1. A television camera tube that converts optical images into electrical signals for transmission; used in early television broadcasting.
Usage: historical; technical; largely obsolete; replaced by modern imaging sensors

Examples

• The iconoscope was a crucial invention in the development of electronic television in the 1920s and 1930s.
• Early television broadcasts relied on iconoscope tubes to capture and transmit live images.
• Engineers improved the iconoscope design to reduce image distortion and increase sensitivity.
• The iconoscope eventually gave way to more advanced camera technologies in the latter half of the twentieth century.