Awalnya dinamai ''Sirkui Pemicu Eccles-Jordan'' dan berisi dua elemen aktif (tabung vakum).<ref>
{{cite book|author = Emerson W. Pugh, Lyle R. Johnson, John H. Palmer|coauthors = Lyle R. Johnson, John H. Palmer|title = IBM's 360 and early 370 systems|url = http://books.google.com/?id=MFGj_PT_clIC|year = 1991|publisher = MIT Press|isbn = 978-0-262-16123-7|page = 10 }}</ref> Seperti versi sirkuit dan transistornya yang sering dijumpai pada komputer walaupun setelah penemuan dari sirkuit integrasi, melalui flip flop yang dibuat dari gerbang logika yang kita kenal sekarang.<ref>{{cite book|author = Earl D. Gates|title = Introduction to electronics|url = http://books.google.com/?id=IwC5GIA0cREC|edition = 4th|date = 2000-12-01|publisher = Delmar Thomson (Cengage) Learning|isbn = 978-0-7668-1698-5|page = 299 }}</ref><ref>
{{cite book|author = Max Fogiel and You-Liang Gu|title = The Electronics problem solver, Volume 1|url = http://books.google.com/?id=6oXuRAAACAAJ|edition = revised|year = 1998|publisher = Research & Education Assoc.|isbn = 978-0-87891-543-9|page = 1223 }}</ref>
Early [[flip-flop]]s were known variously as trigger circuits or [[multivibrator]]s.</ref>
