Vacuum Tubes-The Wave of the Future

I'll have to confess my love for vacuum tubes right now.  They are one of the most beautiful electronic components that were built for functionalty but also turned out to be individual works of art.  The tiny details inside each one of these radio tubes is both other worldly in appearance and seemingly random.  I will most likely be using these beauties as much as possible on my gear whether they actually have anything to do with steam or not. 

I have noticed along my journey that there are a lot of tendencies for other genres to bump up against steampunk and mix a little.  Including the unusual world of Nikola Tesla.  I think that may have alot to do with vacuum tubes and various other electric parts showing up in steampunk because several of these anachronisms come from much later times than the Victorian Era.

That being said, I met a gentleman at one of the flea markets just outside of town who is a former teacher and perveyor of things of the early electronic age.  He sold me several vacuum/radio tubes very reasonably and so I now have quite a good selection to choose from when putting my gear together.



The fellow wasn't sure which ones still work or not but I have seen individual tubes on eBay that sell for more than I paid for the lot pictured above so I think I will be ok with one or two being burnt.  Actually the burnt ones have an interesting look too because of all the silver blown against the inside of the glass.  Now of course that I have these items which connect to specifically shaped plugs, my task will be to make something for them to plug into.  Still, this process of finding things then making them work is turning out to be quite a lot of fun.