Early Color Television
Chromatron Color CRT
In 1951 Dr. Ernest O. Lawrence of the University of California proposed a single gun color CRT using vertical stripes of red, blue and green on the screen. Behind these stripes were vertical wires which could be charged with electrical energy to deflect the electron beam to each of the stripes, thereby creating a color picture. Chromatic Television Laboratories built prototype tubes in 1952 and 1953. However, very high power RF (around 50 watts) had to be applied to the deflecting wires, and radiation from the tube interefered with the operation of the TV receiver. This problem was never solved, and no sets were made using this tube. Here is a brochure on this tube from Thomas Electronics and a data sheets from Litton Industries on the 10 and 12 inch versions.
In the early 60s Paramount attempted to perfect the tube, with little success. See this article in Radio-TV Experimenter (Courtesy of Wayne Bretl).
In 1966, Sony made a few prototype sets using their own version of the Chromatron. A similar approach was later used a similar concept in their very successful Trinitron tube.
Courtesy of Joe Bashlow
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Tele-Tech, February 1954