[Milsurplus] Re: Subminiature Tube Video

[Edward J White]

Edward J White wrote:
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>  My uncle, Harry Rubinstein, was called to Washington before the 
> invasion of Japan because the US Army was losing more than 50% of the 
> proximity fuses on launch.  The problem was that the high acceleration 
> at launch was tearing the circuitry apart.  He was working on the 
> development of silver mica caps at the time, and thought that if you 
> could print circuits on ceramic, you could do away with wiring.  He 
> went back to his lab at Globe Union, made two prototypes, flew back to 
> Washington, they tried both, one worked (all this took place in one 
> week (!), and the rest is history.  Globe Union patented the idea (the 
> printed circuit!!!) in his name, gave him a dollar, and made a 
> fortune. The patent was classified for many, many years, of course, 
> and after the war, many companies came out with printed circuit 
> devices.  Harry never made a cent.  But he was recognized as the 
> inventor by the IEEE in 1984 and given a major award.  Harry was 
> ex-9EEV from the early 1920s, and he was the one that got me started 
> in ham radio back in 1951.
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> http://www.engr.wisc.edu/eday/eday1984.html
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> Harry also invented the combination on/off switch/volume control and 
> the slider volume control, among other devices.
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> HARRY W. RUBINSTEIN
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> For his innovations in the technology of printed electronic circuits 
> and the fabrication of capacitors.
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> Harry W. Rubinstein (BSEE '27) was president of Sprague Electric 
> Company, Grafton, Wisconsin, from 1952 until 1970. He retired in 1971. 
> Faced with problems of weight, space, and shortage of strategic 
> materials, he developed the printed electronic circuit for the 
> proximity fuse used in bombs in World War II. That project, in 
> addition to the work of the National Bureau of Standards, was the 
> forerunner of the laminated plastic base printed circuits so widely 
> used today. In 1946, he was a cofounder of Herlec Corporation, which 
> concentrated on manufacturing and distributing ceramic disc 
> capacitors. Herlec merged with Sprague Electric in 1948. Mr. 
> Rubinstein was responsible for Sprague's Grafton, Wisconsin, plant, 
> set up factories in Nashua, New Hampshire, and Hillsville. Virginia, 
> and was a consultant to many of Sprague's 31 factories worldwide. He 
> helped improve manufacturing processes, reduce costs, and avoid 
> duplication of facilities and effort. He holds 19 U.S. patents. He and 
> his wife Else have a daughter and two sons.
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> Last spring, there was a discussion of people still making vacuum tubes.
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> A few years ago, Norm Krim, the pre-WW II developer of the Raytheon line of sub miniature tubes, gave me a copy of a video made, by the MIT Industrial Liaison Office,
> just before the last production line for those tubes in Quincy, Massachusetts, closed down.  With many thanks to Debbie Douglas, Curator of Science and Technology at the
> MIT Museum,  that video is now available for viewing on MIT's Tech TV:
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> http://techtv.mit.edu/file/1125/
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> Note that there are two options that appear below the picture on that page. Windows users might want to select the Flash Video option. I know that works as two friends
> have been able to view it successfully. You will likely need a broad band connection. The film is about 16 minutes long.
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> Norm has told me that the tubes were originally developed for hearing aid use pre-WW II, and were improved for use in the Proximity Fuze during the war. Just imagine, a
> vacuum tube that can be fired from a large gun and still operate. One clever trick to help the tubes survive was that the filaments were not powered until the shell was
> in free flight, either by addend a small wind turbine generator on the nose of the shell, or by having the battery void of electrolyte until the shock of firing and the
> spin of the shell filled the battery.
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> Shells using the Proximity Fuze were successfully used in the Battle of the Bulge (they caused the shells to air burst, increasing their effective area) and together with
> the SCR-584 Radar against the V-1 "Buzz Bombs"
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> Note that the tubes being produced in the video are not actually for the Proximity Fuze, but were for some US Navy Crypto application.
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> There is at least one book about the Proximity Fuze ("The Deadly Fuze") and there was also a PBS Nova program of the same name.
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> I hop you enjoy the film.
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> Best,
> -John
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> (c)
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