Moorhead type VT-32 radio tube
date: label: date made
content: ca 1922
name: label: maker
content: Moorhead Laboratories
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Moorhead type VT-32 radio tube, brass base with 4 long pins, tipped T-shaped envelope. Makers stamp "V.T. 32" on envelope. Donor's card reads: "Triode made by the Moorhead Laboratories of San Francisco for the British government about 1922. Uses the regular Moorhead type elements, except that the plate axis is horizontal instead of vertical, as in all Moorhead American models. Filament: 5 volts, 1 ampere. About 1915 and thereafter, General [Gustave-Auguste Ferrié (1868–1932)] of the French Telegraphie Militaire and his assistants worked on the development of a triode for general radio receiving purposes. They developed before World War 1 the "Metos" models [and] the British army "R" tube which became widely used in Europe after the war. While the envelope is different, the base and elements of Moorhead's VT-32 is also identical except for a detail of grid support. Moorhead's American tubes also have the same elements, except that the plate axis is vertical instead of horizontal. In all instances the size and detail of the elements are the same.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Further, [several] German army tubes of WWI show the same horizontal element design as the French, however, the German tubes are have plates smaller in diameter and shorter in length. It is definitely known that Lee De Forest was aware of this work in France, and cooperated with General Ferrie before WWI. [I] purchased these Matos tubes [catalog numbers 324334, 324335, and 324336] in Bordeaux, France in 1919 when AM broadcasting was just beginning, and it seems possible that the Moorhead tubes are Americanized copies of the French tubes on Shaw bases."
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.324329
label: catalog number
content: 324329
label: accession number
content: 252994
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Electron Tube, Triode
label: Object Name
content: triode
label: Other Terms
content: Electron Tube, Triode; Electron Tubes
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 4 1/2 in x 1 3/4 in; 11.43 cm x 4.445 cm