The Mystery of This Vintage Electronics Lunchbox

Adam found this beautiful vintage metal lunchbox at an estate sale recently, containing some homebrewed electronics that he can't quite decipher. With the help of electronics engineer Zach Radding, Adam examines the contents of this controller to deduce its original purpose and when it was built. Do you recognize what it could be?
Thanks to Zach Radding for stopping by to investigate this mystery! Find more of Zach's work at www.buildcoolstuff.com
Shot by Josh Self and edited by Norman Chan
Music by Jinglepunks
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#adamsavage #mystery #electronics

[@nbrodar]

Its a TAT (true action throttle) IV model railroad throttle. The original article was published in March 1969 Model Railroader magazine. Release/apply/lap simulates train braking.

[@MB-st7be]

This is what I love about the internet

[@Ariannus]

My first thought was model railroad controller. Now I'm going to have to look for that issue.

[@williambecwar7939]

I was just going to say it was rail... The reason was just the markings of the Release-Lap-Apply switch, which are air brake terms. 1969 fits the style of wiring and electronics of the era. Those red plastic indicator lamp housings were very typical of that era, sold by Allied Radio, Lafayette and Olsen. Takes me back.

[@berendharmsen]

Well, that didn't take long 🙂 I am somewhat surprised they didn't even entertain this possibility. My noob brain immediately went 'model railway controller' before they even opened the thing.

[@_DML_]

Really needs a followup video with Adam running a model railroad with it.

[@LogicalNiko]

BTW the lunchbox is made by American Thermos Bottle Co and was produced throughout the 50's and early 60s. And yes the two slits on each side are standard ventilation in those lunchboxes. FYI in this context lapping refers to the action to hold steady or hold a certain set amount of force (e.g. like waves lapping against a shore). So here it is for brake systems in a train. When you have a distributed pressurized reservoir of air pushing on the brake pistons over a large system the amount of pressure applied varies as the reservoir decreases in pressure. Depending on the locomotive type (and age) you would either have brakes systems that self-lapped (corrected for variable pressure) or required manual lapping (the locomotive engineer would have to manually fluctuate the brake level and reservoir feed with the control to maintain braking force). Thus if he wants his steam model locomotive to seem period correct he would adjust these values.

[@jonathangehman4005]

I was SURE those "vent slits" were for a clip that secured a wire bail that held the thermos in place. I hate not being right, but I like knowing when I'm not too

[@ElEnanoAr]

I just love the nerdiness on the comments. Not only there are multiple responses of what it exactly is and where it was published originally, but somebody knows exactly which lunchbox it was used to made it and who made said lunchbox. Just amazing!

[@michaelkelly146]

so true. cool, right?

[@aserta]

This is Bruce Chubb's work. The boards, that is. Model rail road stuff. 1970's for those wondering.

[@edbennett8257]

8 minutes for the win!

[@Kevin-ti3rz]

I had friends who built stuff like this . Cool to know who and what it was made for ✓

[@aaronblackford981]

I would had of guessed that until I got 4 ish mins in. Maybe five. Did the old model rail stuff run off 120.? Or this is the step down transformer\switch? So cool

[@DampeS8N]

Coming here to say this looked like model rail to me too

[@danieldare2640]

I will have to look up Bruce Chubb now😂

[@TDCox]

True-Action Throttle controller for Model Railroads. Try the March 1969 issue of Model Railroader magazine.

[@i_am_not_a_pro_but_lets_try]

they got 5 minutes in, and I thought it was for model trains - glad to see so many people telling exactly where and when it came from.

[@budgetmerch]

That was my childhood, right there, 50 years ago - homemade railway controllers built in to old tins. Great stuff! 👍

[@jean-yvesallard8825]

Oh man!, this brings me back to summer 1970 - I was 5. A dumb neighbour kid dare dared me to take a mechanical locomotive apart. I did...and it took at least a month - I really don't know - to rebuild it. My dad was furious at first. But it worked in the end, no loose parts remained. This is the exact moment I decided I was going to be an engineer (not the train kind). I still am facinated with the world around me, like a kid. I totally understand Adam's sentiment. Keep discovering and be playfull! Geek out! Thanks for your channel!

[@Rembrant65]

Makes me wonder about the depth and breadth of aggregate knowledge of Tested viewers. Breaks my brain a little.

