David Knight adds:
In the mid 1960s, on my way home from school, I used to pass a building just off Stoke's Croft, Bristol, in which there was a TV repair workshop. Outside this building, there was always a large rubbish skip; in which I and a few friends used to root for any interesting electronic artifacts that might turn up from time to time. One thing that could always be had in quantity was the Mullard Cradlepack (empty usually, or sometimes containing a dead valve)), in which the replacement TV valves (mostly B9A 300 mA series-heater types) had been supplied. Hence, all of the B9A valves that I had variously scrounged from old electronic equipment were kept in salvaged cradlepacks for protection when not in use. The photograph above shows one of the cradlepacks from that skip. It ended-up in Andy's collection in the late 1990s, when I gave him (i.e., exploited his interest to get rid of) most of my old valves.
The cradlepack has a moulded plastic insert, into which the valve snaps with a gentle push and can be retrieved with a flick of the finger. The plastic is extremely thin, but obtains strength from a system of moulded grooves that also support a crushable region between the valve and the outer box. It is actually a masterpiece of ergonomic design (compare with the horrible roll of corrugated cardboard that preceded it).
DWK, Sept. 2013.