|
1.
Feature
(Excerpt
from) "The
SMART DAAF BOYS"
Continued
from above
-
Up until
this time, DeForest and others
were mystified by the strange
behavior of the Audion under
certain circumstances. They felt
it a basic flaw and, we assume,
did not look much further in this
direction, until Armstrong came
along.
Edwin
H. Armstrong is widely regarded
as one of the foremost
contributors to the field of
radio-electronics. In fact, he's
the only one of the Smart-Daaf
Boys that was allowed to use the
word radio in his patent,
1933
- U.S. Patent 1941066 :
December 26, 1933 - Armstrong
"Radio signalling
system"
Armstrong received an
undergraduate degree in
electrical engineering from
Columbia University. He was one
of the most prolific inventors of
the radio era, with a vision that
was ahead of his
time and
was the holder of 42 patents for
inventions in the field of radio.
His inventions and developments
help form the final touches in
the Voice / Music Radio
Communication WiFi spectrums
commenced in by Smart-Daaf Boys
Stubblefield and Marconi, in
1892.
He
invented the Regenerative circuit
(invented while he was a junior
in college at Columbia
University, and patented 1914),
the Super-regenerative circuit
(patented 1922), and the Super
Heterodyne receiver (patented
1918). the
Superregenerative Circuit (1922)
and the complete
frequency-modulation radio
broadcasting system (1933).
These
basic electronic circuits are
underlying all modern radio,
radar, and television.
Armstrong's life is both a story
about the great inventions he
brought about, and the tragedy
wherein those inventions' rights
were claimed by
others.
At the turn of the 20th
century, when wireless telephony
and telegraphy was being publicly
demonstrated, there were no
packets of instant coffee and
Creamora laying around, where all
you had to do was add hot water.
Luckily for Armstrong,
after 1913, most of the WiFi hot
spots need for
modern day
telecom usage,were just being
introduced to the by General
Squire, of the U.S. Signal Corps.
The words "radio",
"television, and the terms
"antenna", "radio tubes",
radar,
flying aerial devices and
"AC alternators" were all known
to Armstrong, when he patented
his Super-regenerative circuit.
Those terms didn't exist when
Smart-Daaf Boys, Marconi and
Stubblefield started their
wireless operations.
In fact, to make telephony
talk in a big way, it took over
eighteen years, starting in 1892,
just to get the government to
patent the first Wireless
Telephone. It took another
90 years, in 1996 -- before the
first group of Wireless
Telephone frequencies were
sold to the general public, by
the FCC for billions of
dollars.
CLICK
TO SEE 1907 AUTO PATENT
DRAWING.
Armstrong recognized the
strange behavior as oscillation,
meaning the tube that was
properly supplied with direct
current acted to change this
current to alternating
current&endash;the stuff from
which radio transmissions are
made. In his first paper, and
subsequent papers and talks,
Armstrong showed how the
amplified signal taken from the
plate of the Audion could be used
to strengthen the incoming
signal, which then would be
amplified and returned again to
the incoming signal (grid of the
tube) and so until the point of
oscillation was almost reached.
Suddenly the barriers to
consistent long range radio
communications were
down.
Edwin
Howard Armstrong's
Superheterodyne patent was
purchased by Westinghouse. Having
been scrambling to compete with
the RCA-GE-AT&T alliance.
Just a month before KDKA's
November, 1920, broadcast,
Westinghouse shrewdly bought the
patents to a new type of
circuitry invented by a graduate
student at Columbia University,
Edwin H. Armstrong. While
Armstrong was serving in France
in World War I, he became
interested in finding a way for
antiaircraft guidance systems to
home in on the radio waves
emitted by aircraft
engines.
Although his invention
never aided the war effort, it
did spark the development of the
superheterodyne circuit, an
improvement on Fessenden's
heterodyne circuit. The
superheterodyne changed the
frequency of incoming radio
waves, amplified them, then
changed them to an audible
signal. Westinghouse also
acquired some patents held by
Michael Pupin, a Columbia
professor who had worked with
Armstrong, permitting him to use
his laboratory and financing some
of his
work.