[@samspade2131]

I’m surprised no one recognized it right off the bat. It’s the first version of the internet. The second gen was shown on The IT Crowd.

[@unlokia]

🤨

[@thomasmaughan4798]

COL (Chuckle Out Loud)

[@AzraelChiron]

I gotta say I'm so glad I found this channel because getting to see Adam do new content and relive old memories brings a sense of nostalgia for the joy he brought to mythbusters and now I can watch and experience that same again. It makes watching even better.

[@wisteela]

Fantastic find. I love the smell of old electronics. I thought those were jack sockets too.

[@WebbedToedWorkbench]

A bulb was used in oscillator circuits for stability. More current, brighter hotter bulb so more resistance

[@spasticmuse4262]

Also a great quick-and-dirty way to add some current limiting to a test circuit!

[@helgew9008]

As a result, an incandescent bulb is actually a pretty decent current regulator. I used to have a hobby constant-current battery charger where the regulating elements were bulbs.

[@lauramaeda7214]

I am thrilled to see that Adam has picked up objects while thrifting/garage sales that he doesn’t exactly know what it is. Logic tries to tell me that if i don’t know what it is, i should not buy it. I live in the Pacific Northwest in an area where i find a lot of electronics and toys for sale. Also as the technological jobs dwindle and the pandemic allows people to work from home, a lot of people are downsizing and truly interesting items show up for reasonable prices. I see a lot of things that look interesting but i do not have the experience to know what the desired object might be. It might be the ADD and the need to know that forces me to deep dive into searching the internet to discover what my new find actually is. Thank you. Doesn’t make me feel less crazy for buying some unknown thingamajig for $5 but less alone for doing so.

[@doctortheopolis3122]

People spend a lot more than $5 for a puzzle at the mall.

[@jeffreyyoung4104]

My favorite finds! I used to use lunch boxes for project boxes all the time, as they were common, cheap, and made great project boxes! As for the motor control, it has that look, and the neon lamp looks to be for voltage protection on the switch board, while the incandescent bulb could have been part of an oscillator circuit. Great find! I love how they left the pot shafts original length, rather than cutting them down to size! That would have been a source of pride for the person who made it, if it worked as designed!

[@Ashkandi88]

It's so good to see my childhood hero on youtube, it's a lot more personal this way. Thank you for all your hard work, you made our childhood a lot better and crazy!

[@thomaslevy2119]

I guess neither Adam or his guest had a model railroad when they were a kid (or adult) to not have quickly figured out that the mystery device is an early, home-built, electronic momentum throttle. They are still in use today for model railroads, but the electronics have been reduced to a single computer chip.

[@peterdean9181]

Who the hell ever had one of these as a kid (or adult)

[@benjaminarmstrong5550]

​@@peterdean9181not one of these specifically I think he means having one or playing with one of these controllers would make the labeled controlls pretty evident even if you haven't interacted with the specific model at hand.

[@Prophes0r]

It's about expectations usually. If I go to a garage sale and 90% of the stuff is R/C planes/cars, I'm going to assume any random piece of radio gear is related to that, even if on it's own it is clearly a piece of HAM equipment. Sometimes context can be SUPER helpful in identifying something. Sometimes it leads you away from the right answer.

[@thomaslevy2119]

@@Prophes0r True. They were on the right path when they determined it was a motor controller. However, when they assumed it had something to do with shop machinery, that made them go down the wrong rabbit hole. You know the old saying, "When you assume anything ..."

[@Daniel-rd6st]

@@peterdean9181 My father for example. That railwayboard took up have the basement :p As far as i know, it was a popular hobby in the 60-70s and still has quite a few followers 🙂

[@koppadasao]

Never seen a model railroad controller like that, but the moment I saw "release - lap - apply", I recognized it as a train controller.

[@johnnyvsx]

I think he meant to use the acronym PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) and not PPM (Pulse Position Modulation). PWM has been used in control over a range for many years and still is used. Many LED controllers use PWM for ‘dimming’.

[@TrimeshSZ]

Depends on which signal you are talking about - using the traditional JR/Futaba "digital proportional" controls the over the air signal is PPM with the servo positions controlled by the time between each pulse and the previous one. The actual signals going to the servos are PWM and each output goes high for the time interval between two pulses in the PPM stream.

