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----
Ambrose
Fleming is the Inventor of the
Thermionic
valve. This tube device, was patented on
Nov 16th, 1904.
Sir John
Ambrose Fleming (sometimes also listed as
Ambrose J. Fleming), was an English
electrical engineer and physicist.
He was born John Ambrose Fleming on
November 29, 1849 to James and Mary Anne
Fleming at Lancaster, Lancashire and
baptised on February 11, 1850.
---- When
Ambrose was attempting to find a RF
detector superior to the coherer, he
looked to the experiments he had made with
Edison Effect lamps about one year
earlier. The Thermionic valve is shown in
photo. It is a two-element rectifier based
on the "Edison effect"
---- It
occurred to him that the special light
bulbs made by Edison, and also by Sir
Joseph Swan in England, could be used. He
applied for the patent for his electron
tube, naming it, the oscillation valve.
This tube device, was patented on Nov
16th, 1904. At the time, Fleming was still
Marconi's chief research developer.
----The tube
was the first electronic rectifier of
radio waves, and enable the wide spread
introduction of commercial radio services.
The original Thermionic valve, shown in
photo, is a two-element rectifier based on
the "Edison effect" which Fleming had
worked on some years earlier. . -
Continue
For More
1.
Feature
(Excerpt
from)
"The SMART-DAAF BOYS"
Continued
from above
-
The Fleming
Oscillation Valve is a diode and as such
it rectifies. Alternating current can flow
through it in one direction only. Thus, it
converts alternating current -- current
that flows back and forth -- into direct
current -- current that flows in one
direction. As useful as the Fleming valve
may be, it does not add to the current, it
rectifies and detects. A receiver using a
Fleming valve is dependent entirely on the
electrical energy picked up by its
antenna. MORE
ABOUT THE NBS
ANTENNA
Professor Sir John Ambrose Fleming is one
of the great men of radio and electronics.
His invention of the thermionic valve or
vacuum tube could be said to be the
beginning of modern electronics. It
enabled wireless and later electronics
technology to move forward, enabling many,
what would now be termed vintage wireless
sets to be manufactured. Although the
invention of the thermionic valve or
vacuum tube is his major claim to fame, he
also made many important contributions to
the field of electrical machinery.
Education
John Ambrose Fleming was born on 29th
November 1849, the eldest of seven
children born to a Congregational
minister. Although born in Lancaster his
family moved to North London where he
spent most of his early life. He was
educated mainly at University College
School on Gower Street in the West End of
London. From here he moved on to take his
degree also at University College.
Although he had to take up a daytime job
to finance himself he was still able to
gain a first class degree.
Having completed his course Fleming took
up a teaching post, but felt that he could
further himself if he undertook more
studies. Accordingly he entered the Royal
School of Mines to study Chemistry, but
again finance was a problem. To earn some
money he took up a teaching post as a
science master, and during this time he
came across some of Maxwell's work. This
fascinated him and he decided to further
his career in this direction. So in 1877,
Fleming started to study electricity and
magnetism at Cambridge. Here he was
particularly successful gaining his D.Sc.
and then a year later he was elected a
fellow by his college.
At Cambridge
Fleming started to lay the foundations of
a very successful career during his time
at Cambridge. He became a demonstrator,
and this gave him the stepping stone to
enable him to take up the position of
Professor of Physics and Mathematics at
the institution that has now become
Nottingham University. His time at
Nottingham was relatively short, as he
took up a position as a consultant to the
Edison Telephone Company. This enabled him
to see many of Edison's inventions, and he
even traveled to the Thomas Edison's
Laboratories in the USA. This was to be a
crucial event that was to shape the
future, although he did not know it at the
time. Here he saw a discovery known as the
Edison effect. It was found that an
evacuated light bulb with a second
electrode would allow current to flow from
one electrode to the other, but only in
one direction.
