Question on Radio Tubes

[vendo81]

Today at a garage sale I ran into a dozen or so boxes of old tubes. There was also 2 boxes of very early radio parts,dial parts etc. Most of the tubes (about 250) were new in their boxes as in the first photo. Looks to be mabey 30's or 40'S? One box has about 50 tubes that were individually wrapped in newspapers dating from 1948 and 1953. I've included a photo of a few of the wrapped tubes. Are these still used or just display tubes? Are they from the 30's or earlier? Thanks...

[Bob E.]

Yeah, there's some oldies in there...the ones with the evacuation seal at the top of the bulb are generally older than the ones that conceal it in the base. Brass pins and bases are a sign of early vintage, and the old "balloon" shape came in between the top-seal era and the shouldered-envelope age. I don't know how much "use" anyone will get out of any of them, I think they will appeal mainly to collectors. Your best resource, if you are interested in the subject or wish to identify them would be the book "Tube Lore" by Ludwell Sibley. I consult my copy all the time!

--Bob

[vendo81]

Bob...I'll look for the book you mentioned as I do find these interesting. The brass pin tubes with the top seal do look real early. They are WD11 tubes. There are a couple of them I found in a box that are unused and 5 or 6 used looking ones. All of the others don't have brass pins except for one with very short pins.
I think the book would be great to read! Thanks for all the info

[Bob E.]

The WD-11 tubes were an early receiving triode introduced in 1921, they would probably be of interest to anyone with an early RCA "Radiola" they wanted to restore...I have one that was modified for other tubes. It takes a pair. According to "Tube Lore", they have a special 4-pin base with enlarged plate pin, a coated filament that runs at 1.1 V @ 250 mA (don't try to test this with your DMM!), mu of 6.6 gm. They fetch a fair amount on eBay.

I meant to add that you also have some interesting boxes, there is a fellow I've mentioned on AK before that has a website with collections of scans of tube boxes, I've provided him with some to add to his "database" (I sent him the actual boxes, not scans). His website is at: http://www.geocities.com/rxtxtubes/pa01000.htm I have another couple dozen I need to send him.

For example, in the first picture of yours, I see a Duovac box and lots of Silvertone (which was Sears' house brand) that he does not have, and I was curious about that green one that is partly under another box in the upper right...is that a Sylvania? It looks like it has the Sylvania leaf logo on the bottom, but the sides look interesting in an Art Nouveau way. What I can see of it looks appealing. There were hundreds of manufacturers and re-branders of tubes in the early days (20's through early 40's), and some of the boxes are quite attractive and interesting to look at, at least to a tube geek like me!

Be careful handling these old boxes, especially opening them, as some were sealed for the consumer's protection from substitution, and were designed so you could push the pins out the bottom of the box to test the tube without removing it from the box. Depending on how these were stored, the cardboard has become very fragile in the intervening years, and is easily torn. Same with flaps on non-"push to test" boxes. I've been casually amassing a collection of old "pre-history" tubes and boxes of my own. Watch out, they can be addictive!

--Bob

[vendo81]

Hi Bob...Thanks for all the information. I can see how the boxes would be nice to collect. Very colorful! I've added scans so you can see some of the boxes I have. Most are sealed so I didn't try to open them. Yes that green one is a Sylvania, and it has a real neat looking side as well with a tube outline on it. I have quite a few of the Silvertone boxes. Most tubes found(about 150+) are the black/red RCA boxes. There are 2 large boxes that I haven't gotten into yet that have some interesting small boxes(they look about the 9 pin size) and some strange rectangular RCA tube boxes.
What is the best way to test the filiment on the WDII's? I haven't done anything as they look delicate. They have been wrapped since 1948 (newspaper date).
When I get a chance I'll make a list and look the tubes up. The only tubes I reconized, and knew were collectable were the early globe type 50, 801, 801A's and 2A3 tubes.
I've added a couple more photos of the boxes and a neat looking philco labeled tube. The Duovac box has a date of 1929.
Again thanks for all the information.

[Dan Starnes]

Wow!! Very cool find!
Dan

[Bob E.]

Wow, call me a tube-weirdo, but some of those boxes are really cool! I really like that Duovac one, it's beautiful. The Sylvania is certainly the earliest one I have ever seen, I'm trying to figure out what is depicted in silhouette in between the trees...a woodland nymph talking to a robot??? The Ace box is fun, with its slogan (Ace of the Air), and the RCA UY-227 is a box variant I have not seen before either.

