Vacuum tubes inspired and introduced the world to the electronic age; bringing us radio, telephone and television and more. Newer, more reliable and less expensive creations have allowed our electronics to become smaller, more lightweight and far more powerful and reliable. An entire generation is among us whom have never really known what ‘vacuum tubes’ meant to the pre-electronic revolution era.
Moon City Vacuum Tubes?
Predating modern present-day circuitry, the vacuum tube was a constructed device designed to amplify, switch or modify an electrical signal through controlling the movement of electrons. This was necessarily done in a vacuum of low pressure. Not a complete vacuum which was not possible, but low enough to permit the weak electric charges to travel more freely. These legacy devices were present in just about all electronics of the era from radios and televisions, telephone relay & switching services, sonar, and other broadcast equipment. They are for the most part completely archaic today, replaced by faster, stronger, smaller and far superior solid state circuits and diodes. Vacuum tubes are still used however in some applications for ‘engineering reasons.’ Cited in Wikipedia, vacuum tubes are still used in some high power radio frequency transmitters, for the aesthetic and probably nostalgic appeal as well. Some do-it-yourself fans probably enjoy the challenge of making their own ‘ham radio’ equipment and making their own vacuum tubes ‘old style.’
Some of the last die-hard vacuum tube usage holdouts still in use today can be found in television sets (the cathode ray tube), video monitors (such as many computers still have), and oscilloscopes. These last hold-outs of the vacuum tube era are slowly but surely being replaced by modern flat panel displays, flat-screen monitors and LCD displays.
Felix the Cat
Most people can recognize “Felix the Cat” but did you know that this charming cartoon character was the very first image broadcast, back in 1928! This B&W cartoon character was a favorite on the silver screen in short films in the early 1900s. We love our cartoons, as true now as then. “The Jetsons” was I believe the first cartoon serial to appear in color back in the early 60s. That series ran from Sept. 23rd, 1962 to Mar.3rd, 1963. A lot of the buildings and structures of that cartoon series greatly resembled vacuum tubes, of which was clearly no coincidence. “The Jetsons” (the ’60s series) was 1950s-style life problems set in a hypothetical futuristic setting. A remake of the series decades later would be of a more sci-fi genre dealing with situations more befitting ‘the future.’ Things like black holes, alien incursions, etc. This was totally absent from the serial of the ’60s.
Definitely a Futuristic City!
This looks like a city seen from across the Bay, a metropolitan hub of commerce and citizenry. For its time, vacuum tubes must have been thought to be the wonder of the ages. I remember when having turned on our old television, I was enthralled watching the picture screen develop a little whitish dot on the center of the screen which slowly sprang to life first as a long horizontal line then it expanded vertically… and a picture appeared. It seemed wondrous! I remember the warm, ionized air that came from the back of our old B&W television when it had been in use for several hours. I loved that smell. I was ‘life’ of a sort. And now, all this just seems so antiquated. Such heat emanating from electronic devices is a sign of imminent failure and danger. I am thinking about hot laptop batteries and over-clocked PCs what eventually burn-out the motherboard.
Today’s electronics are leaps and bounds superior to the ones I grew up with and yet, I could wish that children of today could experience the magic of watching vacuum tubes warm up and come to life. I think they would appreciate their Gameboy, iPod and other electronic gadgetry far more.
About thestickman I build web pages, cross-browser, W3C-compliant with attention to Accessibility s.508 for the Handicapped.