[@wayneclayton5426]

Reminds me of an old tri-ang/ Hornsby train set controller. But home made. Even the right colour.

[@crispy_orb]

I'd love to see more videos like this where you dissect some electronics project find like this and try to guess what it was used for.

[@philipzielinski]

A Greenlee knockout punch would punch a clean hole in sheet metal like that. In an RC club or someone with that kind of depth of building like that appears to have could have had access to something like that for a very clean knockout for those panel mount switches. Very nice work.

[@ej558]

i think he was meaning the small double slits on the sides... which were holes where a shoulder strap would have mounted to the Original Lunch Box

[@nesmaster14]

The light bulb must be acting as a variable resistor, like the ones used in old HP test gear. Neat!

[@MyLilMule]

This is a model train throttle. True Action Throttle - it used DC pulses to finely control the speed of the locomotive.

[@CyanTiger]

Adam, Please do more videos like this one!

[@shp_racing]

Spotted that as a model railroad throttle right away. Good stuff.

[@isamack64]

You know how there are candles that smell like "grandma's house"? Adam needs one in the merch store that smells like Grandpa's workshop/garage!

[@pawpawstew]

The scent of 3-in-1 oil, dust, steel/iron, electronics, Bakelite, leather, old Army canvas, and wood. Ahhhhhh...

[@HighOnTacos]

That puzzle needs to be a scratch n sniff.

[@xyc0n]

If this scent were to be truly accurate it would have to increase your chances of getting at least four types of cancer.

[@jwcph]

I got it - the handwriting clued me in: Adam is going to go back in time at some point, and this is part of the machine he then builds in the past, out of old-timey stuff, to get... BACK TO THE FUTURE!

[@20kilovolt]

Neon lights were also often used as regulators in the past. The transistors 2N1302 and 2N554 came on the market in 1958 and in the mid-1960s they became less popular because better transistors were available. some parts may have a year and a week number. i found 1 at 6:01 6925 1969 June 18.

[@PatrickPoet]

neon lights were also used in oscillators

[@thqp]

What a lovely piece, figured it was an old model train set controllel as many others have pointed out!

[@kmoecub]

I'm very much the same way about those finds. My father was a radio operator and had oodles of electronic and radio projects going on all the time. I distinctly remember being overjoyed at the sight of a crate of new (but slightly out of spec) electronics parts that he had bought from Tecktronics around 1976 or so. It was a wooden crate, and about 3 foot on each side. Lots of goodies to play with.

[@Evergreen64]

"Every time I think the 1960's were primitive..." Take a look at the HP test equipment that was made in the 1950's and 60's. That will convince you that they had some wicked smart engineers!

[@1pcfred]

They landed on the Moon in the 1960s. Top that 21st century.

[@SimonBauer7]

well you are writing this on a global network, i am quite possibly on the other side of the globe, yet we can still communicate and watch the same video​@@1pcfred

[@joermnyc]

And using a computer in the lander that had less processing power than a modern smart phone.

[@1pcfred]

@@joermnyc on the first landing the computer broke down with the infamous 1202 alarm incident. There was a dithering error with the radar antenna. It was trying to adjust faster than that limited processing power could handle. It basically couldn't handle the pressure and folded up. Fortunately we had Superman flying the LEM.

[@MostlyPennyCat]

​@@1pcfred It didn't break down. It did _exactly_ what it was designed to do. If it had truly failed, they would have all died as without the computer you can't fly the LEM, the computer always flew the LEM and the Apollo space craft.

[@JessHull]

I don't know exactly what circuit that is but IMO it looks like a model railroad train controller. Whoever built that really put a lot of effort and love into that. They used some of the highest quality components available to them at the time. I love all those old Allen-Bradley resistors. I still buy old NOS lots of them off of ebay and use them in my projects.

[@adamwallace1863]

Its funny watching Zach look at it as a circuit and Adam looking at the physical aspect.

[@grumpyoldbugger]

I think the factory slots were for a spring clamp that held the drink so ht wouldn't squash the sandwich.

[@markhodgson2348]

😂

[@GenerationAI2024]

My guess would also be a Throttle for model Trains. Thanks for sharing.

[@stormrider8236]

What an interesting find! Home brewed gear can be fascinating as it is lethal lol. Your guest did really well to suggest it was some sort of motor controller - just as other commentors have confirmed its use with model railways! How cool is that....?

