The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Crookes tube \Crookes" tube`\ (kr??ks" t?b`). (Phys.) A vacuum tube in which the exhaustion is carried to a very high degree, with the production of a distinct class of effects; -- so called from W. Crookes who introduced it. [1913 Webster]WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
Crookes tube n 1: the original gas-discharge cathode-ray tube