A cesium thermionic energy converter in the form of a crucifix operating at 3100F.

The original mechanical drawings for the design I was working on just before I experienced PMU are not available to me. However, a later design of an entirely different electron tube also shows crucifix-like qualities. The mechanical drawing (full scale) of the latter are shown below.

The device I designed just before PMU (not the device above) was a cylindrical metal-ceramic electron tube the size of a 5 inch long crucifix with a copper rod down its center. A high electric current (about 200 amps) flowing in the rod generated a magnetic field. The electron tube was mounted or jury-rigged on a frame. At the heart of the assembly was a one-half inch diameter by one inch long cylindrical tantalum cathode heated to 3100 deg F. Its intense white light emanated from the openings between the plates of the electron tube and I was aware of its rays as I waited for it to heat up or as I worked around it, studying for countless hours how it operated. This could be done since in its vacuum phase it was enclosed by a highly evacuated glass bell jar and in its cesium phase by a metal bell jar with a quartz window. I was not aware at the time that the electron tube was in the form of a crucifix, but what joy I felt to see it work.

Return to narrative.