[@JolynBowler]

What fun, discovering, questioning, collaborating... Hugs and Thank you both. 💙🌻💙

[@BrainComm487]

In an abandoned bunker somewhere, someone's dieselpunk mech is coming back to life...

[@rickfazzini22]

If it is a controller for a model train set, I suppose they guessed it by saying it’s a motor controller. No matter what the ingenuity to build it is awesome, and so cool that some fella back in the day built this and probably showed it to his wife who was not impressed 😂 but later Adam savage stumbles onto it and shows it to 100 of thousand a of people on the web 🤯

[@VonOzbourne]

Ah I know that feeling well. "Hey I figured this thing out. See? This is what's cool about it." "Why are you showing me this? You know I have no interested in your... weird stuff."

[@TheParkAttendant]

The round metal "transistors" are actually integrated circuits. I use to work for an outfit called Signetics. It became a victim of reaganomics. We manufactured components like this. My job was placing the wires on the "chip", an operation that took place under microscope. The wire had to be placed on the circuit and run out the the posts, that allowed the electric signal to activate the "chip".

[@TheAngryCaptain]

I'm 15 hours late seeing the video, but knew what this was because my friend's dad when I was a kid was massively into model railroads and had several mounted on 4x8 plywood sheets with all kinds of different scenes, towns, and terrain. He would stack them vertically against a wall because the garage was only big enough to setup one at a time. In any event, Adam can now build a heck of a rail system around his Christmas tree at tested and have an authentic throttle controller!

[@briansavage932]

I love this thing as an object! It looks like something on an antiquated prop from a sci-fi show. I especially enjoy the chicken head knobs on the long shafts!

[@1pcfred]

Chicken head knobs are the best knobs. That's peak knob right there. It all went downhill after that. I just love me some of them chicken heads.

[@Valeriein3D]

Nice! I always call it playing the Craigslist game. Sometimes even the free section has some weird finds.

[@captainyoni]

This thing looks exactly like something Adam would build. The writing especially!

[@joelalain]

at first i thought it was a model train controller. these were really popular in the 1960s and 1970s

[@stevenlynn3942]

This may help with when this was made. Some of the larger transistors look similar to ones I played with in electronics class in high school in 1967. Germanium! Germanium transistors (or diodes?) were used in some foot pedals for effects for electric guitars in the early-mid 1960's. They made great tone, grunge etc, and are still sought offer.

[@joeyisjustso]

These are my favorite kind of videos

[@2000jago]

"these" ? This is the only one of it's kind on tested. Adam even says "its a first" at the end of the video.

[@joeyisjustso]

@2000jago the mysterious metal box video is just like this one without the other person I think

[@DadsRCHangar]

What a cool thing to find, I hope you can get it to work. It’s cool someone made this make a motor work so he could build something

[@EricTheCat]

My first thought was it reminded me of the transmitter used by Rex Garrod in "The Secret Life of Machines" episode about radio (look at 10:22 in The Secret Life of the Radio - Remastered on Tim Hunkin's channel). However his box is a different color and I think you properly determined that your box isn't a transmitter like his. His has similar pulse width control.

[@camerondagenais]

Best upload in weeks I was beyond engaged with memories leading to google haha thank you

[@charleshettrick2408]

Knew immediately. In my home town, there was a RR store in a man's basement. In 1971, my Dad and i were on a rare shopping visit to the store when one of the regulars showed up with his glamorous steam loco and a much cooler looking copy of Adam's box, with lights and illuminated gages. He hooked up the box, and OMG! Almost real loco control, with an independent dimming headlight while the train was stopped, and bell / steam whistle (from box). We stayed watching this modern miracle and got mom mad because we were late for dinner. (No mobile phones and no public phone at the store) The box cost the guy almost $250. Unimaginable! But he was a bachelor working for Caterpillar. My Dad said better than blowing his money on women and booze. I didn't understand at the time. Do now. Boy, do i now.

[@robertdoughty]

It reminds me of some things my dad built when I was a kid. I've had model railways all my life but didn't recognize the circuit until I read the comments. I have a book somewhere that explains how to build it.

[@jkit3258]

@tested this need to be a one day build; replicating this controller using vintage or vintage like parts.

[@orellaminx3530]

Imagine trying to travel with that thing these days, getting pulled aside to have to explain it to TSA after your luggage goes through the x-ray machine.

