Bin of electronic valves or vacuum tubes.

Valves or vacuum tubes as they were known in America were the main amplifying element in electronic equipment up until they were rapidly replaced by the far smaller, less power hungry transistor from the 1950s. Vital bench dressing for any early radio or TV workshop. Valves feature a heated filament which glows orange hot to boil the electrons off from one metal plate to another inside the glass envelope. You can see dozens of such glowing valves by peering through the neccessary ventilation slots of any old TV set. They were therefore very power hungry and electrically inefficient as well as being bulky. The heat produced greatly reduced the reliability of most other components in the same assembly. A valve amplifying a signal of just microwatts could be consuming several watts of power just keeping its filament glowing. 

Priced by the bin.

Prop ID: 7609

Width: 2 cm

Height: 5 cm

Depth:

Age: 1940s-1960s

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