Oh, blast. I'm forever editing and added something about them new-fangled transistor thingies before I read your post.
Here's the first transistor, from Bell Labs:
I'm still trying to figure out which wires go to what, E,B, or C, in that setup.
I quit dreaming about a peanut-tube xmtr* when they came out with those packaged four-terminal oscillators for computers --Vcc in, ground, and an output pin, and a case ground. Fit one on your thumbnail. I read of one guy who built a QRP rig with a hex inverter chip. Phooey.
Somewhere around there's a couple of articles on building xmtrs out of the components in the bases of those compact fluorescent bulbs, too. Example (see "Why stop there?" paragraph):
http://www.ai4fr.com/main/page_electronic_repair_bulb.htmlTerry, 230RN
*
Xmtr = "transmitter." The prefix "trans" is sometimes written as an "x." Hence, "transformer" = xfrmr, "transmitter" = transmitter, "transistor" = xistor, "transfer" = xfr, "transve..."
...Never mind on that last one.