HISTORY:
Sustainability is the name of the game! Anything (that has been tested and still functioning properly) should be repurposed creating saving in wasted Ee and reducing the poisoning our environment when items are buried in the earth at the local tip needlessly.
Never heard of Ee? It is a concept that creates a measurement of ALL things (not just electronics) that humans have made and the energy used in obtaining the raw material, processing the materials right through to a finished product and even should include the shipping of the item to the distributors/retailers.
If you would like to know more about Ee values, please take a look HERE
This electronic component is BRAND NEW, old (very old, around 50+ years!) stock.
How long since you've seen some Germanium transistors? These were in common use way back when I was a teenager in the late 1960's, I cut my teeth on devices such as this - this was the beginnings of the "new fan-dangled" semiconductor technology around that period
Up until this time in the 1960's valves were "the" thing, then along came these little beasties!
UNKNOWN MANUFACTURER - Germanium Transistor
Unknown type number
Made in an unknown country
Unknown manufacturer
Geez, that is a lot of unknowns! Problem is that the sides of the can are quite oxidised and the only marking that remains in the famous RED DOT
Circa late 1960's ~ 1970's (55+ years old!)
Type: UNKNOWN BUT ..... read my thoughts on this below in the testing section!
PNP
Germanium junction semiconductor
Type 01 style case with the red dot to denote the Collector lead (nearest to the dot)
Case is metal
The legs are tin plated and surprisingly, not heavily oxidised (Yeah!) and wire used is very "springy" i.e when bent, it does not easily stay in the new shape.
WARNING!
If ever the new owner was considering using this device, NEVER bend the leads less than 1.5mm from the body. The packaging used in the early days of transistors was often quite delicate and if you make a bend in the lead which is too close to the body, the lead is likely to snap off!
COSMETIC CONDITION:
Amazing after all these years sitting in my spare parts drawers quite frankly!
NO physical damage
Legs are straight(ish) 38mm length each
TESTING:
It would have been nice to test these with a semiconductor curve tracer to get a much better idea about suitable circuit design but alas, my curve tracer has already found a new workshop to live in! Best I can do is test it with a simple transistor tester to determine the basic characteristics of Hfe and device type.
Hfe measured as 265 (!!!) which surprised me. This obviously was designed for audio input stages, with a high β requirement.
Definitely confirmed as a Germanium transistor
I used a LOT of these as a kid (way back in the mists of time) and I strongly suspect this is either an AC125 OR AC126 - I lean more towards the latter. Manufacturers datasheets for the AC126 indicated a β of at least 180 with those devices.
I have now placed this transistor to "bed" in a nice sealed clear plastic packet, ready for a new owner to explore the possibilities of OR frame and admire some of the first Germanium transistors!
