[QuadList] History - what is the REAL story

[Allan Dent]

Re AMPEX - RCA - Quad Videotape

Something else to throw into the mix.
A story that I was told by an AMPEX Instructor on a VR1200 course in 
Australia was that RCA held the patent for the transistor flip flop 
circuitry and as you will all know there are lots of them in the AMPEX 
machines, both bistable and monostable.  When AMPEX released their 
machine, RCA pointed this out and so they both authorised cross patent 
use and both produced quad machines.

Allan


trandoc at aol.com wrote:
> Hi Folks,
>
> I had heard that RCA invented the air bearing headwheel and this is 
> what Ampex wanted. Any comments?
>
> Regards,
> Harold
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Don Norwood <dwnorwood at embarqmail.com>
> To: Quad List <quadlist at quadvideotapegroup.com>
> Sent: Thu, 23 Apr 2009 7:34 pm
> Subject: Re: [QuadList] History - what is the REAL story
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "C. Park Seward" 
>  
>
>> Perhaps some of you can point to the true stories. 
>
>>  
>
>> Story one: 
>
>>  
>
>> Ampex, having developed a way to record color on quad, needed the 
>
>> transistor technlogy tjhat RCA had abd RCA nedded the Ampex patents 
>
>> for color. So they did a parent swap with RCA getting color and Ampex 
>
>> getting transistor technology. 
>
>>  
>
>> Some think the transistor technology was actually gotten from Sony. 
>
>>  
>
>> Time frame should be around 1958 or so. 
>  
>
> Hi Park: 
>  
>
> I certainly have no first hand knowledge, but --somewhere--, I think I 
> have
> a copy of some correspondence from one of the Ampex guys that was there.
> Perhaps Tim could ask Charlie Anderson what he knows about it.  Anyway, I
> didn't think that it had anything to do with the transistor, but 
> rather that
> Ampex needed RCA color technology and RCA needed Ampex's videotape
> technology.  The only thing I=2
> 0can find at the moment that supports this is
> the following: 
>  
>
>> From the industry briefs part of the January 1958 Radio & TV News: 
>
> "RCA and Ampex Corporation have signed an agreement for the exchange of
> patent licenses covering 
>
> video tape recording and reproducing systems for both black-and-white and
> color." 
>  
>
> Don 
>  
>
>
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