General Electric 1950s Semiconductor Advertising

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2N43 2N44 and 2N45

The first alloy junction transistors General Electric produced were the 2N43, 2N44 and 2N45 announced in September 1953.

Conrad Zierdt was the production engineer at Syracuse responsible for the encapsulation design. Zierdt’s design had glass to metal sealed housing with all seams being welded. Moisture and other atmospheric contaminants were eliminated by evacuation down to levels used in vacuum tubes. Welding eliminated contamination by solder fluxes. There was no reliance on potting compounds so that any leaks were immediately apparent on evacuation.

To get publicity for the new range at the West Coast Electronics Show in San Francisco late in 1953, the transistor was operated at the heart of a miniature radio transmitter while frozen in a cake of ice which was then melted and turned into boiling water.