[R-390] TUBES

[Barry Hauser]

Yup -- and we used to be able to put men on the moon.  Same thing -- went
out of style <yawn>.  None of the moon rocks were diamonds, etc. so no
reason to go back, and now it's a lost art.  I pass by the outfit that made
the landing module (Grumman) every day.  Big round white tank and lots of
buildings.  Big tank used to say "Grumman".  Then they changed it to
"Northrup-Grumman".  Now it's blank.  I think they're going to put a mall in
there.  We're good at that still, well mostly.  Roosevelt Field, Lindbergh's
takeoff field, was turned into a mall after WWII -- one of the first of it's
scale in the world.  Somewhere there's a plaque commemorating the flight.
Probably not far from the "You are Here" map of the mall.

But think of this.  Once upon a time, there were no tube factories, no
machining, etc.  But someone hand crafted the first tube.  Ok, some glass
blowing and a vacuum pump was involved.  Hey, and those guys didn't have a
Dremel!  Heck, whaddya need, some glass, some pins, some thoriated tungsten,
some itty bitty pieces of beryllium copper.  Probably could harvest some of
the stuff from old tubes -- especially types that are in good supply but not
popular.  What about refurbishing old tubes?  Someone on the list has a
technique for cleanly opening the glass.  Just go in there and restring,
recoat the filament, elements, etc.  Use a microlaser to weld stuff --
borrow one from the radial keratotomy guys ("one eye just $800, two for
$1500")  Where there's a will there's a way. Maybe the Russian Toob Factry
would take pity and send a rescue party. ;-)

Actually, if it isn't clear, what I'm trying to do is provoke an extreme
do-it-yourself fanatic somewhere out there, y'know put a bug in his head,
push him over the edge.  Gimme a hand ....

Barry
----- Original Message -----
From: "CORYHINE" <CORYHINE@msn.com>
To: <R-390@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2002 4:32 PM
Subject: [R-390] TUBES


> The trouble is that at the time these tubes were made, they were under
contract and the volume and funding was there.  We still had a wartime
mentality.....  Now, there are a few who would like to get the old tubes,
but the factories, materials, and people involved are largely gone.  It
would not be cost effective to reinstate what existed at that time.  Reality
stinks!
> N2AQS
>
>
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