Machlett type ML-6544 shielded grid triode
date: label: date made
content: ca 1960
name: label: maker
content: Machlett Laboratories, Inc.
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: A glass globe with ventilated heat sink on the bottom and stepped contact on top. (Glass is cracked.) Stamped: “ML-6544 / Machlett / Made in U.S.A.” Donor’s card reads: “Shielded grid triode made by Machlett Laboratories of Springfield, Conn. For use as a switch tube in hard pulse modulators for radar application. A peak pulse power of 1 megawatt with less than 10 kw drive. Filament: 6 volts at 60 amperes. Typical operation as a Class C pulsed modulator or amplifier: 19000 volts at 65 amperes on the plate, duty factor .0015, pulsed power input 12 kw, pulsed power output 1000 kw.”
label: Description (Brief)
content: From 1964 manufacturer's data sheet: "The ML-6544 is a shielded-grid triode designed primarily for use as a switch tube in hard-tube pulse modulators for radar applications. It delivers a peak pulse power output of one megawatt with less than 10 kW of driving power. The tube incorporates a beamed electrode structure to minimize driving power. This design avoids the fine-wire grids usually used in tetrodes and provides a rugged structure. The shield grid is strapped to the cathode internally and protects the cathode from transient arcs. These features provide a tube which operates much more stably at high voltages than hard-tube modulators of earlier design. The high amplification factor coupled with low grid current result in unusually low driving power requirements. Additionally, the input and output circuits are isolated so that feedback capacitance is small. The cathode is a unipotential oxide-coated type . The anode is forced-air cooled and is capable of dissipating 1 kW with an air flow of 80 cfm."
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.325233
label: catalog number
content: 325233
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: 10 in x 4 1/2 in; 25.4 cm x 11.43 cm