GB631406A - Improvements in or relating to vapour electric discharge devices - Google Patents

Abstract

631,406. Metal-vapour discharge apparatus. WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC INTERNATIONAL CO. June 26, 1947, No. 16898. Convention date, July 12, 1940. [Class 39 (i)] A vapour electric discharge device comprises a mercury cathode 2, Fig. 1, a shield 8, 9, 104, 105 surrounding the sides and back of the main anode 5, a deionizing grid 11, a baffle arrangement 15, 17 between the grid 11 and the cathode 2, an insulating barrier 4 such as a quartz ring for confining the active cathode area, and a make-alive electrode 3. The members 8, 11 may be of graphite and integral, as shown, or the shield may be of metal and the deionizing grid of quartz, Fig. 1 (not shown), and the whole shield structure is supported from the metal container wall by insulating bushings 10. The shield and grid may be biassed through a connection 12, Fig. 1. The baffle 15, 17 may consist of an annular and a disc-shaped portion, as shown, or of three annular portions and a disc-shaped portion, Fig. 2 (not shown), so arranged that the grid 11 cannot " see the cathode 2. In Fig. 1 the baffle is insulated and supported by tubular quartz or porcelain members 20. The members 20 carry brackets 22 welded to a framework 23, and fit over pins 21. Sleeves 24 protect the members 20 from sputtered particles. In Fig. 2 (not shown), the baffle insulators and supports are ceramic sleeves and collars carried on metal pins. The walls 1 of the container may be cooled in any suitable manner.