No longer was it necessary
for the transmitter to actually
power the earphones producing the
sound. Now all the receiver
required was a "smell" of the
signal and the receiver furnished
the power. The Spark-generator
transmitter meant a constant arc
that consumed energy at a
voracious rate and generated a
broad band of radio frequencies
that interfered with
reception.
With the Audion, the
triode, it suddenly became
possible to generate a single
frequency at high efficiency
without the heat and danger of
the open electric arc. The triode
could be (and was) used as an
amplifier to strengthen voice
signals so that they could be
sent across the country. The
triode also made the heterodyne
receiver practical. Fessenden
invented it, but Armstrong is
credited with inventing the
superheterodyne receiver, which
is still used today for AM radio
reception.
To get a little ahead of
our story, Edwin Armstrong also
invented and developed FM radio
transmission and reception. For
Armstrong and Lee DeForest, the
invention of the feedback circuit
and the superheterodyne was not
an unmixed blessing. It is
reported that the two men took a
dislike to each other on sight,
and this mutual dislike didn't do
anything to alleviate their many
years of legal battles in the
courts over their respective
patent claims.
<>
02
/
TimeLine.
Armstrong
1890 - Edwin H. Armstrong was
born on December 18, 1890, in New
York City. His mother, Emily
Smith Armstrong, had been a
teacher in the public schools and
his father, John Armstrong, was
vice president of the United
States branch of the Oxford
University Press.
1912 - the
Regenerative Circuit
(invented
while he was a junior in college
at Columbia University, and
patented 1914). Received
ndergraduate degree in electrical
engineering from Columbia
University.
1914 - Deforest. Patented
Regenerative Circuit, and which
was subsequently patented by Lee
De Forest in 1916; De Forest then
sold the rights to his patent to
AT&T.
1914
- U.S. Patent 1113149 :
October 6, 1914 - Armstrong
"Wireless Receiving System" -
ARMSTRONG
1916 - Deforest. Patented
Regenerative Circuit, and which
was subsequently patented by Lee
De Forest in 1916; De Forest then
sold the rights to his patent to
AT&T.
1917 -
In
1917, while serving his country
during World War I as a captain
in the US Signal Corps, he
invented the superheterodyne
circuit, which further improved
the ability to receive radio
signals-- this circuit allowed
for greater selectivity and
amplification.
1917 - Armstrong
was the first recipient of the
Institute of Radio Engineers
(IRE's, now IEEE), Medal of
Honor.
1918 - the Superheterodyne
Circuit (1918).
Many of
Armstrong's inventions were
ultimately claimed by others in
patent lawsuits. Armstrong's life
is both a story about the great
inventions he brought about, and
the tragedy wherein those
inventions' rights were claimed
by others.
1919 -
the Radio Club of America
recognised him as radio's most
important person, and held a
dinner and award ceremony for him
at the Hotel Ansonia in New York.
He had been promoted from Captain
to Major in the military, he was
a respected university lecturer
on radio, and he was receiving
recognition from his peers-- as
well as attention from the print
media.
1920
- U.S. Patent 1336378. April
6, 1920 -
Armstrong
1920
- U.S. Patent 1342885 :
June 8, 1920 - Armstrong "Method
of receiving high frequency
oscillation"
1922
- U.S. Patent 1424065 :
July 25, 1922 - Armstrong
"Signaling
System"the
Superregenerative Circuit
(1922)
1923 - Marriage
to Marion MacInnis in late 1923,
to whom Armstrong was introduced
to by David Sarnoff and who later
ultimately betrayed Armstrong
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 - the complete
frequency-modulation radio
broadcasting system
(1933).
These
basic electronic circuits are
underlying all modern radio,
radar, and television.. Rather
than varying the amplitude of a
radio wave to create sound,
Armstrong's method varied the
frequency of the wave instead. FM
radio receivers proved to
generate a much clearer sound,
free of static, than the AM radio
dominant at the time. In proving
the utility of FM technology,
Armstrong successfully lobbied
the FCC to create an FM radio
band, between 42 and 49 MHz.
