MIKE ROSS wrote in a message to Roy J. Tellason:

 MR> So there you have it: a transistor can be used as a low loss 
 MR> rectifier.

 RJT> Hmm.  But you'd need to get specific transistors to do this?

 MR> Definitely! Certainly for anything above the 6v AC we were 
 MR> discussing. It all depends on the E-B breakdown voltage because as
 MR> we saw when inverse biased the normal emitter becomes the
 MR> collector. I think some old computer transistors were the first
 MR> that turned me on to the possibility. However, it's a rare
 MR> application, in fact I've only ever seen but 2 cases of a
 MR> transistor being used as a rectifier.

 MR> I don't know if you're like me but I like the idea of putting 
 MR> components to use in tasks to which we don't normally ascribe them.
 MR> For example using a logic ic parity circuit as an address decoder.
 MR> Logic circuits especially are great to find odd uses for them.
 MR> Since they are but building blocks, what one builds with them
 MR> doesn't alway have to be a box with windows... 

Oh heck,  for the three computers that are currently on and running in
here,  none of them are running that...  In fact,  it's only installed on
_one_ machine here.  And I have no plans to go any further than that...

Yeah,  using logic parts for other than their obvious and intended uses can
be fun,  all right.  It's been too long since I messed with that sort of
thing here.

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