National Union Radio Corporation
March 1944 Radio-Craft

March 1944 Radio-Craft [Table of Contents] Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles from Radio-Craft, published 1929 - 1953. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged.

"Necessity is the mother of invention," is an oft-heard maxim that is validated continually. Such was the case, as pointed out here in this National Union Radio Corporation ad which appeared in a 1944 issue of Radio-Craft magazine. The development of many new metal alloys was required in order to obtain the kind of performance and reliability needed in ever-evolving electronics products. Already available metals for filaments, coils, grid wires, getters, electron guns and many other constituents of vacuum tubes that are subject to high temperatures (many hundreds of degrees) and mechanical conditions (unequal coefficients of expansion, for example, which can cause stress fractures), were not sufficient for the task. Metallurgists had their work cut out for them, but succeeded magnificently, as evidenced by the plethora of new tubes being introduced each year.

National Union Radio Corporation Ad

Metal Magic!

Long ago National Union engineers had to strike out for themselves in search of new metals, alloys and coatings. The extremely high temperatures employed in tube making - brazing, for example, at 2 to 5 times the heat customarily used - ruled out the use of metals common to most industries.

For this reason and for others peculiar to the needs of tube manufacture, there has come from the nation's electronic tube laboratories a whole new group of metals and combinations of metals. Here are special alloys for filaments, coils, grid wires, getters, electron guns and many other uses. And as these metals have provided characteristics not previously available, they have literally pulled wonders out of the magic hat of electronics.

In metallurgy, as in other sciences related to tube making, National Union is helping to push back the frontiers of electronic knowledge. This research is helping, also, to provide for service engineers a broad, profitable post-war franchise. Count on N. U. to be ready with better tubes for every important service need.

National Union Radio Corporation, Newark, N.J.

Factories: Newark and Maplewood, N. J., Lansdale and Robesonia, Pa.

National Union

Radio and Electronic Tubes

Transmitting, Cathode Ray, Receiving, Special Purpose Tubes • Condensers • Volume Controls • Photo Electric Cells • Panel Lamps • Flashlight Bulbs

Posted January 18, 2021