Kenneth Scharf wrote:
On 08/13/2011 01:48 PM, Richard Knoppow wrote:

Among other applications sub-miniatures were used in
hearing aids and model aircraft controllers.


Subminiature tubes were developed as bomb fuses for use in mines and
torpedoes.

I think indeed the first subminis that came out of the Raytheon plant
were intended for proximity fuses. Those were designed with very heavy
reinforcement so they could handle heavy acceleration parallel to the
plate, and that same technology made them useful in a lot of other
low-microphonic applications.

Some of the last ones that came out of the plant were spares for the
first and second generation B-52 navigation systems, which used a
von Neumann machine made up of around 250 submini tubes.

In the meantime they went into everything from Army field radios to
weather balloons to condenser microphones.

They were just a hell of a great technology if you ask me.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."