seven segment display history

[Tony Duell]

> 
> 
> Does anyone know when seven segment displays first appeared on the scene? 
> Presumably the first ones were VF, and LED came later?

There were some filament ones -- 7 long filaments in the obviosu pattern, 
in an evacuated envelope. Some looked like vavles (but were generally 
wire-ended), others were ina flatter package, looking a bit like an IC.

And of course there were gass discharge 7-segment displays. The obvious 
one is the Panaplex, but I think ones in valve-shaped envelops also existed

And don't forget that the HP9100 calculator (1967-ish) drew the vectors 
for 7 segment digits on a CRT screen.

-tony