Industrial Technology Research and Preservation http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/index.php Copyright 2006-2007 VTA. All rights reserved. http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/rsfeed.gif http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/index.php 31 31 Humans have come up with a variety of ways to display numbers electronically, but Nimo tubes easily rank as one of the most bizarre. These devices, which consist of an array of electron guns covered by digit shaping masks, allow a numeric character to be drawn on the surface of a phosphor screen without the need for deflection or the other control signals present in conventional cathode ray displays. We have added two examples of this technology, an IEE BA-0000-P31 and a Telefunken XM1000, to the Imaging Tubes section. We have also added the odd-looking Telefunken RV12P2000 pentode to the Diodes, Triodes, Tetrodes & Pentodes section and an obscure Western Electric LED to the Solid State Indicators section. http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/articleview.php?item=944 Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/articleview.php?item=944 We are happy to fill a gaping hole in our counting tube collection: the GC10/2P dekatron is now finally represented on the Glow Transfer Counting Tubes page. This tube, the only miniature dekatron commercially manufactured by Ericsson Telephone Ltd., is quite uncommon and we are glad to at last have it represented on our site. Speaking of counters, we have also added a Beckman neon column counter to the Display & Counting Circuits section. These devices were in common use for counting and display before the advent of Nixie tubes, and it does not take much imagination to see why this is a display method in need of improvement. We have also added two other displays: the Soviet IV-15, a clone of the popular 6977 tuning indicator, has been added to the Variable Indicator Tubes section, and an extremely rare engineering sample variant of the GE Y1938 VFD has been added to the Vacuum Fluorescent Displays section. http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/articleview.php?item=927 Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/articleview.php?item=927 We've recently added the bizarre Melz LP-4 to the Beam Switching Tubes section of the museum. The LP-4 is a Soviet beam switching tube of extremely odd construction: unlike every other known production trochotron, the LP-4 features a linear construction, and represents a type of device once thought to have never been commercially produced. The LP-4 is electrically identical to a linear trochotron described in the original 1946 Ericsson patent, but incorporates an unusual pseudo-circular construction to accommodate its unique UFO-shaped acorn envelope. Another new member of the Beam Switching Tubes section is the Burroughs MO-10, perhaps the rarest cosmetic variant of the archetypal 6700. The MO-10 was produced for only a very short period, and we have the only surviving example currently known. We've also completed our Accutron Astronaut Variant Guide, a particularly useful collector reference that has been in development for over a decade, and is only about 40 years overdue. http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/articleview.php?item=912 Mon, 18 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/articleview.php?item=912 We're pleased to announce the public beta launch of our new on-site web store. Our eBay customers shouldn't worry, as we intend to maintain the same eBay offerings we always have, but our new store will eventually include our entire electronics inventory, many hundreds of interesting vintage electronic items and some modern electronics as well. Having our own store allows us unrestricted inventory growth, without the accompanying unrestricted fees and headaches involved in eBay sales. In other news, we purchased a number of Honeywell GG440A18 'Golden Gnat' military surplus rate gyroscopes. The GG440 has gained recent fame on the electronics blogs, as a curious but somewhat unapproachable device. We haven't had a chance to fiddle with these odd components yet, but we have a few pretty pictures. http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/articleview.php?item=909 Sat, 09 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/articleview.php?item=909 We've added a number of aircraft components to the Mechanical & Electromechanical Systems section, including a selection of A.W. Haydon elapsed time indicators, a Wakmann A-11-24 aircraft clock, and an extremely rare USAF flight data recorder cartridge from the 1960s. Additionally, a rare Westinghouse-branded BX-3000 has been added to the Beam Switching Tubes section. If you've had any problems connecting to our site in the past couple weeks, it's because our new project article about square gears got posted to the Make blog, and we've been getting pounded by hits. http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/articleview.php?item=908 Sun, 03 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/articleview.php?item=908 We are pleased to announce the release of the Yilane Systems YS-61 octal socket plugboard, a modular test socket designed for use with our YS-610 Universal Dekatron Computer. The YS-61 features a ceramic octal socket and a network of reconfigurable jumpers which allows the socket to be used with most octal-base dekatrons. The YS-61 is also electrically compatible with our older YS-601 dekatron computer, as well as lesser spinners from other manufacturers. The YS-61 is currently available for sale, as included in our YS-610 complete kit. http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/articleview.php?item=892 Sun, 06 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/articleview.php?item=892 While the rest of the world partakes in the Black Friday consumer spending orgy, we figured the time was ripe for another site update. * Solid State Displays: Two devices, a HP 5082-7412 three-digit display and a Siemens DLR2416 intelligent LED display. * Incandescent Displays: A Dialco 710-0300-009 incandescent seven-segment display with discrete removable lamps. * Gas Discharge Displays: The iconic Burroughs B7971, a large segmented alphanumeric Nixie tube that has been the tube of choice in Nixie projects that require alphanumeric display. http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/articleview.php?item=891 Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/articleview.php?item=891 We have obtained the elusive BD-203, the rarest and smallest of all characterized beam switching tubes, and the only unshielded compact model ever produced by Burroughs. The device is an extremely early example, possibly an engineering sample. The obvious features which indicate its earliness include a lack of protective end caps, an improvised part number label affixed atop a red label intended for another dissimilar part number, and the inclusion of a preliminary datasheet, reproduced on the Burroughs company mimeograph. Perhaps of interest to some of our readers, this month marks the 40th anniversary of the Hewlett-Packard 2114B, HP's only all-TTL minicomputer. This is of special importance to us, as the 2114B CPU in our museum is the nucleus around which this site was originally built. Only six examples of this machine are confirmed to still exist. http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/articleview.php?item=885 Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/articleview.php?item=885 We have jumped on the Halloween bandwagon and posted a pumpkin-carving project, dubbed the 'Pie of Sauron'. Is sticking a 400 volt dekatron counting tube into the front of a jack-o-lantern a concept fraught with peril? We'll leave that up to the arson investigator to decide. We have also made a few additions to the Electronics Museum, including the IV-22 in the Vacuum Florescent Displays section and the Dumont 3ABP2 multi-gun CRT, added to the Imaging Tubes section. http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/articleview.php?item=884 Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/articleview.php?item=884 With the recent announcement of the restoration of the Harwell WITCH, the world's most famous dekatron-using device, we felt that an upgrade to the Glow Transfer Counting Tubes page was well in order. A significant update has been made to the page, including historical data and information on the evolution of glow transfer tubes. We have also added two new devices to the section: the A-201 and A-107 counting tubes. The A-201 is a noteworthy device, as it is the world's only known production Polyatron tube. Also called an 'inverse dekatron', the Polyatron was intended to be the technological successor to the dekatron tube, and its relevance was prevented only by the sudden appearance of cheap, reliable transistor-based counters. The A-107 is a tiny Soviet counter tube, and one of only a few such devices which does not directly display its count position. http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/articleview.php?item=878 Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.decadecounter.com/vta/articleview.php?item=878