Predicta

The Philco Predicta is a black and white television chassis style, made in several cabinet models with 17” or 21” screens, by the American company Philco from 1958 to 1960. The Predicta was marketed as the world's first swivel screen television, and has an iconic design by Catherine Winkler, with the picture tube (CRT) separated from the rest of the cabinet.

Philco's Predicta, 1958, in the collection of The Children's Museum of Indianapolis

A Predicta mounted on a "barber pole" stand (2012)

The picture tube was surrounded in Eastman plastics' new product called “tenite”, which protected the glass and gave it its greenish tint. The Predicta also had a thinner picture tube than many other televisions at the time, which led it to be marketed as a more futuristic television set. Predicta television sets were constructed with such variety of cabinet configurations, some detachable, but all separate from the tube itself and connected by wires.[1]

The model with the fully detached picture tube allowed the controls for the set to be next to the viewer, with the screen eight or more feet away. This feature provided Philco with an answer to Zenith's "Space Command" wireless remote control, which had been introduced the same year. Philco had the short lived “Directa” remote series shortly before being bought by Ford.

The Predicta was announced to the industry the summer of 1958, with the public getting its first look on the edition of 1959 of Miss America (sponsored by Philco). Shortly after, the Predicta was announced the reliability was called into question by several trade and consumer publications. Philco made the Predicta the following year, but unfortunately, as it was phasing in it’s next chassis iteration (Cool Chassis), they went bankrupt.

Ford stepped in shortly thereafter, and bought them.

References

1. Znaimer, Moses. Philco Predicta. MZTV Museum of Television and Archive. Retrieved October 22, 2017.