1933
- U.S. Patent 1941066 :
December 26, 1933 - Armstrong
"Radio Signaling
System"
1934 1922-1934 -
Between 1922 and 1934,
Armstrong found himself embroiled
in a patent war, between himself,
RCA, and Westinghouse on one
side, and De Forest and AT&T
on the other. This patent lawsuit
was the longest ever litigated to
its date, at 12 years. Armstrong
won the first round of the
lawsuit, lost the second, and
stalemated in a third. Before the
United States Supreme Court, De
Forest was granted the
regeneration patent in what is
today widely believed to be a
misunderstanding of the technical
facts by the Supreme
Court.
1938 - Armstrong
Tower is a 129.6 metre tall
lattice tower built and used by
Edwin Armstrong in 1938 at
Alpine, New Jersey, USA at
40°57'39.0" N and
73°55'21.0" W for his
transmission experiments.
Armstrong Tower looks like a huge
pylon with three crossbars and is
now used for directional radio
services.
1940 - In the early 1940s,
shortly before and during World
War II, Armstong then helped to
market a small number of high
powered FM radio stations in the
New England states, known as the
Yankee Network. Armstrong had
begun on a journey to convince
America that FM radio was
superior to AM, and, he hoped, to
collect patent royalties on every
radio sold with FM
technology.
However,
the FM radio which threatened to
destroy the AM radio proved to be
too revolutionary for the RCA
(Radio Corporation of America),
Armstrong's then employer. RCA
began to lobby for a change in
the law or FCC regulations that
would prevent the FM radios from
becoming dominant.
1942 - He received in 1942
the AIEEs Edison Medal "For
distinguished contributions to
the art of electric
communication, notably the
regenerative circuit, the
superheterodyne, and frequency
modulation".
1945 - By June of 1945, the
Radio Corporation of America, RCA
had pushed the FCC hard on the
allocation of electromagnetic
frequencies for the fledgling
television industry. Although
they denied wrongdoing, David
Sarnoff and RCA managed to get
the FCC to move the FM radio
spectrum from (42 to 49 MHz), to
(88 to 108 MHz), while getting
new television channels allocated
in the 40-megahertz
range.
This
single FCC action
rendered
all Armstrong-era FM sets useless
overnight,
while
helping
protect RCA's strong AM radio
stronghold. Armstrong's radio
network did not survive the
frequency shift up into the high
frequencies; most experts believe
that FM technology was set back
decades by the FCC's decision.
This
change was strongly supported by
AT&T, because loss of FM
relaying stations forced radio
stations to buy wired links from
AT&T.
1954 - Driven
to despair over the FM
debacle
Armstrong
jumped to his death from the
thirteenth floor window of his
New York City flat on 31 January
1954.
1967 - His second wife
and widow Marion
renewed the patent fightafter
Armstrong's death against RCA and
finally prevailed in 1967.
It
took decades after Armstrong's
death for FM radio to meet and
surpass the saturation of AM, and
longer still for FM radio to
become profitable for its
broadcasters. Ultimately,
however,
the genius of FM technology was
proven by its wide adoption
today.
However,
Armstrong's invention, and his
genius, were ultimately proven in
the marketplace by today's broad
acceptance of the FM band.
1978 - Armstrongs parents'
house on a bluff overlooking the
Hudson River.in the suburban town
of Yonkers, N.Y. which still
stands, was declared a historical
landmark in 1978 by the Yonkers
Historical Society.
1980 - in
1980, Armstrongewas inducted into
the National Inventors Hall of
Fame.
1988 - the Armstrong Memorial
Research Foundation at Columbia
University issued an
informational booklet about his
life and his many
accomplishments, noting, "At
least one of Armstrong's three
key inventions-- the regenerative
and superheterodyne circuits and
wide band frequency modulation--
is a vital component of almost
all current telecommunications
equipment worldwide."