If I remember to bring my camera home from work tomorrow, I'll have to take a few pics of some of my more-interesting and rare tube boxes.

As for testing the WD-11 tubes, others more knowledgeable may chime in, but I think you could use a pair of alligator clip leads and a D-cell to see if the filament lights up. You know from my prior post that the fat pin is the plate, so you only have three combinations of pins to try to see which is the filament (in case a base diagram is not able to be quickly found on the web). Since it is a filament, and not an indirectly heated cathode, the glowing filament should be obvious.

Nice haul, and have fun!

--Bob

[cooljjay]

Wow lucky, wish I came across a box like that. I bought an old GE radiola, just for the box of tudes that came with it, was going to junk the cabinet and keep the tubes. but I restored the case and found a corner for it. I would have loved to come across those tubes. check the forum section on arf http://www.antiqueradios.com/

[vendo81]

Thanks for everyone's response Bob...I'd sure like to see some of your more-interesting tube boxes. I've always liked tubes but after seeing these I think I like the boxes as well
I ended up checking the filaments using a volt meter I have that only puts 1 volt across them. All were fine. I'd like to check their life but don't think my tester will test these. Mabey I'll have to test them in radios Looking foward to any photos you load up!

[ke4jhj]

You have a great haul of tubes there! Those were made from the early 20's to early 30's.

Just like record sleeves from the same period, you have to admire the artwork that went into those boxes.

[Bob E.]

OK, Keith (and anyone else that is interested!): Here are a few of my older or more-unusual tube boxes (most have tubes inside to match...).

The first pic. has some I got from eBay recently, I think they are mid-late 30's, early 40's. The first one, "Concert Master" is clearly a re-box job, I think the tube itself was made by RCA, Concert Master just high-graded them, stuck on a fancy embossed foil sticker and put them in a colorful box (that was starting to look out-of-date with a picture of a globe tube on the other side, see pics 2, 3 &4). I haven't opened the others, but I'm pretty sure they were all re-boxer brands as well (I don't think Western Auto made tubes! See the "Wizard" box...).

In pic. 5, the CeCo and "OK" boxes are probably from the early 30's, the others are later, like 40's, I believe.

Pic. 6 has some early RCA pre-globe tubes, and the "Airline" was for Montgomery Ward's house brand, just like your "Silvertone" were Sears' house brand. The Atlantic box has a labeled RCA globe tube in it wrapped in corrugated paper, and I believe it is original, just another re-box job.

Pic. 7 has the way-cool Arcturus observatory box, with a blue-glass globe tube inside (not all Arcturus tubes were blue, but the ones that are sure are pretty!). The Westinghouse is unusual, it's a Canadian Westinghouse, and does not have the same artwork as US Westinghouse, in fact, it looks like an RCA box, and calls the tube a "Radiotron", like US RCA! US Westinghouse called their brand of tubes "Reliatron". Rogers and Majestic were the same company at one time (I believe, anyway Majestic was started by Rogers, and I think both used the term "Mighty Monarch of the Air" at times, however this Rogers did not).

Pic. 8 has some "Nipper" boxes, but note they are not "RCA"... they are "RCA VICTOR"...different division, I guess. Maybe the phono division? Also, the Cunningham box is there to haunt Nipper, RCA had some real legal wrangles with Cunningham (which Cunningham eventually lost, at least twice!). It has the court-ordered "Licensed by RCA" in small print on it...

Pic. 9 are some old tubes I have without boxes, the second one is a DeForest "Audion", and the first and last ones are brass-base unknown models (the last one is GE, but unknown model number...).

Hope these are interesting to some folks!

--Bob

[vendo81]

Great set of tube boxes and tubes Bob!
That concert master is unbelievable. A real work of art They really put detail into it on all sides. I really like the Arcturus box! That blue observatory is really nice! I think all the boxes are great but mostly the RCA (his master's voice), the wizard and I really like the Majestic. I used to have a console Majestic radio that I gave to my brother that had "Mighty Monarch of the Air" on the speaker. It's a great sounding radio. I think it had a bird with spread wings on the glass dial and several bands. I haven't seen it in a few years as he lives in a different state. That Cunningham box has their "C" symbol that is etched on the top of one of my early tubes, a C-11. I found out it is the same as my RCA WD11's and was probably made by RCA. After looking though the photo's several times I find I like them all! Great collection and infomation you provided for each!..

[kbmuri]

A different Concert Master tube box:

[kbmuri]

A few of my favorites:

[www.records]

Great thread. Tubes and boxes are sure a thing of beauty and are addicting. Thanks for sharing pics.