TOOLMAKERS AT MULLARD & TV BAND III IN 1954

When Band III TV was introduced in Britain early in 1954, Mullard heralded in the new age by having a range of valves available for the new receivers some two weeks after the British Government's TV policy had been confirmed in the House of Commons.

Here, we see Timothy Bustard, a Toolmaker at Mullard's Mitcham factory hand finishing a new anode making tool for the PCF80 triode-pentode valve which acted as a frequency changer for Band III TV transmissions. The tool is used in a press where nickel sheet is fed into the press and seven successive operations of punching cutting and bending using the multi stage tool pictured resulted in a  finished anode being produced.

Here you see Timothy using a strip of nickel sheet as a guide before final fine grinding of the radii within the tool cavities.