I recall seeing a strange ad in a Life magazine from the late 60's by some big name supplier of military electronics supplier that told of them being able to repair a burnt out light bulb with some sort of high energy burst of microwaves or something......it cost somewhere around $60,000 each time to do this, but it was a technique they developed to repair esoteric and very expensive avionics tubes....especially ones in a semi-permanent installation.

Does this ring a bell with anyone? I may have garbled it somewhat, but I do distinctly recall such an ad along these lines.

Anthony