[Hallicrafters] Elecron Tubes

[Ken Kaplan]

The question about tubes made me wonder just who were the "real" U.S. tube manufacturers 
of the 20th century. Kind of a trivia thing, I guess. Here are names I can think of although I 
don't know for sure that they all actually built tubes instead of simply labelling them. In no 
particular order:

RCA
GE
Tung-Sol
Cetron
Eimac
Sylvania
Westinghouse
Amperex
Western Electric
Zenith

There is probably a huge list of private labels including almost all of our beloved boatanchors. 
I'm beginning to wonder if maybe there were only a few companies who actually 
manufactured tubes (kind of like VCRs in Japan). I've always thought tubes were cool. I 
remember putting some in the bath tub when I was a kid. I wondered why they would float 
considering they were a vacuum. Please no explanations - I learned that lesson long ago 
<g>. As an older kid, I made trips to Mt. Wilson (north of Los Angeles) to go dumpster diving 
for tossed tubes (big radio & TV transmitter site). I guess the concept of the magic that went 
on inside those shiny glass objects was the draw. Even to this day, I can look at a tube and 
fantasize the goings on inside. Semiconductors don't have quite the draw (pun intended). I 
think that's why I got into electronics - magic that I could learn and apply.

73 Ken kb7rgg