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Item Specifics:
• Brand: Western Electric
• Type: Laboratory Demonstration Tube / Educational Artifact
• Era: Vintage 1959
• Department: College Relations Organization / Bell System
• Date Stamp: December 9 1959
• Materials: Glass Envelope, Metal Internal Structures, Cardboard Outer Box, Green Foam Staging Tray
This is an authentic, museum grade piece of telecommunications, computing, and engineering history: a 1959 Western Electric Demonstration Tube.
This highly restricted, institutional artifact was distributed exclusively through the historic College Relations Organization at 195 Broadway, New York 7.
This exceptional piece is explicitly dated December 9 1959 via hand painted yellow laboratory lettering on the internal mica and support structures. It features crisp internal element indicator numbers 1, 2, 3 and 5, 9 used by professors for classroom lectures, alongside the factory E 7 alignment key code stamped on the base guide.
During the late 1950s, Bell Labs and Western Electric were rapidly pivoting away from vacuum tubes to spearhead the solid state semiconductor revolution. To train the next generation of engineers, Western Electric sent these exclusive educational kits directly to select university physics and electrical engineering departments.
They were designed to visually demonstrate vacuum tube architecture just as the industry shifted to early transistors and diodes. Because these items were never sold to the general public, surviving pieces with matching institutional university boxes are incredibly scarce.
Note:
This listing includes the single large demonstration tube, custom green foam staging tray, and original outer box as pictured; secondary accessory slots in the foam are empty.
Condition:
Excellent vintage condition. Unused and visually pristine with entirely intact internal metalwork, straight pins, and a crystal clear glass envelope free of clouding or burns.
The tube is untested and sold strictly as a historical display artifact.
Comes housed in its original molded green foam staging tray inside the heavy stock, branded Western Electric / Bell System cardboard box.
Please review the photos as they are part of the description.
Shipped fully insured, carefully packed, and securely handled.
Please message with any questions, and be sure to browse my storefront for more vintage electronics and historic estate finds.
