Abstract
A TUBE like a radiometer tube contained a concave metal disk within the bulb; this disk could be connected with the pole of an induction-coil, and about a quarter of an inch above it was a small wire which could be connected with the other pole. The bulb was exhausted to such a point that a 5-inch spark could not pass from the wire to the metal disk. The wire and disk were connected for several minutes with an induction-coil giving 41/2 to 5-inch sparks; although no spark passed between them, the glass on the side of the bulb, which was just in the focus of the metal concave disk, was melted, and the pressure of the external air forced the melted glass inward, and a minute hole was formed, of course destroying the vacuum. The diameter of the hole was about that of the finest sewing-needle; it was in the centre of a depression in the side of the bulb about a tenth of an inch in diameter.
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CUNNINGTON, H. Experiment with a Vacuum Tube. Nature 19, 458 (1879). https://doi.org/10.1038/019458a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/019458a0
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