EIA Codes!

[JayCobie]

I'm back to work on my EIA Code compilation project after a long hiatus, so I thought I'd re-post it for those that may have missed it.

What are EIA codes?
For anyone researching old electronics and their manufacturers, the 6-8 digit EIA code that is printed on components can shed a lot of light on the history of electronic components. A lot of people use these codes to find who made speakers, potentiometers, transformers, etc. and also to date when those components were manufactured.

This page on Triode Electronics does a great job of explaining how to make use of them, but the list of companies on that page is far from complete: http://www.triodeel.com/eiacode.htm

So what is this thing?
Over the last 2 years I've been digitizing and compiling as many EIA Production Source Date Code lists as I could scrounge together into a massive, searchable spreadsheet. No longer will you need to fiddle with PDF documents containing scanned images of 50 year old paper!

My list so far (V 3.3) compiles 24 different yearly lists (of the total 55 lists ever published between 1946 to 2001), and despite that there are still plenty of different company numbers that are missing from the list (about 61 by my count, not counting re-used EIA numbers over the years).

I just got physical copies of 7 more EIA code lists that are unavailable on the internet, from about 1964 to 1972, and I'll be digitizing them in the coming weeks/months. The plan is to have a total of 31 lists in the compilation by the end of summer.
Eventually the plan is to complete the collection and then I can simplify the list down to just date ranges for a given code or company.

Is all this really necessary?
Of course not. I'm just weird and I like doing this archival work.
You could probably get by fine with just using one or two lists from the 50's and 60's for most tube gear. But seeing enough esoteric components over a long enough career, you're bound to run into some obscure EIA code that requires way too much research than is worth to figure out the manufacturer.

Well I've done the work for you and it's freely available to anyone who wants to make use of it!

Here is my ever-evolving Google spreadsheet compilation of EIA codes. Save and share to your hearts content:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1P1jeVIQ9UdwlhXTDLQEDxYuShjFQZO_4tUchw5_8N9o/edit?usp=sharing

[Keppy]

Thanks for sharing your efforts!

[Latole]

Great job , thank's

[JayCobie]

1972 list added and list renamed to V 3.4 - 08.05.21 (yes, I'm using European dating)

I had read some people in the past saying that the EIA codes didn't change meaningfully between years, but I think the addition of this 1972 list shows how wrong that is better than any others so far.

Just to name a few examples, the EIA codes for 263, 266, 269, 272, 313, 330, 341, 344, 349, 355, 359, 374, 399, 408, 415, 424, 426, 441, 443, 447, 448, 458, 471, 478, 485, 497 and more were used in the 50's, then discontinued before the 60's, but in 1972 those codes are assigned to new companies (back then) that were not in my compilation up until now, then those companies disappear before the 80's.

[JayCobie]

1965 and 1967 lists added, and list renamed to V 3.6.

Link above still works but here it is again:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1P1jeVIQ9UdwlhXTDLQEDxYuShjFQZO_4tUchw5_8N9o/edit?usp=sharing

[JayCobie]

V 3.9 now live! Added 1968, 1969 and 1971
The total is now up to 30 different lists.

I'm re-designing the color masking for the different years and plan to have those updated in V 4.0

[JayCobie]

V 4.0 now live! Biggest update to the list so far, even though I just added one yearly list.
Added 1973 list (Thanks to Tim from the antiqueradios.com forum!)

Completely revamped the color range for years. Overhauled lots of smaller things to improve legibility and fix various formatting issues, spelling inconsistencies and design issues.
This is the definitive version of my compilation until I get more lists to digitize (on the way!)

[PRR]

This maybe should be hosted at worldradiohistory.com and radiomuseum.org?

There's not a distinct place to put it (one is magazines, the other is models) but very useful to folks who hang at those places. (At RM.org it could be linked from a forum post.)

[JayCobie]

I hadn't actually looked into the forums on radiomuseum.org, but that seems like a good resource for me to get more interested eyeballs on the list and hopefully complete the collection. I'll see if I can get an account created there and share it with them.

I'm not sure how the folks at worldradiohistory.com feel about hosting excel files, so the original lists might be the only thing that would make sense to share with them. I've already uploaded my collection of originals to archive.org (see the "sources" tab in my compilation), so they'd be easy to share with those folk. I'll maybe shoot them a line down the road.

