Electron tubes are fascinating. In contrast to the highly integrated semiconductor components
of our time with many functions and sometimes many millions of active elements in a single package,
the function of a tube is still easy to imagine. To a certain extent, the flow of electrons can
still be "seen". The heating of the tube glows clearly visible in the dark and this is simply part
of it. This also often awakens childhood memories and that is of course very romantic. From a purely
technical point of view, today's semiconductor components are far superior to tubes. The efficiency
of the tube alone is very poor, especially because of the necessary heating.
The history of the tube in short form: In 1873 the glow emission was discovered (Frederick Guthrie). The same
discovery was made by Edison in 1884 and the effect was subsequently named the Edison-Richardson Effect.
The first vacuum diode was patented in 1904 by the English physicist John Ambrose Fleming. In 1906, the
Austrian physicist Robert von Lieben developed a mercury vapor-filled and magnetically controllable amplifier
tube ("Liebenröhre"). Independently of Lieben, Lee de Forest developed the so-called audion tube (gas-filled tube)
in 1907. Unlike the Lieben tube, this had a control grid. From May 1914 Telefunken developed the high vacuum tube
and at Siemens & Halske Walter Schottky developed the tetrode (with screen grid) in 1916. At the Philips laboratory
in Eindhoven, Bernard Tellegen developed the pentode 1926 to series production readiness. After that, the tubes
continued to be developed until the late 50s.
From time to time I like to tinker with the old tubes. These are only in exceptional cases, for
example in the HiFi audio area, hardly manufactured anymore. Old tubes achieve high collector's prices.
Luckily I still have some tubes in my tinker boxes and sometimes I can buy some at flea markets.
In these museum web pages I present some of the old treasures:
 RE134 / P240 |
 RE134 Telefunken |
 RE134 Telefunken |
 RE134 Telefunken |
 P240 Triotron |
 P240 Triotron |
 NS4 Orion |
 NS4 Orion |
 NS4 Orion |
 904 Opta ? |
 904 Opta ? |
 904 Opta ? |
 LV1 Lorenz |
 LG6 Valvo |
 RL12P10 |
 3BP1 |
 ZP1400 Mullard |
 ECC86 National |
 ECC86 National |
 EF80 Tungsram |
 EF80 Tungsram |
 EF183 Philips |
 EF183 Philips |
 EBF80 Telefunken |
 EBF80 Telefunken |
