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May 1958 Radio-Electronics
 [Table
of Contents]
Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics.
See articles from Radio-Electronics,
published 1930-1988. All copyrights hereby acknowledged.
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"PCBs? We ain't got no PCBs
in our TV sets†... We don't have to give you no stinking PCBs."
That is effectively what the Zenith television advertisement from a 1958 edition
of Radio-Electronics told its potential customers. According to the Zenith communications
department, even though their head R&D guy, Dr. Alexander Ellett‡,
was "the daddy of printed circuit boards," they stuck with the traditional point-to-point
wiring in all their TV chassis. I have to agree with them from a troubleshooting
and component replacement perspective. There's nothing easier than heating a solder
lug or terminal post to unwrap a leaded R, L, or C either to measure its value,
isolate it from the rest of the circuit for making tests, or to replace it. There
is no worry about solder splatter or bridges, overheating the PCB material to cause
delamination, or lifting metal traces from the surface. There is also no issue with
getting a component lead out of a plated-through hole. Yes, of course modern circuits
need multilayer, high density circuit boards, but back when surface mount components
were unheard of and component lead pitches were measured in tenths of an inch rather
than thousandths, point-to-point made a lot of sense.
† The
Treasure of the Sierra Madre (video clip)
‡ Dr. Ellett was a busy guy. A Google patent search turns up
92 patents for him while at Zenith. None, BTW, appear to pertain
to printed circuit board technology. RF Cafe visitor Frank Provasek suggests
that is because classified inventions during wartime were assigned to the U.S. Government.
Here is a tome entitled "Radio
Proximity Fuzes for Fin-Stabilized Missiles," printed in 1946, that contains
references to Dr. Ellett's PCB (with photos) on pages 166 and 258.
Zenith TV Ad
My Life with Printed Circuits article in New Scientist magazine,
December 9, 1989.
"Attached is something else you are welcome to use, or just good
for a smile. TV Guide's 1966 TV Set Buyers Guide, a section of the Sept. 18-24,
1965 issue. Dueling ads for RCA and Zenith color TV. Zenith calls PCBs PLASTIC --
in the meaning of "easily formed" -- knowing consumers would think "cheap and breaks
easily." RCA calls printed circuit boards SOLID COPPER CIRCUITS, so they win for
most misleading... " - Frank Provasek.
Even though the Daddy of printed circuitry is head of Zenith's
research dept.*, there's No Printed Circuitry in Zenith TV Chassis
3 reasons why there are no printed circuits in Zenith TV chassis
Zenith standard HANDcrafted circuitry means:
1 Less Service Headaches
Zenith standard HANDcrafted circuitry means:
2 Easier Servicing for Dealer and Serviceman Alike
Zenith standard HANDcrafted circuitry means:
3 More Satisfied Customers for Zenith Dealers
We think it's worth the extra cost and extra care of handcrafted standard circuitry
to get the best performance and least service headaches and so do thousands of dealers
who would sooner sell customer satisfaction than a price tag.
Zenith Radio Corporation Chicago 39, Illinois
The quality goes in before the Zenith name goes on.
Backed by 39 years of leadership in radionics exclusively.
Also makers of Radio, High Fidelity Instruments and fine Hearing Aids;
* Even though Dr. Alexander Ellett, head of Zenith's research department, is
recognized as the daddy of printed circuitry through his work on radio proximity
fuses, still Zenith uses no printed circuitry in its TV chassis because it means
more service headaches and often causes service delays.
Posted April 29, 2020
(updated from original post on 6/22/2014)
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