60 Years Ago, Houston Fearless Introduced The Cradle Head

In March of 1954, this ad appeared in all the trade magazines to announce the arrival of this new pan head. The MCH 1 was for monochrome cameras and the CH 1 was for the RCA TK41. Aside from a few of the first TK40s which came with friction heads, the CH 1 was the standard head for the RCA color cameras. During the field testing of the TK40 at the Colonial Theater, the one and only engineering model of the head was in use and was so efficient under the 350 pound cameras, RCA placed a rush order with HF so they would be available for the TK40 cameras they were shipping to their O&O stations, prior to the general release in March of ’54. The cradle head patent information I posted last week was filed later in March of ’54 after they had already been introduced. See the story above to see the engineering model in use at the Colonial.

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