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A SURVEY OF EARLY POWER TRANSISTORS by Joe A. Knight TRANSITRON 1950s/60s GERMANIUM AND SILICON POWER TRANSISTORS |
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ABOVE, L-to-R: Possibly seeking a more efficient design, the Transitron ads from 1957 depict a slightly different power device without the large glass window on top as shown in the previous models and with some ridges on each end. The above two devices match that new construction. The first item, the "SX364" is a likely in-house numbered item. The second item, the "2N83A", is the later 'A' variant, which first came out in 1955. These '83/84' series output devices were the only ones available from Transitron from 1954 to 1957. Possibly their unusual construction made it challenging to sell in an era of overwhelming conversion to TO-3 type devices, of which Transitron had no RETMA registered versions, nor were they second-sourcing any either. And possibly seeing the Germanium field already saturated by the competition they stayed on the sidelines until the first silicon output devices were released in 1957.
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COPYRIGHT © 2007 by Jack Ward. All Rights Reserved. http://www.transistormuseum.com/ Joe A. Knight Early Power Transistor History – TRANSITRON Page 6 |
