We obtained a mysterious box of 1960s electronics. I reverse-engineered it and with much effort, we got it running. It turns out to be a test unit for testing NASA's Up-Data Link, a system from the Apollo moon landing to control the spacecraft from the ground. Let's take a look inside... 1/n
This box has thirteen orange digits at the top, which look like Nixie tubes. But they are a different technology called edge-lit lightguide display. Each digit has ten plastic sheets and ten lightbulbs. Each sheet has dots etched in the shape of a number. Lighting a sheet lights up that number.

@kenshirriff Similar tech was once used in laptop keyboard backlights. Thin edge-lit plastic sheet, with dots under each key to scatter the light upwards.

https://johannesluderschmidt.de/mbp-keyboard-assembly-backlight-illumination-with-ftir/271/

MBP Keyboard Assembly: Backlight illumination with FTIR – Johannes Luderschmidt