Albert M. Morrell

Biography

Albert M. Morrell was born in Clinton, Iowa on July 15, 1922. His high school interests included photography and color printing and he also worked in a broadcasting station. After spending three years in the U.S. Air Force, Mr. Morrell attended Iowa State University and received a B.S.E.E. in 1950. He is a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Eta Kappa Nu, and the IEEE.

Mr. Morrell joined RCA in 1960 during the inception of Color TV and has been associated with most phases of color picture tube development, first as a design engineer and later as Manager of Tube Development, RCA Picture Tube Division, which position he presently holds. He had 21 issued United States patents which cover the full range of color tube development starting with the basic patent on the internal-pole-piece gun. This feature was incorporated in the first commerical color picture tubes in 1954 and had been used in essentially all delta-gun color tubes manufactured up to the present time.

Screen geometry has been a major area of effort for Mr. Morrell, and his patents in this area cover various phases including several on lenses and types of shadow masks used widely in the industry. The patent on the basic idea of temperature compensation for ~ask expansion "Perma-Chrome" was filed in 1965. This system which uses bimetal mask supports has been adopted throughout industry as the standard system.

More recent developments by Mr. Morrell resulted in patents on the in-line tube/yoke system together with innovations in screen geometry for line screens.

Mr. Morrell has published a number of technical papers and is co-author of the book Color Television Picture Tubes, published by Academic Press in 1974. His work at RCA has been recognized by two David Sarnoff awards. In 1964 he was named as a recipient of the "David Sarnoff Team Award for Engineering" for development of color picture tubes and in 1976 was awarded the "David Sarnoff Award for Outstanding Technical Achievement", again related to color tube work. He received the 1979 IEEE Vladimir K. Zworykin Award "for contributions to shadow mask color picture tube development and design." He has been active in IEEE Standards Committees and in JEDEC committees of EIA.

Al Morrell and his wife, Dorothy, had five children and they resided in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.