Fleming's long term aim was to be able to
return to London. At the time there were
no positions in the new and developing
science of electrical engineering. Instead
the nearest subject was physics. However
Fleming was invited to give a series of
lectures on electrical engineering at
University College London (UCL), the
premier college of London University. Then
in 1885, he was asked to set up a new
department for electrical engineering for
which he would be professor. This was the
beginning of a long association as he held
the chair at UCL for 41 years. It was also
a notable first because it was the first
department of its sort in the country and
it reflected the forward thinking of this
world leading university.
Fleming greatly enjoyed his time at UCL.
He was able to spend time lecturing, he
was able to undertake his research and in
addition to this he was in London where he
wanted to be. He devoted much of his time
to work on a variety of aspects of AC
machines and he became a leading authority
on transformers as well as performing much
valuable work on improving the accuracy of
AC measurements.
As a lecturer he was noted as being
fascinating, but it was very difficult to
take notes during his lectures. He spoke
very fast and did not have any breaks in
the lecture to enable people to catch up.
He also detested smoking, so it was rather
amusing that his office was close to the
entrance at UCL where students would come
in from outside "wreathed in smoke" and
walk straight past his office. Oscillation
Valve
In 1899 Fleming became a consultant to the
Marconi Company in addition to his duties
at UCL. At this time wireless, as it was
then known, was still in its infancy and
Marconi was continually making an
improvement in the distance that could be
achieved. In 1901 he succeeded in sending
a message across the Atlantic. Fleming
became quite absorbed in the subject. He
even designed the transmitter that made
the first transatlantic transmission. He
was also somewhat eccentric and during his
experiments with transmitters he would
always use the letter V sent in Morse
( -) as the test letter. In fact he
became so involved in this work that he
would often be heard unconsciously humming
the letter V or whistling it between his
teeth.
Fleming recognized that the major problem
preventing vast improvements being made
was that of detecting the signals
themselves. In these early days the
coherer was the main form of detector and
it was very insensitive. Fleming devoted
his mind to this, and in his quest to make
improvements he tried a large number of
new ideas to bring the required
improvements. However, he was pondering
some improvements in October 1904 and had
what he later described as a "sudden very
happy thought." He instructed G.B. Dyke
his assistant to set up an experiment with
one of his evacuated bulbs with the
additional element, to put his new idea to
the test. It worked and it was just a
month later on a chilly November morning
(16th November 1904), that a former
colleague saw him "scudding" down Gower
Street in Central London on his way to
patent what he termed his "oscillation
valve." He called it a valve because it
worked in the same way as a fluid valve,
allowing a flow only in one direction.
Shortly after his discovery Fleming wrote
to Marconi to tell him of his discovery.
In the letter he mentioned that he had not
mentioned the idea to anyone as he thought
it might be very useful. Little did he
know of its importance, although it did
not bring any money to the Marconi
Company. Any returns from the invention
made were used in fighting the legal
battles that were to arise later.
Competition
The invention of the diode valve or vacuum
tube was a revolutionary idea, and put
down the foundations for many further
inventions. However it had very little
impact at first. "Valves" were expensive
to make and on top of this other ideas
were overtaking him. In less than two
years the cat's whisker was produced. This
was a very crude form of semiconductor
rectifier that consisted of a thin wire
positioned on a lump of suitable material
(even coal) to produce a point contact
rectifier. This was far more convenient
than Fleming's diode and it soon caught
on.
Other people were looking into thermionic
or valve technology. Around 1906 the de
Forest Company in the USA introduced a
device called an Audion. It used the same
basic vacuum tube technology as Fleming's
diode, but a third electrode had been
added. This was called a grid because of
the nature of its construction. Initially
the Audion vacuum tube was only used for
detection of signals, it took another four
years before it was used as an
amplifier.
There was considerable comment in the
scientific community regarding whether the
Audion was an infringement of Fleming's
original idea. Fleming himself never
claimed any credit for the introduction of
the grid, but did contest the patent
infringement of the thermionic technology
in the courts. Unfortunately he lost, but
many in the scientific community agreed
with him.
