A tube caddy or tube carrying case is a type of carrying case used for storing and transporting
vacuum tube
A vacuum tube, electron tube, thermionic valve (British usage), or tube (North America) is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric voltage, potential difference has been applied. It ...
s.
They were carried by repair
technicians
A technician is a worker in a field of technology who is proficient in the relevant skill and technique, with a relatively practical understanding of the theoretical principles.
Specialisation
The term technician covers many different special ...
who performed home service calls in the days when
radios and
television
Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
sets were too large and heavy for the average homeowner to bring to a repair shop.
Caddies varied in size and shape, some resembling large briefcases with others resembling tool chests with drawers on the front. Typically they would have rows of square compartments that fit the individually boxed tubes, and often had larger compartments for other components or tools. Most of the space in the caddies was afforded to vacuum tubes (
gas-filled tube
A gas-filled tube, also commonly known as a discharge tube or formerly as a Julius Plücker, Plücker tube, is an arrangement of electrodes in a gas within an dielectric, insulating, temperature-resistant envelope. Gas-filled tubes exploit phen ...
s were also kept as needed) as most repairs could be effected with the replacement of tubes, with them being some of the few
active components in electronic equipment of the time and often being made of glass with sensitive seals they were most likely to break, and were installed in
sockets from which they were easy to remove.
Some cases were available with built-in
tube testers.
The use of tube caddies, along with home visits from repairmen, declined with the use of vacuum tubes themselves as televisions and radios became smaller and cheaper, eliminating a need for repair diagnoses from technicians.
See also
*
Vacuum tube reliability
*
Tube tester
A tube tester is an electronic instrument designed to test certain characteristics of vacuum tubes (thermionic valves). Tube testers evolved along with the vacuum tube to satisfy the demands of the time, and their evolution ended with the tube er ...
;
Self-service tube tester
References
Vacuum tubes
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