January 29, 2006

真空管專利長長99


這個標題下得真奇怪，就跟我在 Google 找多媒體的資料，竟然找到 [真空管 (Vacuum tube)] 一樣。真空管分成二極管 (Diode) 與三極管 (Triode)，分別如下面兩張圖：
Diode:

Triode:

Jack Ganssle 的文章 [Ninety-nine years ago] 提到，在 99 年前的一月，Lee De Forest 以真空管獲得美國專利 #841,387，Jack Ganssle 這麼描述真空管的重要性：
    The tube could arguably be the most important invention in the history of electronics, for it introduced for the first time the concept of an active element. Tubes could amplify, rectify, and work as logic components. Though transistors eventually supplanted these devices for most applications, there's really nothing that a transistor can do that a tube can't.

    Before tubes there were no consumer electronic products. No cell phones, stereos, or even monos; wax cylinders and (to a lesser extent in the early years) disks transmitted music via a needle coupled directly to a loudspeaker-like horn. This technology was entirely mechanical and was devoid of a single wire.
真空管算是開創消費性電子的濫觴，所以我在 Google 找多媒體出現真空管，不算是意外了，事實上，真空管的精神長存，且讓其「長長99」吧 (「長長」是指真空管的長度與影響力，99 是說專利的歷史)。
由 jserv 發表於 January 29, 2006 11:32 PM
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