Helper's head

[Willem Hajenius]

Halsten:
> The wire is made of wolfram, which can withstand the extreme temperature in 
> the wire without melting. Provided of course that there is vacuum inside 
> the light bulb to make sure it won't burn.

They call it tungsten in America, for some reason. And how about potassium (K)
and sodium (Na)? :-)
 
> Another evidence of the head being a light bulb is in the Barks' story 
> where Gyro  invents a firefly tracker that does not impress anyone. But 
> when it proves to be able to predict meteors and Gyro prevents a train from 
> crashing into one, he becomes the hero. And what did he use to warn the 
> locomotive driver in the dark?
> He waved helper with the head fully lit. Only a light bulb can do that. Not 
> a vacuum tube. But then again, a light bulb is really a vacuum bulb.

And don't forget W WDSF  2-02, where Gyro and Uncle $crooge are forced by
doctor's order to do funny things. On page 9, a bear comes after the dough they've made,
which is being heated by Helper! I can't imagine a vacuum tube giving off
enough light to shine through the bear's stomach, fainting the poor bear in the process...

But perhaps Unca Carl did mean the bulb to be a vacuum tube, possibly some sophisticated
type invented by Gyro himself. Tubes were still fitted in the "intelligent" appliance called the
computer, whose operation was more or less a mystery to most people at the time. (I guess...)
And a few transistors don't look nearly as cool as a glowing vacuum tube!

By the way, the first integrated circuit was made with tubes! Check out
http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~wwl/loewe.html for some pictures of it.