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Gas tubes as voltage regulators

J, hi. As has been pointed out, the gas tube voltage regulators all employ low pressure noble gasses - mainly neon & argon. They really are a form of discharge tube of low power whose stable ionization point results in a very steady voltage even as current varies.

The tubes I used to worry about were called Baretter Tubes, employing an iron wire in a Hydrogen atmosphere, used for current regulation. It always seemed to me to be a recipe for a nice big bang.

The mercury rectifiers ( 866, 83, etc ) do have a small amount of mercury in them in metalic form.



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