<>
03
Armstrong - 1896 to 1928, and
DeForest's improvements on
Marconi's Wireless
Telegraphy, utilizing the
Audion, EXCERPTS From the
Smart-Daaf Boys:
Smart
Daaf Boys -
Products
LAWSUITS
In
particular, the regenerative
circuit, which Armstrong patented
in 1914, was subsequently
patented by Lee De Forest in
1916; De Forest then sold the
rights to his patent to AT&T.
Between 1922 and 1934, Armstrong
found himself embroiled in a
patent war, between himself, RCA,
and Westinghouse on one side, and
De Forest and AT&T on the
other. This patent lawsuit was
the longest ever litigated to its
date, at 12 years. Armstrong won
the first round of the lawsuit,
lost the second, and stalemated
in a third. Before the United
States Supreme Court, De Forest
was granted the regeneration
patent in what is today widely
believed to be a misunderstanding
of the technical facts by the
Supreme
Court.
Even as the regeneration circuit
lawsuit continued, Armstrong
created another significant
invention: frequency modulation
(FM, patented in 1933). Rather
than varying the amplitude of a
radio wave to create sound,
Armstrong's method varied the
frequency of the wave instead. FM
radio receivers proved to
generate a much clearer sound,
free of static, than the AM radio
dominant at the
time.
In proving the utility of FM
technology, Armstrong
successfully lobbied the FCC to
create an FM radio band, between
42 and 49
MHz.
In the early 1940s, shortly
before and during World War II,
Armstong then helped to market a
small number of high powered FM
radio stations in the New England
states, known as the Yankee
Network. Armstrong had begun on a
journey to convince America that
FM radio was superior to AM, and,
he hoped, to collect patent
royalties on every radio sold
with FM
technology.
However, the FM radio
which threatened to destroy the
AM radio proved to be too
revolutionary for the RCA (Radio
Corporation of America),
Armstrong's then employer. RCA
began to lobby for a change in
the law or FCC regulations that
would prevent the FM radios from
becoming
dominant.
By June of 1945, the Radio
Corporation of America, RCA had
pushed the FCC hard on the
allocation of electromagnetic
frequencies for the fledgling
television industry. Although
they denied wrongdoing, David
Sarnoff and RCA managed to get
the FCC to move the FM radio
spectrum from (42 to 49 MHz), to
(88 to 108 MHz), while getting
new television channels allocated
in the 40-megahertz
range.
Coincidentally, this
single FCC action
rendered
all Armstrong-era FM sets useless
overnight, while
helping
protect RCA's strong AM radio
stronghold. Armstrong's radio
network did not survive the
frequency shift up into the high
frequencies; most experts believe
that FM technology was set back
decades by the FCC's decision.
This change was strongly
supported by AT&T, because
loss of FM relaying stations
forced radio stations to buy
wired links from
AT&T.
Furthermore, RCA also
claimed invention of FM radio and
ultimately
won its own patent on FM
technology, and won the ensuing
patent fight between themselves
and Edwin Armstrong, leaving
Armstrong without the ability to
claim royalties on FM radios sold
in the United States. The
undermining of the Yankee Network
and patent court fight left
Armstrong virtually penniless and
emotionally
destroyed.
Furthermore, RCA a A
patent fight between RCA and
Armstrong ensued. RCA's momentous
victory in the courts left
Armstrong unable to claim
royalties on any FM radios sold
in the United States. The
undermining of Yankee Network and
Patent Court battle brought ruin
to Armstrong, by then, almost
penniless and emotionally
distraught.
Suicide
Driven to despair over the
FM debacle
Armstrong jumped to his
death from the thirteenth floor
window of his New York City flat
on 31 January 1954.
His second
wife and widow Marion
renewed the patent fight against
RCA and finally prevailed in
1967. It
took decades after Armstrong's
death for FM radio to meet and
surpass the saturation of AM, and
longer still for FM radio to
become profitable for its
broadcasters. Ultimately,
however,
the genius of FM technology was
proven by its wide adoption
today.
However, Armstrong's
invention, and his genius, were
ultimately proven in the
marketplace by today's broad
acceptance of the FM band.
By most accounts, Armstrong was a
very private person, who allowed
few people to get close to him.
