Brimar

- British designation code for Receiving Valves -

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First Number: Construction
1	Half Wave Rectifiers
2	Diodes. Single
3	Triodes, Output
4	Triodes, High-mu
5	Tetrodes, Straight
6	Tetrodes, Vari-mu
7	Pentodes, Power and Video
8	Pentodes, R.F. Straight
9	Pentodes, R.F. Vari-mu
10	Diodes, Double
11	Triodes with Double Diode
12	Pentodes, A.F. with Double Diode
13	Triodes Double, High-mu
14	Triodes Double, Class B Output
15	Heptodes
16	Triodes Output, D.C. Coupled
17	Pentodes R.F. with Double Diode
18	Pentodes with Triode
19
20	Hexode/Heptode with Triode

CV numbers

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Format is CV followed by up to 5 digits, e.g. CV4004. 

Used by the British Military to codify vacuum tubes, gas tubes, and latterly, some semiconductor devices.

CV numbers can be directly mapped onto NATO numbers, as 5960-XX-000-YYYY where XX is the country code, and YYYY is the CV number. 

For example, 5960-99-000-4004 = CV4004 (12AX7WA), with 99 indicating country of origin as UK.

European (Mullard/Philips)
 - after 1934 -
(pro-electron)

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First letter: Filament

0

 tubes without filament

A

 4V

B

 0.18A (series)

C

 0.2A (series)

D 

 1.4V (series/parallel)

E

 6.3V (series/parallel)

F

 12.6V

G

 5V (parallel)

H

 0.15A (series)

I

 20V AC/DC parallel connection

K

 2V battery

L

 0.45A (series)

O

 0.15A AC/DC series connection

P

 0.3A (series)

U

 0.1A (series)

V

 0.05A (series)

X

 0.6A (series)

Y

 0.45A (series)

Second and subsequent letters: tube systems, construction

A

  Diode - single detection diode (excluding rectifiers)

B

 Double detection diode (excluding rectifiers)

C

 Triode (small-signal, not power)

D

 Power output triode

E

 Tetrode (small-signal, not power)

F

 Pentode (small-signal, not power)

L

 Power output tetrode or pentode

H

 Hexode or heptode (of the hexode type)

K

 Octode or heptode (of the octode type)

M

 Tuning indicator

N

 Thyratron

Q

 Nonode. Enneode

W

 Diode single gasfilled rectifier

X

 Diode double gasfilled rectifier

Y

 Half wave rectifier

Z

 Full wave rectifier

First digit: Basing, Socket

1

 Miscellaneous

2

 Miniature 10 pin.

3

 International octal

4

 Miniature 8-pin (B8A)

5

 Magnoval (B9D)

6

 Subminiature

7

 Subminor 8p

8

 Noval (B9A)

9

 Miniature (B7G)

Remaining digits: sequence number

*   Note that signal pentodes and tetrodes which end in even numbers are sharp cutoff tubes. 

Those ending in odd numbers, are remote cutoff tubes.

Examples

EF86:    6.3V filament, signal pentode, Noval base, sharp cutoff.

GZ34:   5V filament, full wave rectifier, International Octal base.

PCL82: 0.3A series string filament, signal triode + power pentode, Noval base.

E88CC:  Special Quality version of the ECC88, swapping of the second and third field was commonplace to denote "SQ" tubes.

European (old Philips) -
- before 1934 -

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Frank Philipse kindly translated the Dutch text to English from:

Gegevens en schakelingen van moderne ontvang-en versterkerbuizen. (1940 Philips).

Frank says "Initially type coding of Philips tubes was done in the following way: The type number consisted of a capital letter, followed by 3 or 4 digits. The capital letter indicated the heater current as follows:"

First letter: Heater current

A

 0.06 to 0.10A

B

 0.10 to 0.20A

C

 0.20 to 0.40A

D

 0.40 to 0.70A

E

 0.70 to 1.25A

F

 1.25A and higher