[Radionut78]

Can someone advise a good book that describes the different components of vacuum tubes? I would like to know what a "getter" is and how to distinguish the various types. Also, how do you tell the difference between a tube with smooth plates and one with ribbed plates? I have a copy of the book "Tube Lore" by Ludwell Sibley but it does not contain information of the components or how to distinguish the difference between the various types. Thanks for any and all help.

[Ron Ramirez]

Hi

I'm not sure if the Radiotron Designer's Handbook will give you what you are looking for, or not. It's been a while since I looked at my copy.

Some of the radio books written in the 1920s and 1930s go into detail about the construction of vacuum tubes. I'm thinking about Modern Radio Servicing by Ghirardi, which goes into detail on the fundamental circuits used in radios, and then gives tips on how to service them. Not a small book, quite comprehensive.

Alan Douglas can probably suggest more books, or more appropriate books, on this subject.

[Radionut78]

Hi Ron,
Thanks for the reply and info. Per your suggestion, I will contact Alan Douglas for his advice. Your help, concern and endeavors are much appreciated.
Floyd

[Glenn Roberts]

If you want to check it out, follow this link..

http://www.paleoelectronics.com/RDH4/

Glenn

[codefox1]

If you want a copy of the RadioTron Designer's Handbook just about anything else you will be amazed at this site.

All this material appears to be out of copywrite, and you can download tons of stuff here.

Don't try this unless you have high speed internet, the files are huge.

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[Radionut78]

Thanks to all those who responded to my tube characteristics and component inquiry. Your help, efforts and concern are very much appreciated.
Floyd

[Alan Douglas]

I missed seeing this before.

There's no book that will do quite what you want. The internal construction of vacuum tubes was of interest only to the engineers who worked on them. They did whatever was manufacturable at a reasonable cost and met the industry specs. If they had dies on hand for stamping plates with ribs (perhaps because other tubes used the same stampings) that's what they used; another maker might have chosen smooth plates. Getters were bought from outside suppliers because their manufacture was somewhat dangerous: the metals used were unstable. So again, the tube maker used whatever he could buy at the time, that was compatible with his manufacturing processes.

The specific shape of a getter, plate structure, or anything else, is only of interest now as an easy way to identify different products, some of which are assumed to be better than others, often in ways that the original makers wouldn't have dreamed of. It may be that 6L6s with "D" shaped getters (I'm making this up) "sound better" than tubes with washer-shaped getters. If so, it has nothing to do with the getter itself, only that at a certain time, one maker happened to use D-shaped getters and his girls were particularly adept at making good tubes. Whereas the competitor's girls used hand lotion that contaminated theirs. Or, more often than modern audiophiles will admit, there is no difference, but folklore is self-perpetuating (if you paid a lot for a tube or searched for years to find it, it always sounds better). And the differences between tubes must be visually obvious, so your friends will see that you're using the "better" version.

I recommend Robert Tomer's 1960 book "Getting the Most out of Vacuum Tubes" which I've been told is on the net somewhere, which discusses the tube characteristics that really matter, with no nonsense.

[Radionut78]

Alan,
Your comments and recommendations are much appreciated. During my sixty years of collecting and restoring antique radios, I never became interested in the different components of vacuum tubes or what a "getter" is but recently it seems these factors are important to tube collectors and audiophiles. I will attempt to obtain a copy of the book you recommend and give it a thorough reading.
Again, please accept my sincere thanks for your help and efforts.
Floyd