THE APPEAL OF NIXIE TUBES
We explore the history and retro-futuristic appeal of nixie tubes
Nixie tubes are a type of cold cathode display that were widely used in the mid-20th century for displaying numeric information. They consist of a simple glass bulb with an electric terminal on each end, which is then filled with a low-pressure gas such as neon or argon. When a high voltage is applied to the cathodes, the gas ionizes and emits a bright glow, forming the desired digits or symbols.
The Origins of Nixie Tubes
The first stable and well-functioning nixie tube construction was invented by Haydu Brothers Laboratories, which was founded by two Hungarian brothers, George Haydu and Zoltan Haydu, in 1936. However, it wasn't until the early 1950s that nixie tubes started to appear as the "display" of several gadgets, such as military apparels, printing machines, early calculators and instruments, or even the plaquettes of the New York stock market. The term "Nixie" is an abbreviation for "Numerical Indicator experimental No.1, in other words, NIX-1". The first patent for a readout tube was filed by Burroughs Corporation on December 13, 1955, and then issued on February 17, 1959. Burroughs Corporation bought Haydu Brothers Laboratories in 1954, including trademarks, production lines needed for manufacturing, and the inventors themselves, and that's when mass production started. This is the reason why we refer to the Hungarian brothers as the fathers of nixie tubes – but the next steps were taken by the more competent Burroughs Corporation.
The Rise and Fall of Nixie Tubes
Nixie tubes quickly became the device for displaying numeric information, and companies in the United States and abroad rushed to license the technology from Burroughs Corporation, which also supplied the tubes as OEM products that could be integrated into other companies’ systems. The warm glow of the Nixie came to evoke an era of unprecedented scientific and engineering achievement, of exciting and tangible discoveries, and of seemingly limitless progress. However, in the 1970s, Nixies were eclipsed by LEDs, which were not only much cheaper to make and use but also more versatile. The tubes might have died the lonely death of countless other obsolete devices, but their extraordinary resurgence didn’t really begin until around 2000, when a small but devoted cadre of hobbyists, collectors, and aficionados began searching out and buying old, never-used tubes and designing clocks around them. Nearly two decades later, the movement is still going strong, and Nixies now inhabit a unique niche as ultracool retro tech aimed at discriminating consumers.