From Raw Crystal to Crystal Oscillator - Crystals go to War in 1943
Electronics has always relied on critical materials that have been difficult to acquire. Today we think of the gold, cobalt, neodymium, terbium, or dysprosium that are required to make electric vehicles, but during World War II raw quartz crystals were required to manufacture the oscillators used in the radio transmitters that were critical to the war effort. This was before the technology to grow quartz crystals was perfected, and the best natural quartz was mined in Brazil.
This video shows in amazing detail every step in making a quartz crystal oscillator, from inspecting the incoming raw crystals to shipping the finished crystal in its holder. You'll be ready to set up your own quartz crystal factory after watching this film. Filmed at the Reeves Sound Laboratory, it shows the degree of labor intensive effort that was required to produce an accurate frequency reference, and highlights the contributions of women in wartime manufacturing.
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1958 I was an apprentice at DECCA Navigator. Another apprentice an I were given a job of building Xtal Oscillator assemblies for the DECCA Mk 5 marine navigation system. We measured the resonance and output voltage of each plate before assembling into the module. The clear used was called Araldite, the British version of Eastman 400 glue. We then tested the modules in an Oscillator jig. We delivered each batch to the production Foreman. Later I was a Priduction Inspector. I finished my Apprenticeship as a Prototype Technician to an Engineer. The Engineer was Ken Mantovani, son of Maestro Mantovani, of the Mantovani Orchestra fame.
What do you work for now ?
@@jacobmoonlight5793 That man must be in his 80s at this stage, so hopefully he's retired.
Between the Chemicals, X-ray exposure, unguarded saws, etc. Not a scene in this movie could be duplicated today! OSHA would shit a brick!
Don't forget the all white male work force that would turn heads in Human resources.
Love these films, what a wealth of info, I had no idea how oscillating crystals were made. Truly fascinating.
When I was a young engineer in the mid 80's. I developed an TCXO in Thickfilm technology. Afterwards I developed a crystal plating machine.
The fact that someone actually figured this out just amazes me and reminds me how stupid and uncreative I am
I'm in awe of everything I see these days. Living in the future has a way of making us feel stupid. But remember all the stuff demonstrated in this film was the product of hundreds of people failing thousands of times. Then eventually they get it figured out. Your not stupid or uncreative. You just aren't able to recognize all the amazing things you do.
This is such a cool video!
Amazing the "millionth of an inch girls" are testing frequency and etching with acid while very nicely dressed and painted nails. Nothing wrong with that at all, I just think it's amazing.
Gotta love that these people are lowering crystals into highly corrosive etchants, without gloves... yeek.
I love Xtal's, I even got 'hands on' grinding one with toothpaste for a Gonset 2M rig I was listening to in Jr. High in the mid 70s! Amazing how much work went into making them, and at the time I was getting mine from a cardboard surplus barrel at 'All Electronics' on Vermont in Old Los Angeles in FT-243 (I think they are called) holders for 50 cents or so...
In my early ham years, I was a frequent customer for ICM. And when I went to work for the GOVT, and when I was in charge of various radio systems, once again I gave ICM tons of GOVT business. Wonderful days!
Super.
it's amazing
Marcel VOGEL pioneered the quartz Crystal chips for IBM (had 32 patents we know of) At Vogel's February 14, 1991 funeral, IBM researcher and Sacramento, California physician Bernard McGinity, M.D. said of him, "He made his mark because of the brilliance of his mind, his prolific ideas, and his seemingly limitless creativity."[3]
Couldn't imagine training todays machine operators to do these things...
And while dressed in close to Sunday best, manicured and painted nails as well. Very classy crystal etching process they had going on there.
It`s interesting - how much was a quartz crystal resonator in 1943? I think - tens of dollars because there was loads of hand work . Nowadays they are quite cheap - for example 0.2$ per resonator on 4.43 MHz.
We truly do stand on the backs of giants 😮
Interesting history
Easy early xp mining quartz. 😸
Each certified crystal 🔮 must have cost as much as a West Australian Pink Diamond to produce. What an incredible record of a tiny aspect of the Military/Industrial Complex that helped win World War Two. Now such crystals are "grown" in the laboratory and contain thousands of transistors on a piece the same size. Amazing advances took place during the Space Race and Cold War. Be interesting to see how it all develops now during the Putin War.
I work somewhere and we have lab grown crystals that are cut then gold is added etc, it’s used for pacemakers and aerospace and military, can’t say too much but all I can say is some of our crystal oscillators go into javelins
Cost is about $300-$400 a block of crystal about 12-13 inches long
@@papilevi1108 gold added to Crystal's? How ?
@@marffsou8479 haven’t learned the process but they mix the gold with chemicals and keep it in a room that’s all yellow and it has to stay there for a while
@@marffsou8479lot of ways to attach gold to a substrate, fire a gold powder and binder paste onto height temp substrate. glue thin sheets of gold leaf (guilding) electroplate it like chrome. sputter or vapor deposition in a vacuum chamber. Don't know what's cheapest and effective for generic quartz oscillators.
I wonder who made the crystals for the postwar two-way radios industry such as Motorola and GE?
@@WirelessMuseum Great article, on the history of the quartz crystal, This document contains a wealth of information and history of war time businesses. It has generating interest in so many different subjects. I had work for Motorola and enjoyed the autobiography by Galvan "The Founder's Touch" this document added even more history.
This might sound like a stupid question to some, but why do i see only women doing this process??
During World War 2 most American men were serving in the military. This opened up opportunities for women in industry. Ever hear of Rosie the riveter?
You pretty much only see women here, how come? One of the main reasons is because their husbands are sent to the war so no men to use and you especially see that in ammunition, shell and similar manufacturing.