How the transistor was named

[W1QWT]

This came across my desk today and I thought some might be interested in it.
It is an internal Bell Telephone memo asking for votes on a name to call the new
semiconductor triode.
I tried to post the jpeg here but it was too small to read but you can see it easily at:
http://home.comcast.net/~w1qwt/trans.html

Regards and Merry Christmas
Q

[W2PFY]

Is it to late for us to vote I understand when it comes to new drugs, there is a department that sits around and dreams up the stupid names for brands we see on TV.i

[VE7 Kilohertz]

Very cool article with great historical signifiicance.
Thanks

Paul

[W1RKW]

Here's some transistor info I learned sometime ago that I thought was interesting.  The japanese transistor "2S" series numbering convention always had me wondering why there were A's, B's, C's, D's etc.   The A's and the B's are PNP transistors and the C's and D's are NPN.  The A's and C's were considered upper frequency components  and the B's and D's lower frequency components.  Where they made the transition between upper and lower frequency, I'm not sure.  Maybe someone knows that.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

This came across my desk today and I thought some might be interested in it.
It is an internal Bell Telephone memo asking for votes on a name to call the new
semiconductor triode.
I tried to post the jpeg here but it was too small to read but you can see it easily at:
http://home.comcast.net/~w1qwt/trans.html

Regards and Merry Christmas
Q

Yep, saw many of these types of forms when I worked at Bell Labs/AT&T/Lucent. I was involved with some of the "naming" of some low speed data sets, Dataphone, Datakit, Merlin, Information Systems Network, and several others.

quote author=W1RKW

Here's some transistor info I learned sometime ago that I thought was interesting.  The japanese transistor "2S" series numbering convention always had me wondering why there were A's, B's, C's, D's etc.   The A's and the B's are PNP transistors and the C's and D's are NPN.  The A's and C's were considered upper frequency components  and the B's and D's lower frequency components.  Where they made the transition between upper and lower frequency, I'm not sure.  Maybe someone knows that.

2SB's and D's were used mostly at audio frequencies. Open up any late 60's, 70's, or 80's audio equipment and you'll find lots of them in the preamp, audio drivers, and audio amplifier. 2SA's and C's were used a lot for switching and also in RF and oscillator circuits. 2SK or 3SK were FETs.

[W1UJR]

Excellent post Q!

A follow up article about a most brilliant man, the one most responsible for the invention of the transistor, William Shockley.

http://www.time.com/time/time100/scientist/profile/shockley.html

[Bill, KD0HG]

No one metioned, "Three Legged Fuse"..?

[WA3VJB]

I O T A T R O N

Now that would have been a cool name.


Enjoyed the discussion of merits and problems of various names.

Did anyone else catch the fact Bell Labs actually had the weight to even consider pioneering a "name" for the class of devices their people had invented?  How often would we see such dominance today, unless it's another wet dream from Billy Gates that he names and rolls out the door.

[WA1GFZ]

Yesterday my kids and I watched Apollo 13 a film that really makes me remember how we used to be.  It also makes me wonder if we can recover.............hope so

[Pete, WA2CWA]

[
Did anyone else catch the fact Bell Labs actually had the weight to even consider pioneering a "name" for the class of devices their people had invented?  How often would we see such dominance today, unless it's another wet dream from Billy Gates that he names and rolls out the door.

We had the "power" of  very large in- house "Standards" and legal groups to make this work very well. Large corporations still have the power to "coin" names for items they invent.

We even had large antennas. This site was used for Field Day, 1970/71. We set up under the opening of the horn after it was turned facing the ground.