Re: An 1897 Curve Tracer??

On 13/04/2025 9:25 pm, Cursitor Doom wrote:

On Sun, 13 Apr 2025 12:20:59 +0100, Cursitor Doom <cd@notformail.com>
wrote:
 

Seems there was! I'm just wondering, since thermionic valves and
semiconductors were yet to be invented, just what the hell they were
generating curves of? Anyone care to hazard a guess?

  Forgot the damn link!
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/226697308589?_skw=curve+tracer&itmmeta=01JRQDJ37B1BDBTD4DYAFFXBRA&hash=item34c83669ad:g:xyIAAeSwNbFn-jh6&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAA8FkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1dD%2F7lpRd4m2z5fRFbpAd6Hfo7tB1DrqS4KnKA9PIgi%2FA6gJMzzkTQdIrWW4Z2wUziXHLGrMQEBolMcvrQXE5gJyo20trVYFVPQpo09cHuUQibl%2B7pZy3r3O8%2FU8Ccd5tJOs6FDs7gtK7vFDHZKN%2FOhE79B4BcBZMe8EGkrOQd1ZS6EBkhMseD%2FxOUwGTeocF%2BlLzWYbSa%2BUtznQR%2B4IjT2h4CQVrLF%2BNVZ4n8nDan58NMy03ngPvUQImleh2eG8Y87OdLruWteg4Vvu%2FduVCbW%2B4ga76%2FDazoxr5iO9W1c1Q%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR_CzyO3FZQ

There was a lot of work early on on the conductivity of electricity through gases - Paschen published on the subject in 1889
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paschen%27s_law
When I had to start a high pressure xenon arc lamp in 1973, I found a text book on the subject in the university book shop which was a reprint of something written in the 1920's by J.S.Townsend. It told me all that I needed to know. It wasn't exactly helpful on generating the high voltage required - about 20kV - but more modern texts covered that.
--
Bill Sloman, Sydney