WW2 translation of Japanese radio tubes

nortonman1972 · 15 Jan 2025

Hello, these four items were brought home from the Pacific area of conflict. The card goes with the larger vacuum tube and may be used to test it. Are you able to tell where the tubes were manufactured, when, and where used, like in a naval plane or ship. Also the rectangular electrical device. Thanks!

Mikawa Ossan · 15 Jan 2025

The small tube was manufactured in September of 1942. 昭和17年9月製造
The large tube, according to the card, was tested in late 1941. I think it was tested in November, but he wrote his ones differently here than anywhere else. 16年11(?)月17日
This large tube was manufactured by a company called Kawanishi Machinery, located in the city of Kobe.
The rectangular object was manufactured in 1941, but the month was left blank. It was made by a place called Takanashi Manufacturing. There are several companies today going by variants of that name.

I love the way the "A"s are printed on that card. They resemble shinto shrine gates (torii).

mdchachi · 15 Jan 2025

Date on the validation test sheet is April 17, 1941. Company is 川西機械製作所 (Kawanishi Machine Works). Address seems to be in Kobe. There's a Wikipedia page about it here. Translated summary:
Kawanishi Machinery Manufacturing Co., Ltd. was a Japan machinery manufacturer that existed until World War II. It was engaged in the manufacture of airplanes, textile machinery, leveling instruments, and vacuum tubes. Vacuum tube technology was highly regarded as the highest level in Japan at the time.

In order to consolidate debts due to the termination of wartime compensation after the war, a second company was established and dissolved under the corporate restructuring and development plan. The second company, Kobe Kogyo, merged with Fujitsu in 1968. Subsequently, the radio division was spun off as Fujitsu Ten (now Denso Ten) and operates at the founding site.

No clues about where it was used. You'd need some expertise on the communications equipment used during the war to know what kinds of radios might have contained those types of tubes.

As for the rectangular thing I was going to guess capacitor and this seems to back that up. I'd try contacting people at that site for more in-depth information.

Mikawa Ossan · 16 Jan 2025

I'm curious, what makes you think the test report was dated April?

mdchachi · 16 Jan 2025

Mikawa Ossan said:
I'm curious, what makes you think the test report was dated April?

You can see the four is smudged and the bottom of the vertical stroke is visible. At first I also thought LL or 11 but that didn't make sense. So I then ran every digit from 1 to 12 through my brain until something matched better.

Mikawa Ossan · 16 Jan 2025

Now that you mention it, I can see the smudge now. That's much more reasonable than the 11 that I defaulted to.

As far as what these were used for, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's likely they were used on seagoing vessels. The anchor design on the glass is the clue.

nortonman1972 · 16 Jan 2025

Mikawa Ossan said:
The small tube was manufactured in September of 1942. 昭和17年9月製造
The large tube, according to the card, was tested in late 1941. I think it was tested in November, but he wrote his ones differently here than anywhere else. 16年11(?)月17日
This large tube was manufactured by a company called Kawanishi Machinery, located in the city of Kobe.
The rectangular object was manufactured in 1941, but the month was left blank. It was made by a place called Takanashi Manufacturing. There are several companies today going by variants of that name.

I love the way the "A"s are printed on that card. They resemble shinto shrine gates (torii).

Thank you, this helps make them come alive. Plus the personal touch with the "A"s.

WW2 translation of Japanese radio tubes

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