Control grid Control grid The control grid is an electrode used in amplifying thermionic valves (vacuum tubes) such as the triode, tetrode and pentode, used to control the flow of electrons from the cathode to the anode (plate) electrode. The control grid usually consists of a cylindrical screen or helix of fine wire surrounding the cathode, and is surrounded in turn by the anode. The control grid was invented by Lee De Forest, who in 1906 added a grid to the Fleming valve (thermionic diode) to create the first amplifying vacuum tube, the Audion (triode). In a valve, the hot cathode emits
Double beat valve the double beat valve was known as the Cornish Valve, a synonym that persisted until the early 20th century. The Cornish Valve, as used on early beam engines, was invented by Murdock, an assistant of James Watt, in 1820. Double-beat poppet valves became widely used during the nineteenth century. Francis Stevens invented the Stevens valve gear, a double beat poppet valve, in 1839. It was used throughout the nineteenth century and in the early years of the 20th, on side-wheel paddle steamer engines, including the grasshopper engine, in the United States. The Lentz gear, of German origin, was first applied