Little helper and his lightbulb

[Arthur Faria Jr.]

Theresa Wiegert wrote:

> >But in the old days, if I am remembering correctly, little helpers head
> >looked more like a hmm. an electrical component you used before you got
> >the transistor. I have no idea what the name for that is in english
(tube,
> >perhaps?) (elektronrör in swedish, perhaps someone can help me?), i e not
a lamp at
> >all

and Frank Stajano answered:

> It's called a vacuum tube (fairly generic name [...]
> Apart from the electronics nitpickery, anyway, as far as I can tell the
> little helper never had anything that fancy for a head, just an ordinary
> light bulb.

Except, perhaps, in some old stories drawn by Jack Bradbury, where
Helper's head really looks like a vacuum tube: it was more cylindrical
than esferical and had a point on the top, like those tubes used in old
radio receivers (very common at the time of those stories).

  Tchau,
  -- Arthur.