[acheld]

I'm not the guy who would use this information often, but:

A.   This is very useful to folks trying to ID components.
B.   It's very well done.
C.   Represents a lot of hard work!

Excel files are probably not the best for an online resource -- this is where a true database shines. 

   And that is the limit of my knowledge . . .

[JayCobie]

Thanks acheld! I have the tendency to overdo projects when they drag on long enough, and this project is also subject to that 

[PRR]

I won't touch the spreadsheet vs database argument. Both tend to be real implementation dependent. I lived through dBase II and Lotus 123 (and WordStar and WordPerfect and Filemaker); only to see them rollerskated by MS; and now Google? I admit G-Spread works good today, but so did Picassa, until Google killed it.

I like to see eternal data also stored in plain simple format. K.I.S.S. We can always build a new interface to extract the data.

The data so far can be stored in:
1MB text
4MB PDF

The TXT loses the headers, a mild loss. If I find a number "42", a search returns first a PO Box and then 'Silicon Transistor Corporation', some more addresses, '142'..... the hit is pretty obvious.

The PDF (G-sheet's 'Print' function) is fat but prettier. Preserves the 'shape' of the worksheet without the underlying editing (and this should be a read-mostly write-rarely file).

[JayCobie]

I genuinely didn't think to just export it as a PDF, but google drive exports a pretty nice version of it just by using the "download" function.
I threw together a custom edited PDF-version of the 4.0 list, with a slimmer top bar and all hyperlinks removed (though the URL's are still there).

Since it's just over the 3mb attachment limit of this forum, here is a link for those interested:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wguCtRdiBPi6IdSGseeN5Pk_Ze_xdWSA/view?usp=sharing

This is a really good idea, actually, so I'll try to make publicly available PDF versions of bigger milestone versions of the compilation in the future

[JayCobie]

V4.3 of the compilation now live! Added 1977 and 1987 lists
Among the companies just added to the compilation for the first time is #425 - Moog Electronics in 1987

Got 2 more lists waiting for digitization: 1966 and 1980, so they'll be added very soon.

Old link still works, but here it is again:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1P1jeVIQ9UdwlhXTDLQEDxYuShjFQZO_4tUchw5_8N9o/edit?usp=sharing

And for those who want a shorter URL:
tinyurl.com/eiacodes

[JayCobie]

V4.5 now live! Added 1966 and 1980

Updated the custom PDF version of the list, which can be downloaded from the top bar of the compilation or from this link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pK5ywjTc2VVk-acPPP3CZwBRFjY5UzED/view?usp=sharing

It's break time for me until I get more lists to transcribe. Got about 7 more lists I'm hoping to acquire in the next few weeks, but any help in finding or scanning more lists is always welcome

[JayCobie]

V5.0 is now live!

Added 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999 lists (Thanks to the ECIA for scanning their library copies at my request!)
Also added information on the 20 numbers still missing from the list. See "More information" tab in the compilation for details.
Updated the custom PDF version to V5.0 as well. Here are direct links:

Main compilation:
tinyurl.com/eiacodes
or
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1P1jeVIQ9UdwlhXTDLQEDxYuShjFQZO_4tUchw5_8N9o/

PDF version of V5.0:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1amkDtjsn9VPbdUomzMiuRCD0UvEj4Wtw/view?usp=sharing

[JayCobie]

Resurrecting this thread to mention that I'm back to work on my EIA code compilation.

I've added 1970, 1974 and 1986 lists to my compilation, thus making it span 40 different lists, and will be adding 1976 and 1978 soon.
I've scanned all those lists and uploaded copies of them to Archive.org. Links to those files are in the "Sources" page of my compilation.

Old link to the compilation still works, but here it is again:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1P1jeVIQ9UdwlhXTDLQEDxYuShjFQZO_4tUchw5_8N9o/edit?usp=sharing

P.s. if anyone happens to have Sams Photofact set #1493, I'd be interested in buying it (or just the 1975 EIA code list that should be contained in that set). Send me an e-mail: j@reverb.is

[NotSure]

Hello JayCobieI would just like to point out that all the hard work JayCobie put into the EIA code compilation truly represents what the creation of the internet is supposed to be about. The spirit of information sharing purely for the sake of providing a resource to those that might need it is apparently still alive and well. To me, its heartwarming, and I have the greatest respect for all you all out there that are sharing their expertise and hard work to make a small part of this world we live in a better place.

THANK YOU,
Dave