I've always been somewhat in awe of the old Sprague Company's marketing names for their various lines of caps: e.g., Black Beauties, Bumblebees, etc., whose names refer to the caps' appearance.

Their "Vitamin Q" caps were oil-in-paper caps, still highly sought after by audiophiles. They are good caps - many were sold to the U.S. military.

I wonder if the "Q" was somehow a reference to the quality factor, symbol Q, for tuned circuits? A cap with low effective-series-resistance could help give a high-Q in a tuned circuit, right?

But, if that were the reference, then it seems like it could have passed over most people's heads. And, the Vitamin Q caps were generally used for coupling and bypass, not in tuned circuits.

Sleepless in Illinois.
Doug

Naw Doug,
It was a new line of vitamins (you know B, B2, D etc)discovered over coffee one morning, when it spilled into an old radio. The resultant brown sludge was found to be an activator of positive electrons found hiding in most dielectrics, and strangely enhancing the use of cheap capacitors in expensive radios, as well as stereo reception before it was invented. lol

marv

:I've always been somewhat in awe of the old Sprague Company's marketing names for their various lines of caps: e.g., Black Beauties, Bumblebees, etc., whose names refer to the caps' appearance.
:
:Their "Vitamin Q" caps were oil-in-paper caps, still highly sought after by audiophiles. They are good caps - many were sold to the U.S. military.
:
:I wonder if the "Q" was somehow a reference to the quality factor, symbol Q, for tuned circuits? A cap with low effective-series-resistance could help give a high-Q in a tuned circuit, right?
:
:But, if that were the reference, then it seems like it could have passed over most people's heads. And, the Vitamin Q caps were generally used for coupling and bypass, not in tuned circuits.
:
:Sleepless in Illinois.
:Doug

Marv, yeah, OK.

You can LOL all you want, but I'm sitting on two NOS 0.1-uF Vitamin Q caps. (I'm fondling them right now.) Tomorrow, I may take them to the bank and put them in my safety deposit box, where I have my Kennedy half-dollars and my 2002 U.S. Mint proof set.
Doug

Come on Doug "fondling them right now" Thats just too kinky!!!

marv

:Marv, yeah, OK.
:
:You can LOL all you want, but I'm sitting on two NOS 0.1-uF Vitamin Q caps. (I'm fondling them right now.) Tomorrow, I may take them to the bank and put them in my safety deposit box, where I have my Kennedy half-dollars and my 2002 U.S. Mint proof set.
:Doug