He loved his wife, but he was
obsessed with radio, sometimes to
the exclusion of everything and
everyone around him. He became so
totally consumed with his fight
to prove he was right about FM
that it finally caused the
break-up of his marriage. In the
end, worn down by money problems
and frustrated by what he saw as
the failure of radio.
Ironically, although he died
believing he was a failure,
Armstrong's discoveries continue
to affect radio technology
decades later. In 1988, the
Armstrong Memorial Research
Foundation at Columbia University
issued an informational booklet
about his life and his many
accomplishments, noting, "At
least one of Armstrong's three
key inventions-- the regenerative
and superheterodyne circuits and
wide band frequency modulation--
is a vital component of almost
all current telecommunications
equipment worldwide." While too
few people today know his name,
his inventions laid the
foundation for much of our modern
broadcast technology. The
Armstrong Foundation is dedicated
to making his achievements better
known, and expanding upon his
research it established an annual
award in his name for excellence
in broadcasting, and has given
grants to support engineering and
science students who are doing
promising work in
telecommunications. Edwin Howard
Armstrong was definitely one of
broadcasting's founding fathers,
and he does not deserve to be
forgotten.
In 1917 Armstrong was the
first recipient of the IRE's, now
IEEE, Medal of Honor. He received
in 1942 the AIEEs Edison Medal
"For distinguished contributions
to the art of electric
communication, notably the
regenerative circuit, the
superheterodyne, and frequency
modulation". Recently, in 1980,
he was inducted into the National
Inventors Hall of Fame.
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.
4.
Related
Stories
/ PATENTS
Armstrong
was the holder of 42 patents for
inventions in the field of radio.
His inventions and developments
form the backbone of Radio
Communications as we know it
today.
1914
- U.S. Patent 1113149,
Armstrong October 6, 1914 -
"Wireless Receiving
System"
1920
- U.S. Patent 1336378,
Armstrong April 6,
1920
1920
- U.S. Patent 1342885,
Armstrong June 8, 1920 - "Method
of Receiving High Fequency
Oscillation"
1922
- U.S. Patent 1424065,
Armstrong July 25, 1922
- "Signaling
System"
1933
- U.S. Patent 1941066,
Armstrong December 26,
1933 - "Radio Signaling
System"
1942 - He received
in 1942 the AIEEs Edison Medal
"For distinguished contributions
to the art of electric
communication, notably the
regenerative circuit, the
superheterodyne, and frequency
modulation".
The
Smart Daaf Boys
Timeline
/ Warner
Bros
Timeline
After the Stubblefield
Wireless Telephone patent
was granted in 1908, the "Radio"
story becomes garbled because too
many "actors" enter upon the
stage. The U.S. government made
it easy for thousands of amateurs
and "radio boys" seeking the
"hook up," to connect tubes,
coils, resistors, batteries,
earphones, antennas, grounds,
capacitors, transformers, that
would produce maximum results in
reception and amplification to
the Wireless Telephone. The
search spread to thousands of
homes. Vacuum tubes at the time
were manufactured by both GE and
Westinghouse. The equipment used
to suck air from a light bulb
could perform the same task in
the manufacture of vacuum
tubes.
Notice to
all major Wireless Telephone
Companies and Wi-Fi Broadcasters.
The Next Century of the Wireless
Telephone is waiting for you! Get
Ready for 2007 -- the 100th year
of the Registration of the
Wireless Telephone Patent and its
Name.
Photos courtesy of Special
Collections and Archives of the
Stubblefield Wireless Trust and
Murray State University. The
Wireless Telephone and other
marks © ® and by
the Stubblefield Family Fund.
www.nbstubblefield.com
/
www.wirelesstelephone.org
Stubblefield
Marconi
Ambrose
Fleming
Reginald
Fessenden
Tesla
DeForest
Armstrong
Alexanderson
Farnsworth
More
Stubblefield02
Research
MORE
RESEARCH
NBStubblefield
01
NBStubblefield
02
NBStubblefield
03
NBStubblefield
04
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Submitted
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Cory
Publisher/Editor
TVI
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