Scarce rectifier tubes...

The 439A is a trochotron, 10-line in switch tube for a decade counter or early computer

Because it is a divide-by-ten counter another application is in a clock. Two of them can be used for seconds with a Nixie clock. One could also use a pile of such tubes with a rubidium oscillator to provide the timebase. Atomic flyswatter, of course.

Early frequency counters also used such tubes.
 
Ooh, fun stuff, @soundmotor ! Treasure hunting in your own garage, eh? That's... familiar. :-| But I'm sure I'd rather hunt in your garage than mine!

Neat finds. I can't wait to see what you turn up, next! :)
 
I'll say this for doing a deep dive on layers deep stuff, it's somewhat kickstarted my interest in building again. Been a looong time since I've done something from scratch.

Ditto. It also makes actually getting rid of stuff for me impossible!
 
Ditto. It also makes actually getting rid of stuff for me impossible!

I've come across some projects I started putting parts together for only to change directions and not do them. A couple were "What was I thinking?". I can ditch those.
 
Ooh, fun stuff, @soundmotor ! Treasure hunting in your own garage, eh? That's... familiar. :-| But I'm sure I'd rather hunt in your garage than mine!

Neat finds. I can't wait to see what you turn up, next! :)

I've opened up the goat trails by ~6% (so far) so it's easier to do. Safety harness and goggles still needed in some parts though.
 
When I emptied my parents house,I found many buried and forgotten treasures myself, In 2012, I sold off many one of's, as I would never find a mate at reasonable cost.
 
Some cool rectumfriers there! I've been meaning to pick up a 5690 for some time to go with my 5691s, 5692s and 5693s. An oddball series of tubes, and it seems somehow appropriate that they made a double rectifer to go with the double triodes.......... :rolleyes:
-Adam
 
Some cool rectumfriers there! I've been meaning to pick up a 5690 for some time to go with my 5691s, 5692s and 5693s. An oddball series of tubes, and it seems somehow appropriate that they made a double rectifer to go with the double triodes.......... :rolleyes:
-Adam

Too funny, I use that same term once in awhile and still get the same eye-roll from my wife when I do.

When I bought a lot of this in the late 80s you were still drawing off WW2 surplus. It's staggering how much was made as well as left over when the war ended. Guys that were hams bought footlockers full because it was cheap and directly applicable to their hobby. Because the tubes were built well and because many of these guy were at the top of their craft, they never used more than a handful of what they stashed away. It all started coming out again in droves end of the 80s and was still cheap.

Nearly all those guys are gone now but it was fascinating to talk with them. Most were WW2 veterans and many were ex- Signal Corps. One in particular was tasked with gathering interesting Nazi tech and shipping it back to the US. His unit was given an M29 Weasel and attached to transportation unit using trucks. The Weasel could not keep up and eventually they were left on their own only to track them down hours later. A few times they ran into confused German soldiers but there was no shooting. When I find them I'll post some of the tubes he kept for himself.
 
These are ~1920s Raytheon ER-280s. A friend's grandmother worked at the MA plant and told him each Christmas employees got a set of tubes for their radio and that was considered a very big deal. Apparently Raytheon tubes carried a premium price over other competitors. I think the embossed plates are pretty cool -


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First I know of Raytheon is their BH cold cathode gas rectifier tubes, used in the 1920s B battery eliminators. Predecessor of the OZ4 car radio vibrator power supply rectifier.
 
Pretty sure I've consolidated all my tubes in one spot so this is likely it for the uncommon rectifiers. The WE 422A. falls in-between the 5U4 and 5R4 -


Kb2RWP7.jpg
 
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