[Milsurplus] Mystery Tube at the Radio Technology Museum

[Richard Solomon]

Ancient Mercury Vapor Rectifier ??

73, Dick, W1KSZ

On Sun, Apr 30, 2017 at 7:33 AM, Al Klase <ark at ar88.net> wrote:

> Wayne,
>
> Yes, it bothers me that the prism and the shield are floating.  I thought
> about X-rays early on, but it's nothing like a Coolidge tube.  Even if the
> prism was connected, the spacing is too close to allow any significant high
> voltage.
>
> I hadn't thought about radioactive components, but it's negative for beta
> and gamma on the Geiger counter.
>
> I guess I'm going to have to light the thing up.
>
> Thanks for the input,
> Al
>
> On 4/30/2017 2:19 AM, hwhall at compuserve.com wrote:
>
> That hefty wedge, that is connected to nothing, made my mind jump towards
> something like an x-ray target. One way of generating x-rays was smashing
> high energy electrons into dense metal targets (e.g., tungsten). Except the
> target is supposed to be the anode & is usually just one beveled surface
> not two as in the pictured wedge. Why would that wedge just be hanging
> there connected to nothing, yet it seems an important part of the tube?
>
> And the spindly little things at the top of the tube, what is that all
> about? The way they are staggered suggests someone wanted to sample
> something at different angles from the wedge.  But what??
>
> And the filament is weird, too. Is it to heat the wedge? Why? Also note
> the shield isn't connected to anything so how can it act as an
> electrostatic shield? Is it just a reflector to focus more filament heat
> onto the wedge??
>
> Perhaps it was something cobbled together for some physics experiment? In
> which case there's no telling what it was supposed to do.
>
> Have you checked the tube for any radiation emissions?
>
> Wayne
> WB4OGM
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Al Klase <ark at ar88.net> <ark at ar88.net>
> To: Milsurplus <Milsurplus at mailman.qth.net> <Milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Sat, Apr 29, 2017 2:43 pm
> Subject: [Milsurplus] Mystery Tube at the Radio Technology Museum
>
> Gang, I posted this to The Tube Collectors Association a while back, but
> with the exception of one thoughtful reply from Jim W., all I heard was
> crickets. So, please take a look, and tell me what this is:
> http://www.rtm.ar88.net/tubes/mystery/Mystery%20Tube.html 73, Al -- Al
> Klase – N3FRQ Jersey City, NJ http://www.skywaves.ar88.net/
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> --
> Al Klase – N3FRQ
> Jersey City, NJhttp://www.skywaves.ar88.net/
>
>
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