Tube Box Art, Part 18 : Westinghouse

Hi!

One of the major players in vacuum tube manufacturing history is still missing from the Tube Box Art series: Westinghouse.

Let's start with some of their earlier boxes:

These contain type 26 triodes:

A 45 DHT and a 6CB5 beam power tetrode in different style boxes:

A 2A3 and an octal tube in gold/black/white boxes:

A 6BY5 TV damper box:

6AX4 TV damper boxes:

These are rather modern and bland:

And finally some beautiful boxes of 816 mercury vapour rectifiers:

The 816 is the small sister of the impressive 866A.

This tube will be covered in it's own Tube of the Month article soon!

Best regards

Thomas

Tube Box Art, Part 17 : Zenith

Hi!

Zenith was a manufacturer of radio and TV sets. They rebranded tubes from a major supplier and offered them under their own brand in a similar way as Philco did. Zenith sourced their tubes mainly from Sylvania.

An early Zenith tube box:

In this case a box of a 26 triode :

The pins of the tube could be pushed out at the bottom to allow testing of the tube without opening the box:

A Loktal 7A4:

A Octal tube box in a different design:

The top and bottom of the box:

Later they changed the color scheme to yellow/black similar to the latest Sylvania boxes:

Best regards


Thomas

Tube Box Art, Part 16 : Delco

Hi!

Delco was a subsidiary of General Motors which developed car electronics and radios. They also supplied tubes under their own brand.

As far as I am aware they did not have tube manufacturing of their own, so these were rebranded tubes from the major suppliers.

As with most tube boxes the earlier one had beautiful logos :

And got simplified over time:

The latest boxes had the most bland design:

I found this tube box branded General Motors Parts Corp. Not sure if that was part of Delco or if this box is from a time prior to the formation of Delco.

Best regards

Thomas

Tube Box Art, Part 15 : Raytheon

Hi!

It's been a while since the last tube box art post. So here is a new one. This time covering the tube boxes of Raytheon.

Raytheon has a long history spanning back more than 90 years. The company was founded 1922 under the name American Appliance Company and initially worked on refrigeration technology. They got into the electron tube business with the development of rectifiers, which were an essential part in their 'battery eliminator' which enabled powering radio sets from the AC mains rather than from expensive batteries. They marketed their tubes under the name Raytheon which means 'light from the gods'. In 1925 they changed the name of the firm to Raytheon Manufacturing Company.

Raytheon was very successful and grew quickly and acquired other companies. By the 1930ies they were among the largest tube manufacturers. During World War II Raytheon got involved in developments for the military. The company diversified a lot throughout it's history. The company still exists and is now mainly working in aviation and Defense technology.

Raytheon's tube box art changed during the years. Shown above is an early box design. These are boxes containing a 56 and a 45. The top flaps:

Later they changed the style to this one:

They maintained the red/blue color scheme but the design got simpler. This is a box with a 46 tube.

Another version of that design:

Which then turned into a red/white design:

Top and bottom flaps:

Stay tuned for more tube art posts coming up.


Best regards


Thomas

Tube Box Art, Part 14 : Tung-Sol

Hi!

An important brand which was not covered yet in the Tube Box Art series is Tung-Sol. This company developed the 6550 tube which is one of the most widely used output tubes in audio.

Tung-Sol started it's business with the manufacturing of lamps. They were pioneers in car head lights and indicators. In the 1920ies they also started to manufacture vacuum tubes.

Today the brand name is owned by New Sensor corporation.

Two boxes with 46 tubes in boxes with a 'T'-theme:

The top and bottom flaps:

Octal size tube boxes:

Different size boxes:

Box with a wave motif:

Best regards


Thomas