Check this out

[Jered]

  What might this be used for? 9 pin base with a pair of 2n404 PNP germanium tranny's in the middle. I believe they are from the 50's or 60's

[~arph]

Some kind of dual triode replacement?

[tca]

Can you trace the circuit? I see some diodes in there.

[armdnrdy]

Leaning tower of resistance!  

Dilithium crystal?

This is what makes time travel possible: a flux capacitor!

Wait....I got it!

It is the detonator for "Little Boy" and it originally came in this case:
http://birmingham.ebayclassifieds.com/collectibles/birmingham/little-boy-nuclear-bomb-detonator-cases/?ad=28350699

[Jered]

  Yes there are 4 germ diodes in there. My time is so limited right now, but if I have a chance I'll reverse it

[Tonemonger]

Bespoke IC .
My old man actually made some stuff like that.
Pretty inspirational.

[duck_arse]

looks like a mojo-multiplier to me.

[R.G.]

I'd bet on it being a flipflop.

At the time 2N404s were current, tubes were inside computers, and the Next Big Thing was transistors. Just as we use old-generation stuff for connectors (e.g. SMD circuits on DIP headers), it may well have been that small tube sockets were easy to come by, and if you wanted to plug in a flipflop, you could subvert the connectors you had and construct a micro-circuit (compared to the previous generation tubes) on a tube-header.

Just as I hit send, I realized the easy way to test that is to ohm out the collectors (cases) of the transistors to the pins. If each collector goes to a pin separately, it's almost certainly a flipflop, only possibly a one-shot, and maybe, rarely, maybe a plug-in diffamp.

[pappasmurfsharem]

Looks to me like a good idea to build off of the make a multipedal with literal PLUGINS

[armdnrdy]

Looks to me like a good idea to build off of the make a multipedal with literal PLUGINS

Or you could use plug in boards with proper pin headers......but if you want to go retro.......

[amptramp]

Good old cordwood construction where each component lead went to parallel circuit boards.  I would assume R.G. is right about it being a flip-flop since it has the right number of transistors and diodes.  I remember draftsmen going nuts trying to draw assembly drawings of this stuff.

[PRR]

One type 'flop from the '404 days:

http://i.imgur.com/zl3k18A.gif

[Mac Walker]

  What might this be used for?

I am only speculating, but I believe this would have been used for trajectory calculations, to launch thermonuclear devices against godless commie bastards!  98.7% chance, if it came from the early sixites, anyway.....

Transistors have a much lower mean time before failure than tubes, so if you launch 100 nukes, a much larger percentage of them reach their end target, destroying more commie bastards!

And they aren't susceptible to gamma rays.  OK, I made that last part up.......

[J0K3RX]

Then there are these...

[Jdansti]

  What might this be used for?

I am only speculating, but I believe this would have been used for trajectory calculations, to launch thermonuclear devices against godless commie bastards!  98.7% chance, if it came from the early sixites, anyway.....

Transistors have a much lower mean time before failure than tubes, so if you launch 100 nukes, a much larger percentage of them reach their end target, destroying more commie bastards!

And they aren't susceptible to gamma rays.  OK, I made that last part up.......

Now that you have the NSA's full attention...   

[Mac Walker]

Now that you have the NSA's full attention...   

I'm calling Senator McCarthy immediately to report this activity!

[Joe]

found this:
http://oddmix.com/tech/tr_t104_multivibrator.html

[midwayfair]

I don't have anything to add except that it looks frigging awesome and I kinda want to make one. 

[pappasmurfsharem]

Looks to me like a good idea to build off of the make a multipedal with literal PLUGINS

Or you could use plug in boards with proper pin headers......but if you want to go retro.......

Umm... obviously retro.

Gotta hav dat mojo

[Electron Tornado]

Someone's going to start building fuzz boxes with that idea. Mount it externally with an LED inside the "tube" so it lights up.

How about a modular fuzz? Universal enclosure has footswitch, in/out jacks, and two or three knobs for control. The circuit is in a "tube" mounted externally on a universal socket. User decides what fuzz they want to use that day and plugs in the appropriate "tube".