Rec.antiques.radio+phono FAQ (part 3 - valve/tube types)
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http://www.xs4all.nl/~tgale/oradio/
Set Types and Examples of Old Tubes/Valves
From an old publication in the 60's, long forgotten, I have a picture from an article showing some older tube types together with brief descriptions.
The first selection is as follows:-
The valves/tubes illustrated to the left are:-
(1) AC/SG/VM vari-mu r.f. tetrode;
(2) AC/HL triode;
(3) AC/2/HL triode;
(4) AC/PEN output pentode;
(5) UU2 rectifier;
(6) UU3 rectifier.
These valves / tubes are a collection of Mazda (european) mains ('line') type tubes.
This second illustration shows a number of 1920's valves/tubes in the following order:-
7 - 9: 1923-4 "Bright Emitter" tubes;
(7) Marconi R5V;
(8) Mullard ORA, an R.F. type;
(9) Cossor P1 (several Cossor tubes had a conical shaped grid and anode of original design).
10 - 12: 1924-5, some "Dull Emitters";
(10) Marconi/Osram DE5;
(11) Mullard D06;
(12) Cossor WR.
13 - 15: 1925-7 "Dull Emitters";
(13) Marconi-Osram DE3;
(14) Mullard PM2 (many variants of this were made for different filament battery voltages);
(15) Cossor 610FP.
A further guide to valve appearance during the course of their development from 1920 thru the 1960's can be seen in the picture below:-
This is by no means an exhaustive story of the valves/tubes of different years, but I hope it serves at least as an interesting illustration.
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