Gaseous discharge type display panel for displaying large number of characters

A display panel comprising

• a gas-filled envelope made up of a base plate and a face plate having a viewing window,
• a plurality of first slots formed in the top inner surface of said base plate and extending along the length thereof,
• a transverse slot formed in the top inner surface of said base plate at about its center to divide said base plate into left and right portions,
• an insulating rod seated in said transverse slot,
• an array of first electrodes seated in said first slots in said left portion of said base plate and a similar array of first electrodes seated in said first slots in said right portion of said base plate, the inner ends of said first electrodes extending out of said slots and being bent transversely in said transverse slot where they terminate, with the first electrodes in said left portion of said base plate being insulated from said first electrodes in said right portion of said base plate,
• a plurality of second strip-like electrodes disposed in left and right groups on said base plate and overlying the left and right portions of said base plate, respectively, said second electrodes being oriented transverse to said first electrodes, each such second electrode having at least one hole aligned with one of said slots, each crossing of a first electrode and a second electrode defining a scanning cell, said scanning cells being arrayed in rows and columns,
• a pair of apertured insulating plates comprising left and right plates seated on said second electrodes, with said left plate overlying the left portion of said base plate and said right plate overlying said right portion of said base plate, there being a space between said apertured plates, said space being generally aligned with said transverse slot in said base plate, the apertures in said plates being arrayed in rows and columns and comprising display cells, each display cell being vertically aligned with a scanning cell, and
• a plurality of wire electrodes disposed on the top surface of said left apertured plate, each aligned with a row of said apertures therein, and a similar plurality of wire electrodes disposed on the top surface of said right apertured plate and each aligned with a row of said apertures therein.