Original Tube Prices

[LB]

Hi all,

Out of curiosity, I took a look at some old Burroughs nixie tube price lists, and took the prices (1-99 pcs) to an inflation calculator (1963->2023). Here are some highlights:

B-4991 (Miniature, $68.00) -> $677.10

B-7094 (Jumbo, $45.00) -> $448.08

B-4032 (Miniature, $33.00) -> $328.59

B-5971 (13 Segments, $16.75) -> $166.79

6844-A (Standard, $11.00) -> $109.53

B-9012 (Pixie, $5.00) -> $49.79

I know that these tubes were made pretty much exclusively for military/non-consumer applications, but it's still interesting to see just how expensive nixies were in reasonable quantities.

[Audrey]

My understanding is that the prices dropped a lot as time went on, here's another price catalog from 1970 that mentions most of the same tubes for much cheaper, with B-5750 types just $4@1000pcs - roughly $25/pc now.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to neonixie-l+...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/b904ba4c-c1a0-4fdc-8e79-91019281564dn%40googlegroups.com.

[Audrey]

Oh. It didn't attach.

[Robert G. Schaffrath]

The B-7971 is an interesting study. It is listed at $15.85 in single quantities, which is still worse than the $5/each I paid for NOS surplus from Meshna in 1979. However, running that number through the inflation calculator for January 1970 to July 2023 and I get $128.18 (which is shocking to see how much our money has been devalued all these years).

When B-7971's appear on eBay, they tend to sell for around $175-$200 each. Not that big a markup over the original price when inflation is taken into account. Of course most of the tubes being sold are used but still, factoring in 53 years of time for something no longer made, the markup is not that big. I am guessing that Ultronics was paying the $9.50/each ($76.83 - 2023) price for the quantities they were working with.

[Robert]

Interesting that the B 8971 is much more expensive than the B7971, was this used in any commercial products ?

Thanks

Rob

On 2 Sep 2023, at 14:13, Robert G. Schaffrath <robert.s...@gmail.com> wrote:

The B-7971 is an interesting study. It is listed at $15.85 in single quantities, which is still worse than the $5/each I paid for NOS surplus from Meshna in 1979. However, running that number through the inflation calculator for January 1970 to July 2023 and I get $128.18 (which is shocking to see how much our money has been devalued all these years).

To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/e4c4e38d-714b-4d3e-b675-38a236e07e1en%40googlegroups.com.

[Greg P]

Only thing I’ve been able to find that used the 8971’s was this keyboard.

https://telcontar.net/KBK/KBref/Invac_PK-244/

And of course the infamous MOD-SIX Black Emerald.

http://www.badnixie.com/Black_Emerald_Nixie.html

[Audrey]

Woah what a weird device, very cool find.

To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/f201df98-74c5-455e-9eaa-35f8138f9d33n%40googlegroups.com.

[Robert G. Schaffrath]

The only reasons that I can think of are 1) the B-8971 is tinier and might have been more complicated to manufacture. 2) Ultronics having ordered thousands of the B-7971's resulted in efficiency improvements in manufacturing the B-7971 such that the price came down.

Off the top of my head I am aware of three variants of the B-7971 internals. Most likely those changes came about from making so many of them they found ways to improve the manufacturing process. It is possible that B-8971's never benefited from any manufacturing improvements or design changes due to the small number of them that appear to have been made.

Robert

On Saturday, September 2, 2023 at 11:58:32 AM UTC-4 Robert wrote:

Interesting that the B 8971 is much more expensive than the B7971, was this used in any commercial products ?

Thanks

Rob

[Robert Norman]

B7971 - I’ve only seen the early “Pin type” ones and the later “circuit board” type, what is the other one?

Rob

On 3 Sep 2023, at 12:44, Robert G. Schaffrath <robert.s...@gmail.com> wrote:



To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/5362200c-a0a2-4c63-bc15-66d145aec7e1n%40googlegroups.com.

[jf03...@gmail.com]

Based on an ad in the May 1`973 Radio-Electronics, Meshna was selling them for $2.50 for a pair of tubes with sockets and driver board with HV transistors, or $1.25 per tube/socket/ckt board combo.  These were clearly pulls from the recently decommissioned NYSE stock tickers, so they probably had already seen over 10k hours of service instead of being NOS.

[Robert G. Schaffrath]

In 1979, Meshna was selling used pulls, without sockets, for $4 (inflation in the 1970’s was horrible then too). For $5, you could buy what they described as new unused tubes. I opted to spend $6 more for the six new ones. They are also branded Ultronics and still nicely individually wrapped in bubble wrap.

If I had to guess, they cleaned out an Ultronics repair depot of their stock. Somewhere there would have had to be replacement tubes on hand to service the displays. 

Яoßəят

On Sep 3, 2023, at 12:58 PM, jf03...@gmail.com wrote:

Based on an ad in the May 1`973 Radio-Electronics, Meshna was selling them for $2.50 for a pair of tubes with sockets and driver board with HV transistors, or $1.25 per tube/socket/ckt board combo.  These were clearly pulls from the recently decommissioned NYSE stock tickers, so they probably had already seen over 10k hours of service instead of being NOS.

On Saturday, September 2, 2023 at 6:12:57 AM UTC-7 Robert G. Schaffrath wrote:

When B-7971's appear on eBay, they tend to sell for around $175-$200 each. Not that big a markup over the original price when inflation is taken into account. Of course most of the tubes being sold are used but still, factoring in 53 years of time for something no longer made, the markup is not that big. I am guessing that Ultronics was paying the $9.50/each ($76.83 - 2023) price for the quantities they were working with.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/neonixie-l/daJQjXu81S0/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to neonixie-l+...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/26ec5606-ab7d-4aee-a72b-ddf56f80b358n%40googlegroups.com.

[Nick]

Many years ago I bought some NOS B7971s - they came in expanded polystyrene trays moulded to half a tube lying down, 16 at a time, at about USD 10 each. Whilst they could have been pulls, there was very little ghosting so I suspect they were genuinely NOS or at least very close to being NOS. Most of my current stock was from US Mint at between USD 15 - 20 and we all know the pain that was...

It's worth remembering that these are rated for a minimum of 200,000 hours running which equates to about 8330 days or nearly 23 years of continuous use.

Also, there is no real definition of nixie lifespan, i.e. what constitutes end-of-life. Weston suggested EOL when 50% of the display was obscured, but there is nothing standardised. Personally, I've never had a B7971 fail or even look that used, and there are some clocks/FLWs around here that have been running continuously for 20 years or so.

Nick