[ARC5] VHF SET

[David Stinson]

From: J Mcvey 



Ø  What is the large glass bulb in the right hand side of the picture used for?

 

That is an early rectifier.  It’s full of mercury.  The two “handles” contain the anodes and the pool of mercury, the cathode.  You tilted it over to run the mercury up to the anode and cause a spark, which vaporized some of the mercury and started the current flow, which vaporized more mercury.  So you’ve got a rectifier without needing a heater to vaporize the mercury.  I’ve seen one intact one in my life.  Most were destroyed to recover the valuable mercury, since one might contain several pounds.

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