Transistor Museum Early Germanium Power Transistor History by Joe Knight Germanium Products Corp Page 2

A SURVEY OF EARLY POWER TRANSISTORS

by Joe Knight

GERMANIUM PRODUCTS CORP

1950s POWER TRANSISTORS

The far right two devices shown, marked only as "37"(likely 1954), appears to somewhat moderate the claimed impressive performance of the RDX 500. While the metal enclosure is half the size, the junction elements are now more openly mounted with larger leads into the same large base mount and leads. As it turns out, this device may actually have been able to dissipate a truer 1/2 watt of power.

Given the fact that GPC called their first power transistor the 'RDX 500', it would seem to be just an eXperimental device that never made it into actual production. One would have to think that the reality of a truly reliable high power output device eluded GPC at that time and they subsequently did not pursue it any more. Other than these shown, no other examples of the RDX 500 are known to exist.

~~______________~~

Joe Knight Early Power Transistor History – GERMANIUM PRODUCTS CORP Page 2