Why Soviet TVs were made of wood and not plastic

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Many will not even remember now, but in the distant Soviet times, televisions looked completely different. Moreover, completely different materials were taken for their manufacture. For example, the body of this technique was completely wooden. Why was wood taken as a basis for many years? The answer is simple enough.

It should be noted right away that similar boxes were produced in other countries, such as the United States of America, European countries, and Japan. By the way, at the beginning of the 2000s, there were also models with wooden bodies, although they could be seen very rarely. Even when plastic was firmly established in people's lives, production continued to operate according to standard proven technology with familiar materials. It would seem why this is so, if everything can be simplified.

To be honest, it was possible to switch to plastic back in the sixties and seventies of the last century. But as in most cases, the transition dragged on for years. The problem was not so much a lack of material itself as the difficulty of rebuilding production lines. This process took quite a long time - more than one year.

Do not forget about scientific progress, which did not stand aside. In our world, almost any plastic part can be printed using a 3D printer. But in the last century, such technologies have not yet been invented even in Japan, let alone the Soviet Union. Therefore, we moved along the beaten path - they took a tree and erected buildings.

Fear of the sun or why wood was preferred

Oddly enough, but domestic design engineers were wary of solar radiation in terms of televisions. Even the instructions for these devices contained a warning regarding this issue. It was recommended to place the devices in places where the sun's rays do not reach. In their opinion, the plastic cases were very thin, which would lead to faster and more intense heating of TVs. A tree is quite another matter.

As a rule, the plywood from which the cases were made was very thick - almost a finger thick. But they believed that problems would not arise if the product was in the shade. It is difficult to say how correct this assumption was today.

A more compelling reason is problems with the conversion of manufacturing plants. Despite the fact that gradually in other countries everyone began to switch to plastic, our manufacturers could not afford it from a technical point of view.