Chapter 2
Road to the Trinitron
Part 1 The Transistor TV Ibuka Saw in a Dream
Ibuka Observing the TV8-301 Production Line (1960)
In early 1959, about four years after the first transistor radio sales began, Ibuka declared his company goal for the year in a magazine interview: "When I went to bed this New Year's Day, I saw a transistor television in my dream," he recounted. A New Year's dream is said to surely come true, but the road to Ibuka's dream was most certainly not an easy one.
Despite sharing the same transistors in both name and construction, transistor radios and transistor TVs were fundamentally different in their internal structure. Containing many circuits with higher voltage and higher current than those found in a radio, televisions would require creating transistors more advanced than any before. For Ibuka, this essentially meant that they were back at square one in terms of their research - were it not for the fact that Sony's semiconductor division engineers had already begun research on transistors for TV-use nearly a year before he told the world about his dream.
Actually implementing the transistors was an entirely different question, however, and the development process was far from straightforward. More than a year was spent on learning how to load transistors into the TV, while the circuit research conducted at the same time struggled to meet the extremely strict specification requirements, experiencing setback after setback. When their germanium mesa transistor was finally completed - capable of receiving twelve signal channels when used in a tuner instead of the previous four - barely a month remained before Sony was set to announce the world's first transistor television to the public.
It was through this process that the TV8-301, featuring the newly developed transistors and an eight-inch screen, was released in May 1960.
Ibuka's team was unwilling to put a pause on their work, however, and soon set on designing and developing their next project. Deeming an eight-inch screen far too large, they next aimed for an even smaller and more advanced model, eventually making their goal a five-inch screen. On top of the mountain of technical issues they needed to solve, such as further shrinking the cathode ray tubes (CRTs) in the device, the most significant challenge was ultimately the development of yet more advanced transistors. With performance requirements even stricter than those of the previous model, the transistor yield rates refused to budge from their dismally low values, and the cycle of redesigning and prototyping new versions continued countless times.
The final prototype before mass production was finally completed in November 1961. "This new model of television is an entirely different product concept compared to the usual sit-down television models," Ibuka thought. Since it was even smaller than the TV8-301 "portable TV," the new model was named the "microTV."
"The transistor has revolutionized the TV," claimed the advertisements for the new TV5-303, as it flew off the shelves both in Japan and overseas, beating out the TV8-301, which sold comparatively modestly despite its fame. In a pattern that had by then become familiar for Sony, strong demand in the U.S. market once again required chartered flights to keep up with orders.
Part 2 Doing What Others Wouldn't
Development on color television spanned many years and researchers starting from the 1950s, and by the time Sony first began shipping the TV8-301 black-and-white transistor TVs in 1960, color CRT televisions using the shadow mask technology developed by U.S. company RCA had already started becoming widely adopted.
"If we're going to work on a color TV, I'd rather try something other than shadow mask," Ibuka decided. Behind this decision lay Ibuka's own pride in Sony as an innovator. Searching for alternative techniques to the shadow mask, Ibuka's team first set their sights on the Chromatron technology.
Sony's first glimpse of the Chromatron came in March 1961 at the IRE (Institute of Radio Engineers) trade show in New York. Attending as an exhibitor, Sony innovator Nobutoshi Kihara spotted a color video display used for IFF combat identification purposes lodged away in a corner of the event venue. Struck by its brightness - greater than any display he had seen before - he wondered if this might be the technology that Sony had been looking for. Once Sony decided to bet on the Chromatron, the development team immediately set out on the tough road ahead of them, spending countless days and nights grappling with the technology. Yet although the bright screen was superior to other available technologies in theory, the product could never be profitable using the manufacturing technology of the time.
In September 1964, despite issues remaining with regard to production cost and manufacturing yield rates, the Chromatron was tentatively completed.
Upon revealing the new color TV technology to associates in the media, the machine instantly received attention worldwide as the potential fifth Sony product line, following Sony's tape recorder, transistor radio, transistor television, and video tape recorder (VTR). This publicity only raised the stakes, however, as Sony now had to solve the remaining technical issues and make the product a success no matter what. The project was starting to become a serious headache for the development team.
The situation would only become more dire for the development team as the remaining issues - including insulation difficulties and screen burn-in - were too complex, numerous, and time-consuming to solve. Production remained unrealistic and costs were ballooning out of control.
