Found a old vintage LED collection

[David97]

Hi everyone.

So to make a long story short, my old high school is closing. It was my sister's last year there, so she was still in touch with the teachers there. Everything is going to be demolished/scrapped. So I was invited to pick through all the stuff there and take anything I wanted.

So I was rummaging through a box of junk when I found this collection of LEDs. They intrigued me, so I took them home. Then noticed that they were  meticulously labeled. So thinking I've got my hands on someones forgotten collection I started searching some of the part numbers that were labeled. Once such as MV1, which are apparently among the first successful red LEDs.







Some of the other part numbers are...
mv10A
MV1
MV10B
HP X700
MV 50
MLED
FL 4100

There are a bunch more, but I cant read the part numbers clearly. 
Anyway, I was wondering weather anyone could provide information on these, and possible help identify any of the other ones here. I wonder weather these would be worth anything? (I find these too cool to sell, just curious  ).

Thanks everone

[lmester]

I still have a few of the metal cased LED's in my parts bin. Poor light output by today's standards. Just can't get myself to throw them away.

You can find loads of info here. http://ledmuseum.candlepower.us/1960.htm

[TerraHertz]

That's some nice history. Are they all never-used? In any case you should definitely keep them. In a *nice* case, ha ha.
I'd suggest removing them from that foam rubber though. In time it tends to decay, and the chemical products are corrosive.
Something like polyethylene foam if you want to preserve the display spread, or small ziplock bags for least storage space.
Careful, you know what happens if you mix up the association between the labels and the LEDs! You're never getting it back.

[Cubdriver]

That's a very cool score - congrats!  It's pretty amazing just how far LEDs have come from those early ones you have there.  That's a nice little collection of the ancestors of what we're replacing household lighting with these days!

I'd consider making a display case of some sort with provisions to turn them on for comparison, and perhaps put some modern ones in along with them to show how they've advanced through the years.

-Pat

[Cyberdragon]

My old high school had tons of this stuff from the 70s. They wouldn't let me have it because they were assholes that apparently didn't believe in salvage. They said something about liability or property transfer or some utter . Either they were really that stupid, or secretly they actually thought I was a mad scientist. Really? What gave them that idea?

I have a bunch of vintage leds. Unfortunatly I should probably treat them better than throwing them in a bin with every other thing that can be considered a diode.

[Augustus]

Wow, Monsanto LEDs... 

I had to google that... Didn't know they were one of the LED pioneers back in the days... 

[timb]

Wow, Monsanto LEDs... 

I had to google that... Didn't know they were one of the LED pioneers back in the days... 

Yup, along with HP!

[rsjsouza]

Pretty cool collection of LEDs. Thanks for sharing.

[LaserSteve]

If it were  a physics class, they had them for a reason.  A common LED experiment using multiple LEDs,  is to measure Planck's constant, as well as show relationship between BandGap, Electron Volts (EV) and color.

Steve

[@rt]

Nice Fran has a YouTube video lighting some of these.
I'd make a big breadboard full of buttons for them.

[David97]

Nice Fran has a YouTube video lighting some of these.
I'd make a big breadboard full of buttons for them.

Thanks everyone for all youre replies.

Would be awesome to make a display case with buttons and driver circuits to show them off. Might be a project Ill have to take on.

[Assafl]

Wow, Monsanto LEDs... 

I had to google that... Didn't know they were one of the LED pioneers back in the days... 

Monsanto changed quite a bit. Why control LED when you can control the food supply?