|
|
Oral History – Dwight Jones
(Continued)
|
|
We used this test equipment to
evaluate the first alloy junction transistors, which were just in
development. The PNP types were the
most reliable, while the NPNs were hard to manufacture.
|
|
|
|
This is a section of Dwight
Jones’ first patent, filed in 1954 and based on his work in the GE test
engineering group as an assignment to evaluate the first alloy junction
transistors. According to Dwight,
this equipment was rack mounted and used extensively to evaluate the new
transistors being developed at the GE labs – these would have been the
developmental type transistors which led to the commercial types such as
2N43, 2N44, 2N45, 2N78, 2N107 and 2N170.
According to the text of the patent: “ …it is an object of the present invention to provide new and
improved means for determining the alpha cutoff frequency and the like for
semiconductor devices.”
______________
|
|
|
Oral History – Dwight Jones
(Continued)
|
|
Can you provide a brief
description of your articles, papers and publications?
When I retired in 1987, I was
presented with a thick bound volume by the GE Corporate Research Lab, where
I worked at the time, that was entitled “The Collected Publications of
Dwight V. Jones”. This is a fairly
complete volume of my work. There
are dozens of articles, with the first in 1955 and the last in 1972. Let me mention a few of them for you:
The first was in March,
1955. It was entitled “Transistor
Test Set” and appeared in Radio Electronics Engineering magazine. This was based on my patent and work in
the Test Engineering group.
In the late 1950s, I became
interested in how to use transistors in high fidelity audio circuits. This became a specialty of mine for many
years and I wrote quite a few articles on my designs and circuits. Transistors were just starting to be
used in HiFi and I did a lot of work in this field. My job at GE during this time was that
of Applications Engineer at SPD (Semiconductor Products Department) in
Syracuse. Much of the transistor
audio work I did appeared in the series of GE Transistor Manuals, which
were published in the 1950s and 1960s.
Each of us in the Applications Group were responsible for circuits
in different sections of the Transistor Manuals, and I was the “HiFi guy”.
|
Go
To Jones Oral History, Page 3
|