Cleaning Up--NBC's Long Island Laundry--

[Ted Langdell]

I remember seeing NBC's television equipment laundry in an issue of Broadcast Engineering from the early 1960s...

And while on David Gleason's AmericanRadioHistory.com website, took a moment to search for "Firehose Dryer" (which I remember being mentioned in the article) and then "NBC washes." 

Turns out those were the magic words.  Just found it here:
http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Broadcast-Engineering/BE/60s/Broadcast_Engineering_Magazine_July_1963.pdf

If this is the one I read, it is the cover of the July, 1963 Broadcast Engineering. 

The "about the cover" description is on Page 34:
http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/Archive-Broadcast-Engineering-IDX/BE-IDX/60s/63/Broadcast_Engineering_Magazine_July_1963-OCR_-Page-0034.pdf#search=%22nbc washes%22

Seems the location was NBC's Field Operations center in Long Island City, across from Manhattan. 

Dirt and grime were taking a toll on mobile unit gear.

NBC VP of Ops and Engineering William Trevarthen saw Textronix engineers washing their scopes with detergent and water, and adapted it to NBC's field equipment needs.

They built a metal "crib" with a turntable for the gear, then pressure-washed it at 30PSI using any ordinary low-sudsing cleanser.

Maint. Supervisor Frank Bierling and studio engineer William Klages (THE Bill Klages of lighting design fame??) built a drying cabinet.  Experimentation found that 140 degrees dried the equipment thoroughly in about 24 hours without overheating or under-drying.

Estimated hard cost:  Around $300.  Value of the inventiveness that went into design and construction:  Priceless.

My recall from 49-50 years ago thinks there were more pictures and more description of the process of readying the equipment for a bath, and then re-assembling it and testing it on the bench.  Anyone else seem to remember this item or one like it?

The knowledge came in handy when a cup of coffee w/cream and sugar ended up in an open and on switcher chassis.  But that's another story.

Page 32 notes CBS's order for 44 Marconi Mark IV 4.5" Image Orthicon cameras, "the largest single order" for cameras with that size of tube at that time. 29 were heading for the then-new CBS Broadcast Center on W. 57th Street in New York City, six for CBS News, Washington, DC, and nine to equip two studios at CBS Television City in Hollywood.

Cheers,

Ted

Ted Langdell
Secretary for the Quad Videotape Group
Preserving Tape, Equipment and the Knowledge to use them, in conjunction with the Library of Congress

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Email:	ted at quadvideotapegroup.com
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Eighth Annual Quad Videotape Group Lunch at NAB:  12:30pm on Tuesday, April 14, 2015, Las Vegas Convention Center




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