Subminiature Tubes

[BadChile]

I just finished the book "12 Seconds of Silence: How a team of inventors, tinkerers, and spies took down a Nazi superweapon", by Jamie Holmes and I have to recommend it to others who are into tube audio.  The book focuses on the development of the proximity fuse for anti-aircraft shells in World War II, which used subminiature tubes under what can best be described as challenging conditions: high acceleration loads, the need to reduce microphonics, and how to power the transmitter and receiver in a shell which may sit on a shelf for months before being used.

 

For what it is worth, a brief search this morning led to a number of websites devoted to the topic of subminiature tubes which contradict the information presented by the author - one states the tubes were developed by Raytheon, whereas per the book the development of the tube was performed by  a team of scientists under the auspices of the War Department; the production of the tube was performed by three firms including Raytheon but also Crosley and Sylvania.  Any tube fanatic out there should check it out as it is quite interesting how a team of top notch scientists and engineers (including James van Allen, of the Van Allen belts) addressed the numerous engineering problems associated with these awesome devices!