluck's "What is life to me without thee?"

Apologies for the chatter and also the speed change resulting from a complaint that Ferrier was a contralto, not a soprano! http://www.youtube.com/edit?video_id=Mk ... watch&ns=1

Peter

[peter scott]

Oops! Sorry about the Emiscope/Emitron slip, but even if the Scottish population do consider "independence" more important than prosperity I think Scotland's contribution to television development justifies us retaining our museum collection.

Peter

[Brianc]

Let's not go there, lads, especially with teeth Baird.

[Beamcurrent]

Hello Peter,

Did they have any other TV broadcast equipment squirreled away?

Nice picture of the Emitron, they are difficult to photograph with reflections on the bowl!

Brian

[peter scott]

Hi Brian C.

I wasn't thinking of JLB.

Hi Brian BeamCurrent,

They do have other camera tubes but I didn't have time to see them on this visit. I'll enquire next time which I hope to arrange in the near future. As you say, the Emitrons (got it right this time) are difficult to photograph. I was just in rather dim lighting between shelves.

Peter

[Terrykc]

... Sorry, I haven't worked out how to display images of greater than 70k yet ...

Peter, I've looked at the details of a couple of these and they were both just over 100k but I also noted that they were rather large pictures - 1024 x 800 pixels.

The simplest way of reducing the file size would be to make smaller copies - say 800 x 640 pixels. That should get the file size down whilst retaining the original quality. Of course, you can also post links to the originals for the benefit of anybody that wants them!

[peter scott]

Thanks for the suggestions on resizing guys. I do have Image Resizer and Irfanview but have I not seen larger images presented in this forum by some other means? I know that using the img /img is frowned upon here.

Peter

[CTV]

I know that using the img /img is frowned upon here.

Peter

Errr no Its not.

I think you are confusing VRAT with some other place. See section 3 of the FAQ I wrote here viewtopic.php?f=45&t=1354

I clearly state you can use attach images in one of two ways

I Quote myself from the opening line of that section

You may attach an image to your post in one of two ways.

1. Via an off-site host such as photo bucket etc using the [img]url[/img] bbcode
2. Attach and have the image upload to this forum.

Cannot be clearer that that.

I then go on to explain how easy it is to actually attach files of any dimension to the site with exampes.

[peter scott]

I know that using the img /img is frowned upon here.

Peter

Errr no Its not.

Oops! Sorry Chris. As you say I must be getting confused with "the other place".

I don't think I'm too guilty of deleting my own linked images so I will probably use that method in future.

Thanks,

Peter

[peter scott]

I made a return visit today and was able to take some photos inside the HMV900, shown further up this thread and also their HMV907

and also of their camera tube collection

which includes a prototype Emitron

and also a prototype Super Emitron

not to mention other Super Emitrons, CPS Emitrons, an Image Orthicon and a Plumbicon.

There are rather too many photos to upload here but you can see them here:
http://s254.photobucket.com/user/pmscot ... and?sort=3

I also saw an early shadow Mask tube and a mirror drum. Can anyone identify the mirror drum?

I've added the HMV900 to my list of known (to me) early EMI sets.

Peter

Code: Select all

 TRF | T/B|Owner           |Model|Data Plate|CRT Metalwork  |V8 socket          |Purchase date
----+----+----------------+-----+----------+---------------+-------------------+---------------
   ?|   ?|David Looser    | 901 |No serial |Long metalwork |exposed V8 socket  |
   ?| 122|Moses Znaimer   | 702 |H 1007    |Long metalwork |exposed V8 socket  |< 26th Nov 1936
    |    |                | 702 |H 1029    |Long metalwork |exposed V8 socket  |
   ?|0656|                | 702 |H 1067    |?              |exposed V8 socket  |
   ?| 247|Ian Blackbourn  | 900 |4 1269    |N/A            |exposed V8 socket  |
   ?|   ?|David Boynes    | 901 |H 7081    |Long metalwork |exposed V8 socket  |
0520|0441|Mikeymushradio  | 900 |H 6080    |N/A            |V8 socket + valve  |
   ?|0821|Steve McVoy     | 901 |H 7099    |Short metalwork|V8 socket + valve  |
   ?|0922|David Boynes    | 702 |No serial |Short metalwork|exposed V8 socket  |
1012|1099|Rob (Draenog)   | 900 |Y 475     |N/A            |under side blanking|
   ?|1437|Jeffrey Borinsky| 702 |H 1132    |Short metalwork|top mount blanking |
   ?|2083|Steve McVoy     | 702 |H 1174    |Short metalwork|under side blanking|
   ?|2224|Bonhams         | 703 |??        |Short metalwork|under side blanking|< May 1937
3378|2772|Brianc          | 703 |H/1  99   |Short metalwork|under side blanking|< 15th May 1937
4746|0980|Helmut Streiff  | 702 |Y 224     |Short metalwork|top mount blanking |
   ?|2952|eBay            | 702 |Y 241     |Short metalwork|under side blanking|
   ?|3839|Ian McLaughlin  | 702 |H/1  4077 |Short metalwork|under side blanking|
5061|5001|Peter Scott     | 901 |H/1  6146 |Short metalwork|under side blanking|
   ?|   ?|KeithW          | 705 |H/1  8032 |N/A            |?                  |
   ?|   ?|Bonhams         | 900 |H/1 10108 |N/A            |?                  |
3310|3294|Royal Museum Sco| 900 |H1/ 10250 |N/A            |under side blanking|
 

[Brianc]

What a fascinating collection of camera tubes Peter. Thanks so much for sharing the pictures with us. The 900 and 709 look to be in excellent original condition too with few cap changes visible.
Great stuff.

[peter scott]

One of the things that always intrigued me was how they got the mica target into the envelope. Some are rolled for entry but one of the production tubes here has what appears to be a rigid frame around it. The prototype Emitron just has a connection to the edge of the target but the production tubes have what looks like a central support for the signal connection although this has been dropped in the Super Emitron.

Peter