Alfred Mordecai

Posted on September 30 2009 at 09:17 PM

Born into an Orthodox Jewish family in Warrenton, North Carolina, Alfred Mordecai (1804-1887) was instrumental in modernizing U.S. artillery during the 1830s and 1840s. Mordecai excelled at mathematics and, at fifteen, entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where at nineteen he was graduated first in his class in 1823. He then remained at the academy for two years as an assistant professor of natural and experimental philosophy and as a principal assistant professor of engineering. Assigned to the Corps of Engineers, from 1825 to 1828 Mordecai went on to supervise various coastal fortification construction projects, including Forts Monroe and Calhoun in Virginia. From 1828 to 1832 he went on to serve as assistant to the chief engineer in Washington, D.C., and on 30 May 1832 was promoted captain of ordnance.

While touring Europe in 1833-1834, Mordecai, apparently on his own initiative, collected extensive data on the French stock trail carriage. Upon his return to the United States that information, including detailed drawings, became the basis for U.S. prototypes of the design. In 1836, Mordecai assumed command of the Frankford Arsenal. There he continued his campaign to improve the U.S. ordnance system, a process that included the adoption of the stock trail carriage, scientific testing of equipment, and standardization with interchangeable parts. Three years later, in 1839, he was appointed to the ordnance board charged with developing the first truly complete U.S. ordnance system.

In 1841 these efforts culminated in the Ordnance Manual for the Use of Officers in the United States Army, the first U.S. artillery manual and the basis for the System of 1841. Mordecai's other publications included his earlier 1833 Digest of Military Laws, the 1845 Reports of Experiments on Gunpowder, and Artillery for the United States Land Service, as devised and arranged by the Ordnance Board, published in 1849. Mordecai's distinguished military career ended in 1861, with the beginning of the Civil War. Owing to his divided loyalties, he resigned his commission and entered private life. He died on 23 October 1887 in Philadelphia.

0 Comments

read more >>

Thomas F. Hamilton

Posted on September 10 2009 at 09:16 PM




Thomas F. Hamilton (July 28, 1894 - 1969) Pioneering Aviator and the namesake of the Hamilton Standard Company.

Since 1930, Hamilton Standard (now Hamilton Sundstrand) was involved with revolutionizing propulsion technology of propeller-driven aircraft, prior to World War II. The introduction of Frank Caldwell's variable-pitch propeller made Hamilton Standard one of the leading aerospace companies of today. But, there is little known about the first name sake of this company - Thomas Foster Hamilton. Hamilton contributed a great deal in shaping the aviation industry into what it is today. Tom Hamilton was involved in the early beginnings of aviation inventions and development. Tom was gifted at an early age in the understanding of technical concepts and their application into aircraft designs and manufacturing. He was also a very good businessman and marketer, known in social and political settings, and a devoted family man.

Life

Born on July 28, 1894, Tom Hamilton spent most of his childhood in Seattle, Washington. He was the older of two boys (his brother, Edgar Charles Hamilton, born later) to his parents (Thomas Luther&Henrietta Hamilton). Tom Hamilton's early interests in aviation began when he was around 10 years old. His mother had taken a trip to see the 1904 St. Louis Exposition . Where there was a display of gliders organized by Octave Chanute and, somehow on her return, Tom became more focused on aeronautics. Mrs. Hamilton may have made a connection with Mr. Chanute at the fair since the young Tom Hamilton did not make the long trip with her. Because, some years later, Tom indicated that he often wrote to Mr. Chanuate concerning technical matters related to his early aircraft. However, currently, no record has been found mentioning the young Hamilton in Mr. