What's a diode worth?

[Geo-TH,In]

That was made by Hughes ACFT? 2/61 Guessing it's February 1961. Still in orginal backage.

 

[old]

Real hard to say. But as a comparison. I have a quart of Valvoline 10W-40 oil with a Wal-mart price tag on it that says $00.88. It is one of those old card board type oil cans. Not sure how old it is but I would say form back in the late 70s or so. Today's price on that same quart of oil in a plastic bottle is around $5. So if you know the price it was when you got it way back when and do the figuring for today's price going by what I just said you should at least have a ball park number

 

[Geo-TH,In]

Old, I too have a quart of oil in a cardboard can. I've seen on TV where American pickers go nuts over old oil cans.

The doide isn't worth much unless someone collects things made by Hughes Aircraft.

geo.

 

[old]

Or if you just so happen to need it to replace one that has gone bad in what ever it may fit. Like a lot of the old radio/TV tubes not worth much unless you just happened to need the one some one has

 

[Geo-TH,In]

Old,
Good luck finding any information on a diode that old. Be hard to tell what it was used for.
geo

 

[Mike M]

It came off the spruce goose don't you know. LOL. Worth big dollars !

 

[old]

Ya I understand but also like the tube I need to fix an old tomb stone radio I have. I'd love to fix it since it has short wave on it but have NEVER been able to find a tube for it

 

[guido]

Hello Geo-TH,In,

I too have an oil can. Last batch out of the Boston Mobil plant,

Guido.

 

[jimg.allentown]

Well, do you know the number of the tube you need? I have overhauled a couple of those old radios. For a rectifier tube, you can replace it with silicon diodes for a full wave rectifier. I have a few old tubes sitting around. Never know, I might have the one you need.

 

[old]

Off the top of my head no I do not know the number of the tube. Back when I was trying to find one tubes where still common but this tube is the old step down odd shaped tube and I had many tubes at one time but never found the correct one even though I had a lot of tube. Long since sold the tubes I had. Back years ago I bought out a TV repair shop of all the tube he had when he was going out of business

 

[glennster]

rich, try these guys and see if they have the tube you need. about the only country that makes tubes any more is russia. they make the sovteks. they are real popular with the tube type guitar and base amplifiers.
sovtek

 

[John B.]

I'm not sure if this is what you have but by the number this is what comes up on ebay.
ebay

 

[Geo-TH,In]

MikeM,
Did you say you'll pay big bucks?

I'm not 100% sure, but I think this diode may have been made in Bloomington,In. I was told the plant in Bloomington was one of the first places that knew how to grow pure silicone cyrstals.
geo

 

[wilson ind]

What is the diode to use for alternators preventing backfeed.Radio shack local went out.Would like to buy half dozen to have on hand.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

Diodes have many purposes. Not really sure what this one was designed for. I think it's interesting this one was made by Hughes.

Btw, I have many used diodes.

Here is my biggest. It came out of a very large power supply.

 

[JMOR]

(quoted from post at 19:08:15 12/12/16) What is the diode to use for alternators preventing backfeed.Radio shack local went out.Would like to buy half dozen to have on hand.

robably 30 part numbers or more will do the job..........just pick any diode good for 1 to 5 amperes and Peak Inverse Voltage of 100v or greater & all will be well. The one Geo pictured will likely work too, but major overkill, at least on the current part!

 

[Case Collector]

Old try Antique Electronic Supply 480-820-4643
They are located in Tempe AZ

 

[MarkB_MI]

Most folks do not realize that for most of its existence, Hughes Aircraft Company was predominantly an electronics manufacturer. After Howard's not particularly successful attempts at aircraft design, the company got into the radar and missile systems for which it became famous, moving on into communications satellites and electro-optical systems. Hughes had its own semiconductor foundries, which is probably where your diode was made.

mark b., HAC Engineer 1979-1997.

 

[old]

Not likely any body would have the tube I need. This radio dates back to the 30 or 40s

 

[Pappy]

The diode I bought from Radio Shack was Number 276-1661. Don't know what the numbers mean as I got the numbers from 'OLD' some years ago.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

Jessie,
I can tell you the large diode with aluminum heat sink will stand up to 35 amps
and 120vac. I used the diode in series, for one second, to limit the starting
current of my 4 hp electric chain saw when I use it on my portable generator.
Everyother diode I tired, I fired. It takes one second for chainsaw to come up
to speed and then when saw gets full power, the running current is close to
normal.
geo

 

[Mike M]

Check's in the mail ! LOL.

 

[Texasmark1]

Hughes Tool Co. in Houston, TX. made him a ton of money to pay for some of his projects. My best man worked his way through med school working as a night shift supv. I know machine tooling is a long way from medicine, but it paid good and he could work nights and go to school days. Raytheon sucked up some of the Hughes equipment divisions when they went on a buying rampage when they decided to diversify and become a premier defense contractor.

 

[Poppa Noel]

Old if you have a part number for the tube you need I may be able to help. My uncle passed away about 10 years ago and I have a large repairmans box full of NOS tubes for radio and TV over 100 of them. it was his hobby years ago. I can take a look if you want

-Noel

 

[MarkB_MI]

> Hughes Tool Co. in Houston, TX. made him a ton of money to pay for some of his projects.

Hughes Tool Company was a separate entity from Hughes Aircraft Company. Back in the early fifties, Howard created the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and transferred HAC into it. This was a huge tax writeoff for Howard, made HAC tax-exempt and also quieted his critics in Congress, who were unhappy about the way Howie managed the company and its various government contracts. As I recall, Congress passed a special law that only applied to Hughes, allowing him to "donate" the company's liabilities to HHMI while selling it the company's assets. In the eighties, HHMI was under pressure from the IRS to divest itself of HAC, resulting in the sale of HAC to GM. GM divested itself of Hughes in the late nineties, selling pieces to Raytheon and other government contractors, and spinning off DirecTV into its own company.

Hughes Tool Company was the cash cow that funded all of Hughes' other projects. Founded by his father, who had a very successful drill bit patent, Howard inherited the company at a young age. Howard retained control of the Tool Company through most of his life, selling it in the early seventies. The rest of his holdings were then wrapped up in a holding company called Summa Corporation, which slowly divested itself after his death in 1976. Summa Corp included Hughes Helicopter, his airline Hughes Airwest, and his various real estate holdings.

Interestingly, the Hughes company that actually turned a profit building aircraft, Hughes Helicopter, was spun off from HAC very early and was absorbed into HTC. When I first joined Hughes in 1979, HAC and Hughes Helicpoter shared the Culver City, CA facility where the Spruce Goose was built. Hughes Helicopter used the entire Spruce Goose assembly building as its production line, and we HAC employees were free to walk through the huge wooden building. Hughes Helicopter was eventually sold to McDonnell-Douglas, which still builds variants of the Hughes designs in Mesa, AZ.

 

[Texasmark1]

Very interesting Mark. Thanks for the narrative.

My sister used to live in Long Beach on the strip, 6th floor, across from Long Beach Harbor. While visiting one year I toured the Goose and Queen. Both mighty impressive.

My first wooden aircraft model, built last year is a 30" balsa-tissue paper Goose. Have it on display with commemorative pictures of the flight and past present museum in LB. The movie starring Leonardo was well scripted and remarkably accurate. Really enjoyed that.

I read quite a bit about his life and he was quite a guy. Too bad it ended the way it did. I still think his version of the P-38 would have been a better aircraft......ok he was a little guy, like Willys Jeep when the defense dept. decided he was too small to support the war effort and gave the bulk of the contract to Henry (Ford).......or was it a result of the 40,000 lobbyists (said to currently be) in DC????? Or was it because he was his own man and the defense dept. couldn't make him toe-the-line. Who knows!

 

[Determined]

(quoted from post at 23:39:50 12/12/16) Not likely any body would have the tube I need. This radio dates back to the 30 or 40s

Shed at the bottom of the hill I have 15-20 old wooden tombstone style radios some mantle size and some big upright floor models.
If you give some information on the tube you need I can have a look.
Good chance I will never doing anything with them so if I have what you need you can have it for the cost of the postage.

 

[MarkB_MI]

Mark, I lived in Long Beach myself for a time, and toured both the Spruce Goose and Queen Mary several times. The Spruce Goose was put on a barge in the early nineties and hauled up to Evergreen, Washington.

If you get a chance, watch "The Amazing Howard Hughes" with Tommy Lee Jones. I thought Tommy was a better Hughes than Leonardo. I enjoyed the later film as well, although I was disappointed with the crude model they used for Howard's H-1. The real H-1 is in the Smithsonian, and is truly a work of art. A fellow made an exact replica of the H-1 a few years back, but he had already crashed it (fatally) by the time the film was made.

Howard's twin-boom aircraft, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughes_XF-11">XF-11</a>, was also beautiful and technically advanced. But even had it gone into production, the arrival of jet aircraft would have doomed it in its role as a high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft.

 

[Texasmark1]

Well the one to which I am referring was a twin boom that Howard crashed into a Hollywood (I think) house and almost killed himself. I think he made 2 and not sure if I recall he attempted or did fly the second after crashing the first.

 

[MarkB_MI]

> Well the one to which I am referring was a twin boom that Howard crashed into a Hollywood (I think) house and almost killed himself.

Yes, that was the XF-11. Howie crashed it after one of its counter-rotating props malfunctioned and he failed to feather it. The second prototype had conventional propellers, and the Army allowed Hughes to fly it only after he posted a $5 million bond. Good info at the Wikipedia link below.
Hughes XF 11

 

[Bret4207]

I've read quite a bit on Howard and find that that the majority of people seem to concentrate not on his success but on his mental breakdown. That's too bad because he was a fascinating, brilliant individual. I found "The Aviator" to be disgusting in it's portrayal of Hughes as a mad man from day one. The guy deserves a lot more credit than he gets.

 

[Texasmark1]

Interesting. And yes, they admitted his "apparent" lack of production facilities for Full Scale Production. Lots to be said about an aircraft, or any military vehicle for that matter, that uses common parts and boasts ease of repair and access to supplies, besides being simple to use (fly) and rugged.

 

[GarryinNC]

(quoted from post at 06:49:18 12/15/16) &gt; Well the one to which I am referring was a twin boom that Howard crashed into a Hollywood (I think) house and almost killed himself.

Yes, that was the XF-11. Howie crashed it after one of its counter-rotating props malfunctioned and he failed to feather it. The second prototype had conventional propellers, and the Army allowed Hughes to fly it only after he posted a $5 million bond. Good info at the Wikipedia link below.
Hughes XF 11

A small point, but I believe is had contra-rotating propellers. Two sets of blades with opposite pitch turning in opposite directions on the same engine.

 

[Dune Country]

Spruce Goose is in a museum in McMinnville Oregon