Retirement
Fleming remained at University College
until 1926, retiring to the quiet seaside
town of Sidmouth in Devon. Although he
retained the position of his Marconi
consultancy almost to the day he died.
Then in 1929, just over two years after
his retirement he was knighted for the
many advances he had made to electrical
and electronic engineering.
During his retirement, Fleming still took
an active interest in many new
developments in the electronics world. For
fifteen years he was president of the
Television Society, often traveling to
London for their meetings.
He also had many interests outside his
work. He had a keen interest in
photography and loved walking. He was also
a devout Christian, and he often preached
at various churches and was once asked to
preach at St Martin's in the Fields in
Central London. With his advancing age
Fleming became increasingly deaf, however
he remained active until his death in
1945, at the great age of 95. During his
life he achieved a tremendous amount, but
it is certain that he will be chiefly
remembered for the invention of the
thermionic valve 02
/John Ambrose Fleming TimeLine 1849 - Ambrose
Fleming, was born on November 29th, the
eldest of seven children to James, a
congregational minister and Mary Anne
Fleming, in Lancaster, Lancashire,
England.
The family moved
to North London where he spent most of his
early life. He was educated mainly at
University College School on Gower Street
in the West End of London where he
matriculated at the age of sixteen. He had
to take up a daytime job to finance
himself. 1870 - Graduated with
a Bachelor of Science degree from
University College. Following, he entered
the Royal School of Mines in London to
study Chemistry under supervision of the
eminent chemist, Sir Edward Frankland, but
again finance was a problem. To earn some
money he took up a teaching post as a
science master, and during this time he
came across some of Maxwell's work.
1877 - Fleming
started to study electricity and magnetism
at Cambridge under professor James Clerk
Maxwell. Here he was particularly
successful gaining his D.Sc. and then a
year later he was elected a fellow by his
college.
Fleming took up
the position of Professor of Physics and
Mathematics at Nottingham University, as a
consultant to the Edison Telephone
Company, and later the Edison Electric
Light Company.
Fleming traveled
to the Thomas Edison's Laboratories in the
USA. There he saw a discovery known as the
Edison effect. It was found that an
evacuated light bulb with a second
electrode would allow current to flow from
one electrode to the other, but only in
one direction.
Fleming was
invited to give a series of lectures on
electrical engineering at University
College London (UCL), the premier college
of London University.
1885 - Sir John
Ambrose Fleming was the first head of
England's first University Department of
Electrical Technology (a few years later
to be called Electrical Engineering),
formed at UCL Fleming was the founder of
the Electrical Engineering Department at
UCL, becoming the first Professor of
Electrical Technology . This was the
beginning of a long association as he held
the chair at UCL for 41 years.
1892 - Fleming
presented an important paper on electrical
transformer theory to the Institution of
Electrical Engineers in
London. 1899 - Fleming became
a consultant to the Marconi Company in
addition to his duties at UCL. At this
time wireless, as it was then known, was
still in its infancy and Marconi was
continually making an improvement in the
distance that could be
achieved. 1899 - he succeeded
in sending a message across the Atlantic.
Fleming became quite absorbed in the
subject. He even designed the transmitter
that made the first transatlantic
transmission. He was also somewhat
eccentric and during his experiments with
transmitters he would always use the
letter V sent in Morse ( -) as the
test letter.
