Ken Weitzel ) writes:
wrote:
They didn't have diodes in 1941 of the kind you are thinking about

H. R. Hofmann

Hi...

I stand ready to be corrected, but to the best of my recollection
there were none at all - save mercury vapor tubes...

What year did selenium rectifiers come into use?

Though I can't remember the name, I thought there was also some
other non-tube diode that was in use.

There's little reason to expect either in a phone from that vintage,
but that doesn't mean there weren't such things.

Michael