Nixie

The NIXIE tube was introduced to the market by the Burroughs Corporation in 1954. This is basically an alpha-numeric display in a glass envelope (similar to an thermionic valve but is not in fact also called a cold cathode tube) inside which there are arranged a series of electrodes shaped in the shape of numbers, letters or graphic signs. Its operation is thanks to a light discharge that is created thanks to a low pressure gas contained in it, crossed by an electric current. Its use was very common until the late 1970s in clock radios, clocks, measuring instruments and numerically controlled machines.