I bought a small box of tubes awhile back and this was inside the box in a clear case. It says
Series Model W3
Mfd. By Workman TV Products Inc.
Sarasota, Florida

Any info would be greatly appreciated. I'm also curious what these go for.. Thanks! -John

Picture tube brightener, I dought they go for very much.

Al

It looks like a "picture tube brightener".

That's a small auto-transformer that raises the filament voltage in the picture tube to increase cathode emission, which can result in usable brightness for an old picture tube.

- Leigh

The common ones were autotransformers, but some were available with an isolation transformer for use with tubes that had developed a heater/cathode short.
-Chuck

ok, Thank you guys for the info. Have a good night. -John

There were also "universal" ones. These had multiple taps on an isolation transformer. That way they could be used as step-up in transformer operated sets, step-down in series sets, and isolate a heater-cathode short in either one. The selection was made by plugging wires into different jacks on the body of the device.

You really knew you were in for a big tip when you went into a customer’s house and found two or three of those things plugged into each other to squeeze every last bit of life out of an old CRT.

There are probably 100,000 of those surviving in people's junk boxes, and almost no one that wants to own one........

[quote]almost no one that wants to own one....../quote]
dagnabbit!!! Almost every auction, something is in a flat that I want, which happens to include one or two of these. I bet I've got a few dozen of them now.

Maybe I can use them to brighten up my day..........

The only good use for them now is a source of CRT sockets and bases.

Could the transformer be used to boost 6.3 volts (like used on an eye tube such as a 6E5) up to 12.6 for a 1629? I realize that it may have to be rewound to get enough turns to reach 12.6, but isn’t the core capable of handling the current? I also have several of those laying around! Denis

TV brighteners usually don't go that high in voltage. They may increase voltage to 7.5 or 8.5 volts? Core can handle the current as picture tubes operate on 600 ma.

There is an easy way to increase 6.3 volts AC to 12 volts DC. It takes two diodes and two caps to make a voltage doubler.

An isolation type could certainly be rewound for this purpose since the core has to be large enough to handle the whole power of the CRT heater, 6.3 V @ 600 mA plus the extra power of running it overvoltage.

The non-isolating type are auto-transformers so they only have to handle the extra power of the overvoltage. But an eye tube heater is only half the power of a CRT heater, so it might work. You'll have to check the core size to determine how much power it can handle.

In either case, if the booster is a parallel type, the exiting primary can be used. A series type may have to be completely rewound. But either type can be wound as an auto-transformer so it will only have to handle the power of the increased voltage, 6.3 V @ 150 mA.