Abstract
THE modern thermionic valve has now become of world-wide importance, not only in connexion with radio broadcasting, but also in its many applications in scientific and commercial instruments, and in industrial processes. Unfortunately for those who have to make constant use of valves of the usual receiving type, their popularity and rapid advances during the past decade have resulted in a multifarious range of valves for different purposes. In spite of several earnest attempts, no satisfactory means of classifying these valves has been standardized, and the various manufacturers have accordingly adopted different and arbitrary codes for designating the types of valves which they supply. Amidst this confusion and in the absence of adequate co-operation between manufacturers in different countries, it is natural to find that the number of types is constantly increasing and is now quite unnecessarily large. Pending the time when more uniformity is arrived at, however, the Wireless World has been fulfilling a useful public service for the past ten years by issuing a list of valve types with the appropriate technical data. A search through these lists reveals in a striking manner not only the growth in the number of valves, but also the increasing amount of information which is needed about a valve in order to select a suitable type for any purpose. The issue of theWireless World of November 25 contains the latest of these lists in the form of a nine teen-page supplement. The data here provided cover more than 900 current valve types, both British and American, as many as fourteen numerical characteristics being given for some of the valves. A useful guide to valve bases is also provided. Such a publication cannot fail to be of great utility to all scientific and technical workers who make use of the modern thermionic valve.
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Thermionic Valve Data. Nature 140, 1046 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/1401046c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1401046c0