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General Vintage Technology Discussions For general discussions about vintage radio and other vintage electronics etc. |
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25th Sep 2017, 12:46 pm | #1 |
Hexode
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Weymouth, Dorset, UK.
Posts: 422
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When were LCD's invented?
I was given a temperature controlled soldering station a while back it works great and I'm pleased with it however the other day I had to change the mains plug and was surprised to see the lead was red/black/green colour coded now I know these colours were abandoned in the early 70s but did LCDs exist then? I thought they came a bit later anyone know please
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25th Sep 2017, 1:04 pm | #2 |
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Oxford, UK
Posts: 27,959
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Re: when were LCDs invented
Mass market LCD displays arrived in 1976 or 77 so this is indeed odd.
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25th Sep 2017, 1:27 pm | #3 |
Retired Dormant Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Shropshire, UK.
Posts: 3,051
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Re: When were LCD's invented?
There was an article in one of the 'Practical' mags about making conducice glass using evaporated tin, which touched on ts use with 'nematic crystals'. This must have been about the time that the technology was evolving.
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25th Sep 2017, 1:33 pm | #4 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Cornwall, UK.
Posts: 13,454
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Re: When were LCD's invented?
Carrots...!
Lawrence. |
25th Sep 2017, 2:04 pm | #5 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 14,005
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Re: When were LCD's invented?
I rememner being shown an - at the time very hush-hush - LCD panel about 2 inches square when I was on a 6th-form visit to the UK arm of one of the larger US-owned defence-equipment manufacturers in summer 1973.
They said they were having trouble getting it to operate reliably over the sort of temperature range needed for military use, but that the technology 'showed some promise'. |
25th Sep 2017, 2:05 pm | #6 |
Hexode
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Malvern, Worcestershire, UK.
Posts: 347
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Re: When were LCD's invented?
A google search along the lines of: LCD displays R.S.R.E.-Malvern will bring masses of info on the invention of these displays along with the individuals of merit along with their teams.Work was advancing from around 1965.
There were a couple of dead ends such as Ferromagnetic displays also. I believe that formal patents and licence agreements were early seventies and later touch screen displays came into use late 80's/90's. Regarding the soldering station,it rather sounds like a mongrel refurb from at least a couple of units? |
25th Sep 2017, 2:05 pm | #7 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Fakenham, Norfolk, UK.
Posts: 4,257
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Re: when were LCDs invented
I'd say a little earlier. Somewhere around here still is the calculator my father bought for desktop use at work, a Sharp EL-8001.
http://www.modip.ac.uk/artefact/aibdc-02301 It wasn't a high-end model, cost I think was around £15, and the date of circa 1973 given there and elsewhere agrees with my memory of having been more or less a fourth-former at the time. Paul |
25th Sep 2017, 2:06 pm | #8 |
Hexode
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Aberystwyth, Wales, UK.
Posts: 358
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Re: When were LCD's invented?
According to this website: https://www.pcmag.com/feature/296609...-brief-history the first LCD watch appeared in 1972.
There is also this patent filed in 1971: https://www.google.com/patents/US3731986 Dave GW7ONS |
25th Sep 2017, 2:28 pm | #9 |
Moderator
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Location: Oxford, UK
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Re: When were LCD's invented?
Most calculators and watches were still LED in 1975. I know that because I had to buy a calc for my first year university stats course (I still have it). The cheaper calcs were still using LEDs when I graduated in 1978 but LCDs were clearly on the rise. My parents bought me a Seiko LCD watch as a graduation present - it was very expensive, costing nearly £200 (and those were 1978 £s). A couple of years later, filling stations were giving them away with tankfulls of petrol (though not the Seiko ones).
The EL8001 in #7 looks like an LED display to me, though it's hard to tell with it turned off, and the description does say LCD. |
25th Sep 2017, 2:50 pm | #10 |
No Longer a Member
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Maroochydore, Queensland, Australia.
Posts: 2,679
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Re: When were LCD's invented?
Patents for LCD's in 1972 ?
