General Electric
GE 2N5172 NPN Transistor, Sealed 1977 Military Pack, NSN 5961-00-145-5991
- 2 photos
Never used and never opened. Still in the factory tube, tray, reel or bag it shipped in, with the original date code intact.
New old stock, sealed on the grading scaleSend the quantity you need. You get a quote back with shipping before anything is charged.
Video
Filmed on the bench. Sound is stripped from product clips.
- 0:10
Specifications
| Specification | Value |
|---|---|
| Identification | |
| Part number | 2N5172 |
| Manufacturer | General Electric |
| Condition | New old stock, sealed |
| Date code | August 1977 |
| Package | Unopened military barrier pack, one transistor |
| Country of origin | Not recorded |
| Family | 2N5172 |
| Stock number | NDV5AZ24 |
| Overview | |
| Manufacturer part number | 2N5172 |
| Manufacturer | General Electric |
| NATO stock number | 5961-00-145-5991 |
| Government order | DSA900-77M-X429, dated August 1977 |
| Construction | |
| Packaging specification | MIL-B-131F and Amendment 1, Class 2 |
| Packager | Ludlow Corporation Packaging Division, Marvelseal 1312 |
| Packaging lot | H-3918, dated December 1976 |
| Electrical | |
| Polarity and material | NPN silicon |
| Condition | |
| Condition | Factory sealed. Never opened, so never tested |
About this part
What is being sold here is as much the packet as the part. The front identifies a General Electric 2N5172 under NSN 5961-00-145-5991, against government order DSA900-77M-X429, dated August 1977. The back records the packaging itself: MIL-B-131F with Amendment 1, Class 2, made by Ludlow Corporation Packaging Division as Marvelseal 1312, lot H-3918, dated December 1976.
MIL-B-131F is the specification for military barrier material, a foil laminate meant to keep moisture and vapour away from what is inside for years of depot storage in conditions nobody controls. The point of it is that a part sealed in it in 1977 should be electrically the same part now, which is a claim very little else in this catalogue can make.
So this suits two people. Somebody restoring military or avionics equipment who wants a component with documented provenance rather than a loose transistor of unknown history, and somebody who collects the packaging itself, which is a small and specific interest that nonetheless exists.
It has not been opened, which is the whole proposition, so it has not been tested and cannot be without ending what makes it worth having. The pack shows the creasing and aging of five decades. One sealed packet containing one transistor. A loose 2N5172 from the same kind of stock is listed separately and costs a fraction of this.
Questions about this part
What is MIL-B-131F?
The United States military specification for barrier packaging material: a foil laminate meant to keep moisture and vapour away from the contents through years of depot storage in uncontrolled conditions. That is why a part sealed in it in 1977 has a real claim to being the same part now.
Why does this cost so much more than the loose 2N5172?
Because you are buying the sealed packet and its documentation, not just a transistor. The loose one is the same type from the same kind of stock at a fraction of the price, and if you want a working device that is the sensible purchase. This one is for provenance.
Can you open it and test the transistor?
We can, and it would destroy what you are paying for. Ask first if that is genuinely what you want. Otherwise it ships as it is, unopened and untested, which is the only state in which the packaging means anything.
What condition is the packet in?
Creased and aged as you would expect after nearly fifty years, with the printing legible. The seal is intact. Every marking quoted in the specifications is readable in the photographs so you can check them yourself before ordering.