Even though full blown nixie production may be a pipe dream, there still is a possibility of limited output of 'home made' nixies. If one of the few glass blower, or neon sign makers out there ever decide to make a nixie tube, here's what I'd like to see:
http://tinyurl.com/65zvukr https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B7bJyg1SZgcDYTY3M2ExOWYtN2YxZi00MDNlLThhMjAtOWMyMmJlMTEwZjVk&hl=en_US Its a tri-quad nixie, intended for use as 12-hour hours digit. Its an extension on the bi-quinary idea. It only needs 7 leads, but can select one-of-twelve symbols. Instead of having a shield between the odd even stacks (in a bi-q), the three stacks are wholly encircled inside their respective anodes. Unselected anodes are brought to shield level (~60V), and act as shields when not in use. The beauty of a tube like this, is not only the low pin count, but also low parts requirements, if one were to make a discrete component clock. The bi-quinary tube came out in the pre-IC days (or at least when ICs where un-godly expensive). You need fewer discrete parts to drive a bi-quinary, than needed for a standard 10 cathode nixie. That advantage was lost with the use of IC decoders like the 7441 (and its successors). A tri-quad will also require fewer parts, for a discrete drive circuit. Think all-tube nixie clock. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/neonixie-l?hl=en-GB.