"Gentlemen, maybe it's time we reconsider using the shadow mask," Ibuka suggested, his confidence finally starting to waver. The fact that even Ibuka was reconsidering the technology showed just how bad a position Sony had put itself in. The more Sony tried to bring the Chromatron to completion, it seemed, the heavier the losses would grow. In the end, Sony was forced to shelve the Chromatron for the time being, failing to meet expectations for its fifth major product line.
The TV8-301(1960)
The TV5-303(1962)
Announcing the Chromatron (1964)
Part 3 Birth of the Trinitron Color TV
Time continued to waste away while ways to improve the Chromatron's manufacturing success rate remained elusive. "As President, it's my responsibility that the project has reached this point," Ibuka thought. "Let's look for another technique to replace the Chromatron. I'll be heading the project myself, from start to finish," he decided. This was Ibuka's way of taking responsibility. Seeing Ibuka's show of determination not only as a business manager, but as an engineer himself, Morita gave him his full support: "I'll take care of all the other details," he said. "Go and give it your all." With this, Ibuka returned to the development team's front lines.
To gather more information on the market, Susumu Yoshida traveled to the United States in the summer of 1966. There, he was shocked at how far shadow mask technology had advanced during the time they had been working on the Chromatron. Not only was screen brightness leagues ahead of previous iterations, but nearly twenty thousand units were being consistently produced per month. The disparity was evident: the Chromatron struggled to reach even a measly thousand units produced per month. "If no solution to the manufacturing rates can be found within the year, we must consider abandoning the Chromatron technology," he reported. Discussions continued within the company about switching over to the shadow mask technique.
The possibility of an alternative method capable of saving the project was not out of the question, however. The critical moment came when Yoshida asked in a flash of inspiration, "instead of three electron guns each shooting one beam, would it be possible to shoot all three beams from one gun?" Yoshida's idea was inspired by General Electric's Porta-Color technology, which he had seen while visiting the United States. Since the technology was originally meant for use in small portable television sets, Sony engineers questioned the idea's validity - and even Yoshida's own sanity - when they first heard this, but upon further experimentation, the concept worked better than their wildest dreams. In this moment, a ray of hope came back to the project.
Results showed promise even when combining the new electron gun design with the shadow mask plates - yet simply combining the two technologies would not only reduce the novelty of the new electron gun technology, but would simultaneously further highlight the failure of the Chromatron. The search continued for another technique that could offer even higher image quality than the shadow mask. Ibuka remained firm in his stance as he frequented the research facilities, resolutely proclaiming "our engineers are the best in the world. This task is surely within the realm of possibility for us." It was only then that the team arrived at the solution: the aperture grille, a thin metal sheet lined with numerous vertical slits.
Right when it seemed that the team had an answer, however, more problems appeared when testing began. Even slight vibrations to the aperture grille would cause the electron beams to lose focus, creating color distortions on the TV screen. It was Ibuka who came to the rescue this time, as he stabilized the grille by affixing a tungsten wire horizontally across the device.
Development would proceed smoothly from then, with the product finally coming to completion on October 16th, 1967. Sporting the newly developed tri-beam electron gun and slatted metal aperture grille, as well as a screen with comparatively little curvature, this new TV had distinctly more vibrant colors and a clearer and brighter image than shadow mask models. The device was thus named the Trinitron, and its first model, the KV-1310, went on sale in Japan in October 1968. Sony's Osaki factories, which were in charge of the device's production, were entirely unable to keep up with demand, marking the Trinitron's rise as an era-defining piece of technology.
Five years later, in 1973, with demand skyrocketing and production expanding smoothly overseas as well, an incredible letter was delivered to Ibuka's doorstep: Sony's Trinitron color television technology had been awarded the highest honor the television industry could grant - an Emmy Award. This was a first, both for the award to be granted to a television set, and for the award to be given to a Japanese company. Raising the glittering golden trophy at the award ceremony, Ibuka was filled with pride and joy at Sony's accomplishments.
The KV-1310 (1968)
Ibuka at the Trinitron Color TV Announcement Event (1968)
The Trinitron Color TV Announcement Event Display (1968)
Ibuka Receiving the First Emmy Awarded to a Japanese Business for the Trinitron Technology (1973)