Fleming
recognized that the major problem
preventing vast improvements being made
was that of detecting the signals
themselves. In these early days the
coherer was the main form of detector and
it was very insensitive. Fleming devoted
his mind to this, and in his quest to make
improvements he tried a large number of
new ideas to bring the required
improvements. 1904 - Fleming
invents the first tube, the "Fleming
Valve", or as he alled it..an Oscillation
Valve. His valve is a two element
rectifier, made by inserting a metal plate
in one of Edison's electric light
bulbs. 1904 - PATENT - Fleming
applied for the patent for his electron
tube in November 1904, naming it the
oscillation valve. It was also called a
thermionic valve, vacuum diode, kenotron,
thermionic tube, or Fleming valve. 1904
-PATENT - Fleming's 803,684 Patent
Filed "Instrument for Converting
Alternating Electric Currents Into
Continuous Currents" Filed April 10,
1904, Granted November 7, 1905.
CLICK TO VIEW
PATENT. 1904 - At the time,
Fleming was still Marconi's chief research
developer.
1905 -PATENT - Fleming's 803,684
Patent Granted "Instrument for Converting
Alternating Electric Currents Into
Continuous Currents"
Filed April 10,
1904, Granted November 7, 1905.
CLICK TO VIEW
PATENT. 1906 - Around 1906
the de Forest Company in the USA
introduced a device called an Audion. It
used the same basic vacuum tube technology
as Fleming's diode, but a third electrode
had been added. This was called a grid
because of the nature of its construction.
Initially the Audion vacuum tube was only
used for detection of signals, it took
another four years before it was used as
an amplifier. 1906 - There was
considerable comment in the scientific
community regarding whether DeForest's
Audion was an infringement of copying
Fleming's original idea. Fleming himself
never claimed any credit for the
introduction of the grid, but did contest
the patent infringement of the thermionic
technology in the courts. Unfortunately he
lost, but many in the scientific community
agreed with him. 1915 -
DISCLAIMER:
803,684. John Ambrose Fleming, London,
England. Instrument for converting
alternating electric currents into
continuous currents. Patent dated Nov. 7,
1905. Disclaimer filed November 17, 1915
by the assignee, Marconi Wireless
Telegraph Company of America. Enters this
disclaimer: "To the combination of
elements set forth in Claims 1 to 6,
inclusive, and 10 to 15, inclusive,
respectively, of said Letters Patent,
EXCEPT AS THE SAME ARE USED IN CONNECTION
WITH HIGH FREQUENCY ALTERNATING ELECTRIC
CURRENTS OR ELECTRIC OSCILLATIONS of the
order employed in Hertzian wave
transmission, and to the words in the
specification: 'Whether of low frequency
or' at page 2, lines 32 and 33; 'either,'
at page 2, line 98; and 'or low frequency
alternating currents of,' at pages 2,
lines 98 and 99. "Copy of Fleming Patent
No. 803,684, dated Nov. 7, 1905, and the
above disclaimer may be obtained from the
Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D.
C. 1926 - Fleming
remained at University College until
1926. 1926 - Fleming
retired to the quiet seaside town of
Sidmouth in Devon. Although he retained
the position of his Marconi consultancy
almost to the day he died.
1929 - just over two
years after his retirement he received the
Duddell Medal of the Physical Society, and
was knighted for the many advances he had
made to electrical and electronic
engineering,. 1931 - MAXWELL'S
ETHER THEORY DIES - November, 13, 1931.
The one-hundredth anniversary of Clerk
Maxwell's birth was marked by the
scientific world "digging a grave for the
theory of a luminiferous ether," but at
the same time honoring Maxwell's
mathematical genius.
1933 - Fleming was
awarded the IRE Medal of Honor in 1933 for
"the conspicuous part he played in
introducing physical and engineering
principles into the radio art." His
contributions to electronic communications
and radar were of vital importance, but it
is certain that he will be chiefly
remembered for the invention of the
thermionic
valve. 1945 - Fleming dies
on April 18, 1945, at the age of 95 at
Sidmouth in Devon, England.
----
MAXWELL'S
ETHER THEORY DIES - November, 13,
1931. The one-hundredth anniversary of
Clerk Maxwell's birth was marked by the
scientific world "digging a grave for the
theory of a luminiferous ether," but at
the same time honoring Maxwell's
mathematical genius.