Dekatrons on Jeopardy! ?

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jf03...@gmail.com

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Aug 11, 2022, 12:59:38 PM8/11/22
to neonixie-l

Am I the only one who thinks these are dekatrons, and therefore not vacuum tubes? 

Does anyone recognize which early computer might have used these?  It does not look like the pictures I found online for the Harwell WITCH.

Original air date:  11-05-21

Rebroadcast date:   08-09-22

 Double Jeopardy category:  Computer History

 $2000 clue:

 “These sealed glass predecessors of the transistor were vital components of the early computers.”

 Jeff:  “What are vacuum tubes?”

 Mayim Bialik:  “Corrrect.”

Dekatron-TV.jpeg


 

Audrey

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Aug 11, 2022, 1:08:09 PM8/11/22
to neoni...@googlegroups.com
The glow is the heater of a regular VT IMO, cool regardless.

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Jeff Malins

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Aug 11, 2022, 1:27:27 PM8/11/22
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Those are 7236 double triodes. Definitely a vacuum tube.

Given the layout, I think that is a picture of the core memory amplifiers on the SAGE (AN/FSQ-7) computer.



-Jeff

<Dekatron-TV.jpeg>


 


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<Dekatron-TV.jpeg>

Charles MacDonald

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Aug 11, 2022, 4:44:37 PM8/11/22
to neoni...@googlegroups.com, Jeff Malins
On 2022-08-11 13:27, Jeff Malins wrote:
> Those are 7236 double triodes. Definitely a vacuum tube.
>
> Given the layout, I think that is a picture of the core memory
> amplifiers on the SAGE (AN/FSQ-7) computer.

yep - a it look like a regular tube to me...

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Charles MacDonald VA3CPY Stittsville Ontario
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TS_7236_dualTriode.png

jf03...@gmail.com

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Aug 12, 2022, 1:32:28 PM8/12/22
to neonixie-l
I took a closer look at the picture.  It looks like there is a small 4-digit number outside the octagon which I interpret as "5944".  There is a  larger 4 digit number inside the octagon which I think is "7?25" (where the 7 is clear, the ? is unreadable, and the 25 is my best guess).  Both of these seem inconsistent with 7236.

Also, I only see one off-center orange glow in each tube, and I would expect two in a dual triode.
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