GB1289971A - - Google Patents

Abstract

1289971 Gas-discharge display panels BURROUGHS CORP 1 Oct 1969 [2 Oct 1968] 48298/69 Heading HID Sealing material 260 securing together upper and lower plates 72 and 74 of a multi-cell display panel 10 having a cross-bar system of conductors 80 and 120 is prevented by a flexible seal 250 from entering between the central plate 20 and either of the plates 72 and 74. The sealing material 260 may be a glass frit dispersed in a suitable binder, and the seal 250 may be a cord of fibreglass or other flexible yieldable material having a diameter which is originally somewhat larger than the distance between the plates 72 and 74. In the arrangement shown, the conductors 80 and 120 are mounted in seats 70 and 60 in the faces of the glass or ceramic plate 20 and are covered by glass plates 72 and 74. Alternatively the seats may be formed in the plates 72 and 74. Cathode buttons 90, which may be tapered, extend into the cells 30. Similar raised anode portions, each with a viewing aperture, extend from the conductors 120 into the opposite ends of the cells. Recesses 122 and 102, or alternatively additional slots (Fig. 3, not shown) extending along the bottoms of the slots 60 and 70, are provided at the ends of the cells to prevent the formation of shorting paths of sputtered metal. The cathode and anode electrodes may be of stainless steel, nickel, or nickel-iron-chrome alloy. Alternative forms of anode (Figs. 4, 5, 12 and 13, not shown) comprise strips which are narrower than the cells or have narrow portions over the cells, transparent metal films, or strips provided with an area of small apertures forming a mesh screen over each cell. Alternative forms of cathode (Figs. 6 to 11, not shown) comprise a button with a central depression which may contain a post, or a strip punched to form tabs which are bent to project into the cells. Low work function material such as barium- or caesiumcontaining compounds may be deposited on the anodes, cathodes or cell walls (Fig. 14, not shown). A suitable gas filling comprises about 5% A, 95% Ne and a trace of Kr at a pressure of 40 to 80 torr. to which Hg is added to minimize cathode sputtering. The Hg may be introduced by placing a capsule containing a droplet of Hg in a glass tubulation secured to plate 72 or 74 and then heating the capsule to breaking point by an inductively heated plate of a directly heated wire (Fig. 17, not shown).