1904

Fleming valve

• John Ambrose Fleming designed the transmitter
• that Marconi used for the first transmission
• across the Atlantic; however, Fleming
• was not satisfied with the receiver,
• which used a coherer to detect the radio signal.
• Fleming had worked for Thomas Edison
• and knew of the Edison effect, and so
• he replaced the coherer with an Edison-effect bulb,
• which rectified high-frequency oscillations
• to let a galvanometer detect dots and dashes.

Other names for it

• Edison-effect bulb,
• radio detector,
• two-electrode vacuum-tube rectifier,
• vacuum tube,
• vacuum diode,
• oscillation valve,
• thermionic valve,
• thermionic tube,
• thermionic diode,
• Fleming’s diode,
• kenotron.

Valves

• Faucet, spigot, petcock,
• escape cock, poppet, choke.
• Human hearts have aortic, pulmonary,
• mitral, and tricuspid valves.
• Famous vacuum tubes:
• Ignitron, trigatron, thyratron,
• thyristor, krytron, and klystron.
• Some mollusks are bivalves.
• Some presidents have veto power.
• I have my delete key.