Westinghouse Experimental Vacuum Tube, circa 1922
Add to SetSummary
Vacuum tubes appear in older radios, televisions, amplifiers, computers, and other electronic devices. Their function: to amplify and strengthen weak electronic signals. Typical tubes are sealed glass bulbs evacuated of gas, allowing electron flow to be influenced by an interior cathode, plate and grid. Perfected in 1906 by Lee De Forest, the vacuum tube was the genesis of a communications revolution.
Vacuum tubes appear in older radios, televisions, amplifiers, computers, and other electronic devices. Their function: to amplify and strengthen weak electronic signals. Typical tubes are sealed glass bulbs evacuated of gas, allowing electron flow to be influenced by an interior cathode, plate and grid. Perfected in 1906 by Lee De Forest, the vacuum tube was the genesis of a communications revolution.
Artifact
Vacuum Tube
Date Made
circa 1922
Creators
Place of Creation
United States, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh
Creator Notes
Bulb and filaments created by Westinghouse and fit into a base manufactured by Shaw Insulation Company.
Location
Not on exhibit to the public.
Object ID
00.622.1
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford.
Material
Brass (Alloy)
Glass (Material)
Magnesium
Dimensions
Height: 4.375 in
Diameter: 1.875 in
Inscriptions
base, handwritten: Westinghouse Experimental Tube McMS base, underside: S [logo of Shaw Insulation Company] inside bulb: 235
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