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Looking for help identifying an old Motorola transistor

Going through a lot of stuff from my Grandfather's basement. This has to be at least 40 years old and I'm guessing that the "1959-1"IMG_20210408_043806__01.jpg is a date code which would make it 62 years old.
 
Sir . . . . cayuga . . . . . . . . . .( that's exactly the sound my ole model T Ford's horn made.)

Dear ole grandad must have had access to some "pwemium bwewed" ***** military /aerospace qualified components such as these are.
With my l o o o o o o ng time of having seen transistors initially introduced and eventually phased out . . . . . my encompassing experience tells me . .. . . . ..
I am HEAVILY wanting to think that the 1959-1 is being an assigned "house number" for product identification, as either requested by the buyer or assigned by Motorola.
I see the 112 as being the date code for the unit, with the final 12 as being the 12th week of the "1" year.
Now 1951 is being a impossibility for this unit . . . . .1961 is still being technically UNLIKELY . . . . 1971 is my VERY strongest suspicion . . . . and 1981 and 1991 will probably have found the unit obsoleted by later design..

***** is reeked by the GOLD flashed leads and the use of HI-TEMP teflon tubing on the wire leads.

If you want to believe 2N1959, then look at the data sheet and it will have that product being in a conventional "naked" TO-5 casing.
Look at these units and its semiconductor die is thermally coupled to the heat sink disc . . . also gold flashed . . . . that its leads pass thru.
So o o o this is being a heftier TO-39 casing . . . . not a mere TO-5.
Look up a ECG128 and its equivalent replacements and you would have some rough idea of the max current and wattage, but a curve tracer would facilitate the voltage specs on these units.

73's de Edd . . . . .

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Ed,

Thanks. He ran a radio/TV repair shop in Boston for about 50 years and retired in the mid 70's. He spent a few years tinkering with projects before succumbing to cancer in 1981. I have his old ham radio license (1AWN from 1923) listing Herbert Hoover as Secretary of Commerce. He did a lot of work for the Navy (calibrating radios mostly) during WW2.

73's de Jeff
 
Being an old guy myself, and around in the good old days, I agree with 73's de Edd that those markings are proprietary, or 'house numbers', and the transistor is very likely not (NOT at all likely, in my opinion) to be 2N1959.
The transistors were marked with a designation known only to whomever paid Motorola to mark them that way.
 
Another direction: Plug one into his transistor tester and get an idea of the parameters. Might narrow down the options for it.
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Either way, I'd guess you will end up throwing them out, recycling for the gold, or worse, like so many of us, add them to the ever-increasing electronics junk pile for that day when you might need one. :)
 

davenn

Moderator
I also agree with Edd's assessment
Motorola were notorious for producing parts with in-house numbers on them ... they still do!
make parts to a specific specification for a specific client and nobody but Motorola or the client know what they are

I see TO-5, TO-18 and TO51.


uh huh, but not a TO-39 as this unit is ;)
 
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