The Luminous Electronic Bargraph Clock

We used tubes designed under military specifications with the intention of being used by the Soviet armed forces but were usurped when LEDs were introduced and ended up being abandoned in cold, dark and dusty basements.

It was from these very basements that Nuvitron rescued them and gave them new purpose and meaning in the coolest, old-school gadget ever.

So, how does one package such a cool gizmo? Well, we decided that the only way to do justice to such a device is to wrap it in a wooden enclosure, made completely by hand, carefully cut, sanded and painted by humans, not machines.

In clock mode, it… well, it tells the time. The sound level meter gives you a visual display of audio levels in the immediate environment and the timer can count down from 1, 5 or 10 minutes, whilst displaying a pleasing, and quite hypnotic, pendulum effect.

To change modes, the machine is turned round and incorporates sensors that detect its position to change the displayed values accordingly. The different modes are indicated via an LED that animates and changes color.

First, let us look at the technology involved here. Exactly what is a gas discharge tube? Well, put simply, it is a device that has an arrangement of electrodes within an insulated environment that is filled with gas or, more accurately in this case, a mixture of gases: Neon and Argon.

When a voltage is applied, the gas molecules get excited, then flow and glow but they do so in such a way as to produce oscillations and waveforms.

If you want to make yourself instantly more annoying at social gatherings you can research Townsend Discharge and Paschen’s Law.