[Newspaper]
Publication: The Muncie Star
Muncie, IN, United States
vol. 86, no. 55, p. 12, col. 5-7
Lighter TV Tubes Possible
Kimble Glass Process Gains OK
Muncie Kimble Glass Co. plant Macedonia Avenue, figures prominently in the manufacture of a revolutionary new process of making lighter television tubes. The new process, called KIMCODE, has been undergoing exhaustive testing by both Underwriter’s Laboratories and the Canadian Standards Association since February of this year.
Kimble’s home office, located at Toledo, Ohio, was notified Tuesday that KIMCODE has been recognized as an acceptable system.
The process reduces the weight of components needed for sheilding a 23-inch tube from 11 3/4 pounds (previously the lightest known tube) to two pounds.
Ed Spence, manager of the Muncie Kimble plant, said that approximately half of the local plant’s facilities is devoted to the manufacture of the glass parts needed for the KIMCODE product.
Describing the new process as the most important development in TV picture tube manufacture since 1949, John P. Kearney, Kimble vice president and general manager of its Industrial and Electronic Products Division, declared it would have a "profound and healthy effect on the television industry," Kimble was credited with introducing the first mass-produced rectangular blub 1949.
KIMCODE stands for "Kimble Method for Controlled Devacuation." It elimiates [sic] eliminates the presently-used safety shield on TV picture tubes. Today’s shields are either separate pieces of glass placed in front of the tube or a more costly method of laminating the glass to the tube face.
"The weight-saving factor is particularly important in the portable and table model field, Kearney said, "and it should also have heavy impact on the styling of all sets in the future."
Kearney also said that the simplicity of the new Kimble process is the result of years of research. "Instead of using a heavy safety shield, we build the necessary safety factors into the tube itself," he added.