I have attached 3 documents which explain the invention of LCD screens, as they relate to TV at least, though Alphanumeric displays are mentioned in the text, including watches, speedos and dashboard instruments, published in 1969. RCA did the research work for LCD TV's and this started in the early 60's but the technology/idea goes back to 1888. But as noted Richard Williams at RCA did most of the work in the early 60's.(its all in the text of the attached 3 pages from Electronics Australia, June 1969 that I have scanned for you, sorry the pages might come up out of order). They had quite a respectable LCD TV image then, but they were not entirely happy with it. |
25th Sep 2017, 3:15 pm | #11 | |
Heptode
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire, UK.
Posts: 583
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Re: When were LCD's invented?
Quote:
Someone locally bought it off me recently (in a much used state). He said that they were becoming collectable, but it was too far worn (plating etc) for me to be concerned about. Last edited by ionburn; 25th Sep 2017 at 3:18 pm. Reason: Added content |
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25th Sep 2017, 3:28 pm | #12 |
Heptode
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oxfordshire, UK.
Posts: 852
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Re: When were LCD's invented?
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25th Sep 2017, 4:21 pm | #13 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 14,005
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Re: When were LCD's invented?
Re. post #10: are they suggesting LCDs be used as some sort of TV-projection-device in those photos?
[Sidenote: around 1990 for a client I bought a "LCD transmission panel" display - a rectangular thing you sat on top of one of the then-ubiquitous-in-lecture-theatres transparency-film overhead-projectors and connected it to your PC [CGA or EGA if you'd got a "Hercules graphics" card fitted!] so you could show 'electronic slides'. It was frightfully expensive [around £5K] and had a big problem in that though it had its own cooling-fan if you had too much 'dark' in what you were trying to present it overheated and the - monochrome - image faded-out after about five minutes. Still, it was good for giving training-courses in IBM Displaywrite-4, Foxbase, Lotus 123 and Visicalc! ] |
25th Sep 2017, 4:28 pm | #14 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Lynton, N. Devon, UK.
Posts: 7,087
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Re: When were LCD's invented?
Practical Electronics had a constructional digital clock project, mid 1974, using an LCD.
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25th Sep 2017, 5:45 pm | #15 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Fakenham, Norfolk, UK.
Posts: 4,257
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Re: When were LCD's invented?
Quote:
http://www.vintagecalculators.com/ht...p_el-805s.html along with some contemporary Sharp LCD offerings. The display, as detailed there, is rather different in construction and appearance from the more familiar later panels, but definitely LCD. Paul |
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25th Sep 2017, 5:48 pm | #16 |
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Oxford, UK
Posts: 27,959
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Re: When were LCD's invented?
Fair enough, I stand corrected.
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25th Sep 2017, 6:16 pm | #17 |
Nonode
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Dukinfield, Cheshire, UK.
Posts: 2,038
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Re: When were LCD's invented?
I recall going to a trade show (Harrogate?) in the late 70's and I think it was Toshiba who were showing a small-screen LCD TV. It was monochrome only and it looked really nice on the testcard and captions etc. But Lord, when anything moved it smeared like Billy-O!
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Andy G1HBE. |
25th Sep 2017, 6:50 pm | #18 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Oxford, UK.
Posts: 4,991
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Re: When were LCD's invented?
Between 1974 and 1977 I was at Southampton University doing an Electronics degree. In the second year there was a course on "Advanced Devices", among which was liquid crystal displays.
Craig |
25th Sep 2017, 8:18 pm | #19 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Cottingham, East Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 5,763
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Re: When were LCD's invented?
Yes indeed, 'liquid crystals' were discovered (rather than 'invented') a lot further back than we might imagine, albeit not put to any practical use at the time. In 1888, liquid crystals were first discovered in cholesterol extracted from carrots by Austrian botanist and chemist, Friedrich Reinitzer. Then you have to fast forward to 1962 before much else happened.
Inventor, James Fergason holds some of the fundamental patents in liquid crystal displays filed in the early 1970's, including key US patent number 3,731,986 for "Display Devices Utilizing Liquid Crystal Light Modulation". In 1972, the International Liquid Crystal Company (ILIXCO) owned by James Fergason produced the first modern LCD watch based on James Fergason's patent. Source: https://www.thoughtco.com/liquid-cry...ry-lcd-1992078
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David. BVWS Member. G-QRP Club member 1339. |
25th Sep 2017, 9:19 pm | #20 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Staffordshire Moorlands, UK.
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Re: When were LCD's invented?
let's have a pic of the soldering iron!
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Kevin |