[NJARC] Western Electric 215A "Peanut" Tube

[Ray Chase]

The design of the 215A was started in WWI by H.J. van der Bijl but it 
missed the end of the war.  Also known as Signal Corps VT-5 and Navy 
CW-1344 or CW38015.  Could be made to work up to 1.9 Mhz.  Actually 
produced up to the mid 70's and the Navy was still ordering them in the 
70's.  Bernard Magers book has a lot of details and specs on the tube 
which I might be able to e-mail you off line if you wish.  See also 
Tyne's Saga of the Vacuum Tube book.  Northern Electric version was the 
R215A.
Ray

Yardleyite at aol.com wrote:

> Dear Fellow NJARC Members,
>                                             I was wondering if anyone knew 
> what the original applications for the Western  Electric 215A "peanut" tube was 
> and why it was originally produced? I know the  specs, etc. To my knowledge it 
> was used in a few of the early  superheterodyne kits in the mid '20's, but 
> don't know of any "specific"  applications for it. Was it Western Electric's 
> answer to an 01A in a smaller  package? Was it developed for telephone relay 
> amplifiers, hence it's  "diminuitive" size compared to an 01A? 
>  
> I believe it was intended as a "detector-amplifier" like the 01A, but did  it 
> exhibit any specific characteristics like say, a #00 tube or a gaseous  
> detector in Armstrong regenerative circuts, etc? 
>  
> Any insight will be appreciated. I have 5 NOS ones I'd like to build  
> something with someday to make them "sing for their supper" in a early-mid '20's  
> retro receiver project, etc.
>                                                                               
>           Best  Regards,
>                                                                               
>                               Joe Cro N3IBX
>       
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