Specially designed tubes and components for ELECTRONIC COMPUTERS by Sylvania
New York, NY: Sylvania Electric Products, Inc. 1956. First Edition. 64 pages. Self wrappers. First page (and front wrapper) printed in red black and white. Stapled wrappers. Three hole punched (not as issued). Very Good. Wraps. [27890]
An rare survival from the early days of computing. This catalog from Sylvania shows tubes and other components that were specifically designed to be used in computers. Pre-transistors, computers were built with massive racks of vacuum tubes, each having to be maintained and swapped out when they started to reach end of life. The specifications for each tube was critical. Many early attempts had significant issues with reliability as they essentially used tubes developed for non-critical applications. According to the Foreword, Sylvania developed the first computer specific tube in 1948 to address these reliability issues - and a "survey recently conducted by Massachusetts Institute of Technology [showed the failure rate] on the 7AK7 [tube] to be only .2% per thousand hours [of use]".
No copies in OCLC as of this listing. An indirect but fascinating view into the issues facing the computer industry in the 1950s and how one industry leader was addressing them.
ITEM SOLD