[sdiy] Old Transistors with Color Codes?

[Ken Stone]

That I am aware of, no. Date codes or batch codes. I have seen the same type
of transistor from the same manufacturer with different color codes.

Ken

>While going through a parts-bin drawer to find a 2N3904 transistor, I
>found some in a drawer section labeled 2N3904... however, there are no
>numbers stamped on the transistors (which is why I stuck a label there
>about twenty some years ago... that makes me feel old); there are
>three colored lines on the rounded side of the case, however.  Was
>there any sort of color code for transistors used in the 1970's or
>early 1980's?  
>
>I didn't find much yet on Google about this other than discovering
>that Motorola used a color code for beta for RF transistors and that
>very early transistors (1950's) used a color code.
>
>Speaking of color codes, why in blue blazes did they have to go and
>change the background color used on resistors from a color (brown)
>which made the band colors so easy to see---making it easy to quickly
>determine the values, to that light beige/grey-like color which makes
>it so blasted difficult to determine the colors of the bands on many
>smaller resistors, including some 1/2W resistors?  One good reason to
>stick with buying 1/2W resistors and avoiding the 1/4 and 1/8 W ones
>is that the colors are usually easier to see than on the smaller
>resistors, even though they cost half a penny more.
>
>-- 
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_______________________________________________________________________
Ken Stone   sasami at hotkey.net.au
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