Valve amplifier thermionic valves. The simplest valve was invented by John Ambrose Fleming while working for the Marconi Company in London in 1904 and named the diode, as it had two electrodes. The diode conducted electricity in one direction only and was used as a radio detector and a rectifier. In 1906 Lee De Forest added a third electrode and invented the first electronic amplifying device, the triode, which he named the "Audion". This additional "control grid" modulates the current that flows between cathode and anode. The relationship between current flow and plate and grid voltage is often represented as a series
Slide valve be side-by-side. The balanced slide valve was invented by the Scottish engineer Alexander Allan. It was not much used in the UK but, at one time, had great popularity in the United States. It gave some of the advantages of a piston valve to a slide valve by relieving the pressure on the back of the valve, thus reducing friction and wear. Slide valve The slide valve is a rectilinear valve used to control the admission of steam into, and emission of exhaust from, the cylinder of a steam engine. In the 19th century, most steam locomotives used slide valves