6. PHILCO PREDICTA

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Philco began researching electronic television in the early thirties. They marketed a wide selection of sizes and shapes of receivers: incorporating many technical advances in picture tubes, transistors, set portability, and cabinet design.

Russia's Sputnik, the first satellite launched in 1957, heralded the dawn of the Space Age, and had a futuristic influence on the style of everything from cars to vacuum cleaners.

Philco's design department, already widely known for its innovative radios and phonographs, decided to try and stimulate its TV sales by revolutionizing the styling of the Philco televisions away from the traditional square or rectangular shapes that had become the norm by the mid-fifties. The engineering department made wide-deflection picture tubes and printed circuits that helped turn the designers' dreams into reality by making it feasible to separate the viewing screen from the bulky receiver chassis.

The Space Age theme was promoted in ads promising "TV Today From The World Of Tomorrow".