[@snaredude56]

Definitely a home brew model train controller. I searched for the name and model on the circuit card and first hit was for mrh forum discussing the TAT IV transistor throttle brake circuit. Creative use of a lunch box. I have seen old timer's circuits built in cigar boxes and any other convenient makeshift "enclosure" someone found lying around the house. I can remember building something in an old Sucrets tin, and built a Morse Code practice oscillator in an old plastic box that some item had come in. Perfect for the speaker, circuitry and 9v battery. I took the amplifier circuit out of an old broken tape recorder and mounted the speaker and circuit board in an old margarine tub because that's what my mom had kicking about in the kitchen, and it was free. There were plenty of other examples, but those are the ones that stick out.

[@thefrothingotter]

Its the first revision of the Flux Capacitor :)

[@mk7389]

Oh, my God, they found me, I don't know how, but they found me.

[@nuNWO]

One day investigating the insides of some random buy you may go "this circuit is a crude receiver, some damaged capacitors here and oh, this bit looks like an explosive, and er, it's a bomb, i've bought a bomb...."

[@EVguru]

I'd guessed model train controller after seeing the 'momentum' legend on the side. Great to have that confirmed by other commenters.

[@WyhnTemple]

I don’t know anything about this, except it does look like 1960s. But it was great listening to you trying to figure it out! 😉👍💡

[@ericchazankin4919]

Before reading all the comments I was thinking model railroad controller - good to see that confirmed! If it wasn’t that, next guess would be the “gonculator” from Hogan’s Heroes… :)

[@Sim-q9t]

I remember a few TVs as a kid, taking them apart...the way they were built was so like...not very good but it worked. All hand built, with like bolts as terminals for a bunch of wires, and wires that looked like they were twisted together I forget if they were soldered or not or maybe just dipped in wax or tar...which all makes sense and is even stuff I might do when rigging up something, but I sure hope that lots of efforts have been made to accurately preserve all this evolution. I know I have done some of it, trying to hold on to some older PCBs and components because eventually u just wont see them again, possibly. lol I sound so old but I am not wth, it is just a very nostalgic topic for me as some of my first memories involve being on a mountain of recycling when there was an appliance recycle pickup and I had a hammer and screwdriver. King of the hill of electronics scrap, wear ur ppe kids. if u don't wanna look like me. just wear ur ppe no matter what u wanna look like.

[@Electronzap]

Very cool box.

[@veeot_dragon300]

about half way through the vid i thought "you know i bet that thing has something to do with model trains, something like you would find in a popular mechanics mag". after the end of the vid i come here to the comments and i'm like "i knew it". well done to the person who knew the exact popular mechanics article. (i have a stack of 80s era ones though there might be a few 70s ones mixed in). it just looks like something one would find in one of those mags.

[@smittenmitton]

Show and tell with company is the best!

[@91X42H8]

Those Vent slits were where you would lock in the strap for the bottle that came with the lunch box.

[@elvinfp]

I love that this video is just a couple of uber tech nerds nerding out and decoding a decades-old handmade controller :)

[@GeoffreyFeldmanMA]

The incandescent bulb may be part of a wien bridge oscillator which is a way of making a fairly good sine wave. It provides negative resistance, changing during the oscillator cycle. If there is a neon lamp in there, it definitely involves at least 90 volts.

[@jasond130]

getting it to work would be an amazing set of videos

[@1pcfred]

The last thing we need is for Adam to get into model railroading.

[@MephitisUK]

Train set controller?

[@jeolman1]

that's what I was thinking.

[@realfoggy]

Excellent idea and the fact it is in a lunchbox screams used in the home. Maybe the long forgotten lunchbox from the kids was reused by the Dad on the model railroad

[@aserta]

Yup. The boards were made by Bruce Chubb under his company Tri-Delt. These are 1970's kit boards for HO scale stuff.

[@davidyoung518]

That was my first thought as well, but being in a machine type shop it was probably more industrial than hobby.

[@argonexploration4611]

I think you're going to suck in the show Young Sheldon he had something similar to this

[@tolkienfan1972]

My Dad used to make stuff like this all the time. Good memories

[@eebaker699]

Good video. Please get it running.

[@aaronblackford981]

Love your passions anything art and science

[@ValerieBoyco]

Aaah, electronics built into lunchboxes, Altoids tins and L'eggs eggs. My childhood!

