the really early years ...
men with ideas
As an industrial designer, Don Leman is a national award winner for innovations in home video equipment ...
- Alcoa Design Merit Award - the Ampex CC-6400 Camera, a helical scan video recorder - "notable design achievement using aluminum"
- Ampex Design Award - CC-326 Studio Camera, cited as one of the outstanding electronic products exhibited at WESCON, the Western Electronic Show and Convention, in Los Angeles, 1966.
- Ampex Design Award - CC-450 Camera.
"Design must start from the inside out. It's hard to put a shell around something if you don't know what's going to happen on the inside."
Ampex Corporation was anxious. They wanted to put a simple video tape recording system on the market - a system that would consist of a TV monitor, video tape recorder, and camera.
The first two instruments were ready to go. But the camera was still in the idea stage. That's when Don Leman entered the picture.
Don Leman [was] Senior Industrial Design, Consumer and Educational Products Division, at Ampex. "When you take on a job as complex as a video camera, you must begin from the inside out," explained Leman. "So right from the beginning, we worked closely with our engineers to understand the electrical/mechanical limitations of this project."
Final result? The Ampex CC-6400.... The Director of Corporate Industrial Design described his company's design philosophy. "At Ampex, we expect our designs to reflect the precision, quality, reliability, and workmanship of our products, not only in their external appearance, but also in their engineering concept."
Ampex Playbook
March 1970
Men and women with ideas are the backbone of our business. Ideas
that result in innovative product developments or novel production equipment
secure our technical and competitive position in the marketplace....
Among the employees in Elk Grove Village IL who have been named on recent U.S. Patent applications is Don Leman, of Educational and Industrial Products Division. He is responsible for inventions that improve Ampex products for the home, education, and industry.
Don Leman's most recent patent application covers the design of the CC-450 camera. "Whenever Industrial Design develops a new product design that can be considered a new concept in packaging or appearance, a Patent Disclosure is completed and forwarded to the Patent Office in Redwood City," Leman states....
This is the second patent application filed in Leman's name since he joined Ampex. His previous invention disclosure covered the design of the Model CC-326 camera. "Patents," states Leman, "do not necessarily provide the complete measure of an engineer's or designer's creativity or productivity.... Applications are filed on those products or devices which represent truly novel concepts."
Modern Metals
May 1968
Industrial Design Winners - TV Camera is Compact, Easy to Handle
Paddock Publications
September 27, 1967
The lightweight video camera is one of the Alcoa Design
Merit Award winners for 1967. The AMPEX CC-6400 was designed by Donald E. Leman
of Ampex, Elk Grove
Village IL, as part of a video tape system. The camera weights six pounds
and operates within a temperature range of 32 to 110 degrees F. It is 9-1/8"
long,
2-3/4" wide, and 6-3/8" high. The housing consists of two aluminum die castings
held together by two extrusions. Top, front and back trim, nameplates, pushbutton
inserts, and parts of the viewfinder system and recording indicator bezel
also are aluminum. The camera was designed to be hand-held for following active
subjects, or tripod-mounted for long video "takes." To assure minimum
restriction of movement, the camera is connected to a video tape recorder
by a single
cable
that powers the camera, carries audio and video signals, and provides remote
control of the recorder.
