Postwar Television

Drug Store Tube Tester

The tester, made by American Scientific Development Company, probably in the early 50s, was used in drug stores and other merchants to allow customers to test the tubes in their TV sets. Once defective tubes were identified, the customer could purchase new ones. It was a common rumor (maybe spread by TV repair shops) that the testers were rigged to to show good tubes as bad. Here is a brochure from u-test-m, the largest manufacturer of this type of tester.

This item was donated to the museum by Charlene Underwood.