gas x-ray tube
Date: circa 1910
Inventory Number: 2008-1-0059
Classification: X-ray Tube
Subject:
Attributed to: Macalaster-Wiggin Company (fl. 1897 - 1916)
Cultural Region:
Place of Origin:
Dimensions:
22 x 58 x 18 cm (8 11/16 x 22 13/16 x 7 1/16 in.)
DescriptionAn x-ray tube consisting of a large spherical glass bulb with several side tubes coming out of it. The two longest side tubes, opposite each other, contain the cathode and target. The cathode is a concave metal disk at the mouth of one of the side tubes held by a metal rod that extends all the way into the tube, to an electrode on its outside. The target is a large copper cylinder that ends at an angle exactly at the center of the glass bulb, held by a dark metal sleeve inside its side tube, connected by a small wire to an electrode outside. There is an additional small, needle-shaped anode at the mouth of a side tube at a 45 degree angle below the target, and further below, at a 90 degree angle from the target (and cathode) is a side tube that turns at a right angle and then contains a cylindrical glass vial filled with a white substance, and connected to an electrode outside.
The cathode is burned, as is the side of the main anode. There is a slight bluish tint on the glass bulb from use.
The cathode is burned, as is the side of the main anode. There is a slight bluish tint on the glass bulb from use.
Signedpainted by hand on glass of cathode tube: [first line illegible, tentatively:] PAT 694036 / [legible from here] made in Boston / Macalester [illegible, tentative] Wiggin
Inscribedstamped below target: 741
stamped on second anode: 30136
sticker with old series number [came off during photography]: #A023
stamped on second anode: 30136
sticker with old series number [came off during photography]: #A023
FunctionThis is an x-ray tube that functions in a rarefied gas atmosphere controlled by the heating of asbestos in one of its side tubes. During operation, the cathode would be connected to the negative of a voltage source, and the target and second anode to the other. When the circuit was closed, electrons (cathode rays) would fly off the cathode and strike the target with a high energy, producing x-rays in the process. The second anode was supposed to improve the performance of the tube.