General Electric 5 amp “Tungar” rectifier tube
date: label: date made
content: ca 1919
name: label: maker
content: General Electric Company
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: A double-ended tube with a brass mogul base with glass insulator on the bottom and a contact post on top. Side-tipped G-shaped envelope. 5 amp rating. Donor’s card reads: “Tungar rectifier bulb made by the General Electric Company before 1920. Used for charging storage batteries at or near the 5 ampere rate. In the original design of the Tungar charger, this bulb operated from the winding of an auto-transformer. Half-wave in design, this unit as described drew about 350 watts to put a 5 ampere charge on a 6 volt battery. Extensively used to charge radio and automobile batteries in the early years of both. A tube of this type purchased in a charger in 1920 is still in use (1962) by [me].”
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from Paul G. Watson
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.324441
label: catalog number
content: 324441
label: accession number
content: 252994
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Electron Tube, Diode
label: Object Name
content: diode
label: Object Name
content: rectifier
label: Other Terms
content: Electron Tube, Diode; Electron Tubes
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 6 1/2 in x 3 in; 16.51 cm x 7.62 cm