fdegrove,
I have a set of American made blue glass tubes (Arcturus). I thought that was purely for aesthetic reasons(?).
In the 20's there was a company, Atwater Kent, who made breadboard radios with the tubes visible. That is, no enclosure (their models 1 through 4). Also many of the enclosed radios had covers that could open revealing the tubes inside. Blue tinted tubes would make for a very pleasing sight.
While Einstein did win the Nobel for his discovery of higher frequency light producing higher energy in CDS cells during that time, I would wonder about UV affecting tubes and whether the engineers even thought about that, since it usually takes several years for new discoveries to drip down into commercial practice (laser is an example that sticks out in my mind, invented in the fifties and first used practically in the late 70's, AFAIK).
Besides, wouldn't one want red tint to filter out blue, since the blue tint allows blue light, including UV, to get through? If anything, I would think that infrared would be kept inside the tube tinted blue so the tube wouldn't emit as much heat outside. This much was over 100 year old knowledge at that time.
Curious
Gabe
I have a set of American made blue glass tubes (Arcturus). I thought that was purely for aesthetic reasons(?).
In the 20's there was a company, Atwater Kent, who made breadboard radios with the tubes visible. That is, no enclosure (their models 1 through 4). Also many of the enclosed radios had covers that could open revealing the tubes inside. Blue tinted tubes would make for a very pleasing sight.
While Einstein did win the Nobel for his discovery of higher frequency light producing higher energy in CDS cells during that time, I would wonder about UV affecting tubes and whether the engineers even thought about that, since it usually takes several years for new discoveries to drip down into commercial practice (laser is an example that sticks out in my mind, invented in the fifties and first used practically in the late 70's, AFAIK).
Besides, wouldn't one want red tint to filter out blue, since the blue tint allows blue light, including UV, to get through? If anything, I would think that infrared would be kept inside the tube tinted blue so the tube wouldn't emit as much heat outside. This much was over 100 year old knowledge at that time.
Curious
Gabe
BLUE GRASS.
Hi Gabe,
It took me a while to find the info...
According to "70 Years of Radio Tubes and Valves" by John W. Stokes the Arcturus tubes where made with blue glass during the first six years of manufacture.
I quote from the book:
"Actually Arcturus were not the first blue tubes but due to the length of time blue glass was in use the words "Blue" and "Arcturus" became synonymous.
The transparent blue glass was the same as that used on "daylight blue" electric lamps and was considerably more expensive than ordinary clear glass, which was probably the reason for its eventual abandonment."
In other words, it was just for show.
What I said about the European blue tubes may well be wrong, it was an explanation given to me by a radio collector.
As you pointed out, it won't be an effective protection and I'm not aware of tubes being senstive to daylight....again I could be wrong there as well.
Cheers,
Hi Gabe,
It took me a while to find the info...
According to "70 Years of Radio Tubes and Valves" by John W. Stokes the Arcturus tubes where made with blue glass during the first six years of manufacture.
I quote from the book:
"Actually Arcturus were not the first blue tubes but due to the length of time blue glass was in use the words "Blue" and "Arcturus" became synonymous.
The transparent blue glass was the same as that used on "daylight blue" electric lamps and was considerably more expensive than ordinary clear glass, which was probably the reason for its eventual abandonment."
In other words, it was just for show.
What I said about the European blue tubes may well be wrong, it was an explanation given to me by a radio collector.
As you pointed out, it won't be an effective protection and I'm not aware of tubes being senstive to daylight....again I could be wrong there as well.
Cheers,
Hi,
may be I can tell u the blue glow of the we300B.
the blue glow was the action between
the electron bombared the plate Nickel atoms & release out.
Or can said the non purity of the plate, may be the structure of Barium~Strontium high speed ions attact the plate nickel atoms.
Sometimes will remove the + or - ions of the nickels atom & cause + or - charge in nickel atom unbalance. The unbalance Nickel atoms will collect the charge ions from the atoms beside to balance the charge. Than u will see the blue light, Sorry my english is not good, hope U will understand.
Another reason is the new we300B is 2x10(-6) torr.
the old tubes or old we300b is 2X10(-4) torr.
This is the another reason to see the blue light.
thanks
Thomas
www.diyaudiocraft.com
may be I can tell u the blue glow of the we300B.
the blue glow was the action between
the electron bombared the plate Nickel atoms & release out.
Or can said the non purity of the plate, may be the structure of Barium~Strontium high speed ions attact the plate nickel atoms.
Sometimes will remove the + or - ions of the nickels atom & cause + or - charge in nickel atom unbalance. The unbalance Nickel atoms will collect the charge ions from the atoms beside to balance the charge. Than u will see the blue light, Sorry my english is not good, hope U will understand.
Another reason is the new we300B is 2x10(-6) torr.
the old tubes or old we300b is 2X10(-4) torr.
This is the another reason to see the blue light.
thanks
Thomas
www.diyaudiocraft.com
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