The ZM1000 was made by Philips and sold under several different brand names. The samples I have are Amperex and Valvo. There are several other tubes with the same form factor. This is a small nixie tube with a decimal point.
The pin layout of this series of tubes is quite interesting. It is laid out in a grid with a 0.1″ spacing. Most tubes use a circular pattern.
| Digit size | 14mm |
| Current | 2.5mA |
| Base | Eurogrid |
Amperex was a subsidiary of Philips, who marked all of their tubes with identifying codes, so it is possible to figure out where and when this tube was made. The format of the markings on this tube is:
TTTC
FYM
- TTT is the type code (MBT in this case)
- C is an internal batch code (TT in this case)
- F is the factory code (a circle in this case. I’m not sure which factory that is, it might be Amperex NY).
- Y is 8, which could mean 1978 or 1968
- M is L which means December
This site does a good job of explaining the codes.
Datasheet:
ZM1000