How did JEDEC publish its "Electron Device Type Registration" back in 60s/70s? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: niconiconi
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2020, 07:01:17 pm
content: Sorry if this post is not about electronic design, but I think this section of the forum is the best place to ask.My initial motivation was to identify the year that the original 1N400X diodes came into existence, using reliable records, rather than anecdotal sources. Just for historical curiosity, so I started to search the old JEDEC records. Briefly speaking, during the 1960s to the 1970s, JEDEC (owned by EIA) was (and still is) responsible for electronic part registration and standardization in the USA. If a company makes a new tube or diode, it can register its part number and specifications at JEDEC, JEDEC will keep the records and publish them to all the companies in the electronic industry, so it becomes a standard part. If you want examples of what did a "Electron Device Type Registration Release" look like, you can find plenty of them at Frank's website, for example, this onehttps://frank.pocnet.net/sheets/202/2/23DVP4A-23FWP4A.pdfUnfortunately, while many registration specs for vacuum tubes can be found online, none of the JEDEC spec for early semiconductor was freely available, and are all locked behind the paywall. By the way, I paid and received the JEDEC spec for 1N400X, and I found it was originally released and registered by Motorola in 1963, and my initial question has been solved, but the money could've been used to buy a few thousands of diodes or so.And the spec has the "No reproduction or networking permitted without license" warning everywhere. But interestingly, it's likely that the copyright of these early 1960s docs have long expired, if I am able to prove that it is case, once obtained, by paying first or otherwise, these documents can be freely redistributed without ever paying JEDEC or its vendors again, you can even do this in front of a JEDEC lawyer. And it would be interesting to get a lot of early JEDEC semiconductor records and put them to a single place.But more information is needed to determine the copyright status, especially, the original form that the work is published. Does anyone know in which form that the original "Electron Device Type Registration Release" was published by JEDEC? So, if I am a company and a member of JEDEC, if there is a new device registration, how did JEDEC publish the information? Did JEDEC simply mail out whatever new registration to all companies whenever there is one? Or did JEDEC collects these registrations and send out periodical newsletters? Or what? Does anyone still have access to an physical archive of original JEDEC specifications for confirmation?

author: Conrad Hoffman
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2020, 08:54:33 pm
content: Never saw original JEDEC documents. Everything we ever wanted to know was usually in the big green Motorola data books of yore. Plus a few other companies like Sprague for the odd numbers. What about the European standards?

author: David Hess
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2020, 07:07:27 pm
content: Quote from: niconiconi on January 21, 2020, 07:01:17 pmI do not see how they could have been copyrighted in the first place. Specifications and lists are not "creative works".

author: N2IXK
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 29, 2020, 08:34:21 pm
content: The registration releases were mailed out to subscribers. They weren't publically released, AFAIK.Essentially all of them are available on a DVD-ROM from the Tube Collector's Association:http://www.tubecollectors.org/announc.htm

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 30, 2020, 12:10:28 am
content: Upload to archive.org if you have any good collections of data.