[@brealistic3542]

,1950s RC transmitter control. You should have seen the size of the transmitter ! I remember seeing pictures of them in magazines along with stories about how they operated.

[@markp5726]

The orange, cardboard cap is indeed electrolytic. At 7:26 you can see the last few letters of "LYTIC". If you aren't familiar with the topic of "re-forming capacitors", very old electrolytics are more likely to survive being re-energized if power is applied slowly, via variac and/or a dim bulb tester, in which incandescent bulbs do double duty: as high-wattage resistors and as indicators. Slowly applying power allows the dielectric (insulating) layer in the cap to grow chemically. When unused for years, the acidic electrolyte will partially dissolve it. If abruptly re-energized, the leakage current through the dielectric can be high enough to heat the electrolyte to boiling. Of course, when this happens the cap bursts and you get to experience the joy of cleaning its guts off of the rest of the circuit.

[@VitoVisintini]

Even that color of paint on the box is nearly impossible to get any longer.

[@1eclectic]

The date code on the transistor (2N554) is for week 33 of 1970 so this was likely built sometime after that

[@Hey_Its_That_Guy]

That same lunch box is on Etsy (Vintage 1960s Green Metal Lunchbox - Retro Industrial Steel Lunchbox with Handle).

[@navelriver]

I suppose the light bulb in there is to regulate the current? I remember touring a thermal power plant the guide said they would sometimes run the output through the armature of an unused generator (alternator?) to act like a choke! That seems rather cool.

[@1pcfred]

Yeah incandescent bulbs are natural current limiters. They're not half bad high current resistors either.

[@Enigma758]

The light bulb is often used in a Wien-bridge oscillator.

[@667Mumble]

Now I'm thinking somewhere the train that went to this controller is going off and moving around and the owners of the train are freaking out over why it's moving by itself 🤣

[@spewp]

Thumbnail asks the question, "What is it?" "Probably a fire hazard", is the correct answer.

[@lunhil12]

I knew right away that it's a model railroad controller by its functions. I've an old MRC unit that does all of that.

[@PatrickPoet]

I could never have spent that much time looking at it without starting drawing schematics.

[@frozenmoonproductions]

I am watching this saying "Adam this is a train controller for an old model train set" :)

[@SlyPearTree]

I now want to build a project in this type of lunchbox.

[@johnwest7993]

PPM is Pulse Position Modulation. Wire-wound resistors, especially that vintage are often high resistance. It looks like it was built as a machine tool controller. I do RF from DC to light, and it's not an RF device of any sort.

[@davidhogenmiller248]

Bet if had done a google image search on the prefab circuit cards he would have had his answer in a hot minute. this is so much more fun. kind of like doing a project without the instructions.

[@MFunkibut]

Was gonna suggest Popular Electronics over Popular Mech. but it looks like the model train geeks have it zeroed in. Nicely done gents!

[@Breakstuff455khz]

That forward and reverse switch with the white tip is radioactive, there's Radium in the bead on the end there.

[@timothymallon]

I think the bulb inside is for a throttle. The brighter the light, the faster the speed. Ive seen some devices that use light for making things faster. Reminds me of an old guitar effects pedal that used light for the effect

[@RVSparky]

Gotta send the lunchbox to Big Clive and let him reverse engineer it !

[@halfatankfull]

I used to layout, a big piece of paper, draw all the components on it and play connect the dots to find out what a board did and how it worked.

[@michaelcoffey4961]

The two factory made holes are where the wire retaining arm was connected to hold the thermos in place inside the lunch box.

[@unadomandaperte]

I hope there is a follow-up to this.❤

[@beautifulsmall]

Filament bulbs can be used to create true sine wave generators , maybe part of the oscillator circuit.

[@gregwilliams7354]

@Adam Savage... was the mini lathe a Unimat by chance? I recently bought one and it seems you came across an old model railroader's stash. Very common back in the day to have a Unimat, and to build a throttle like this.

[@andlukeable]

The child sized mannequin with adams head and a crown on will haunt my dreams tonight.

[@scrie100]

1:46 good name for a comic 😂

[@return2sender791]

That 2n441 transistor date code is 23rd week of 1970. If nothing else you got some cool old germanium transistors that are definitely worth more than 5 bucks.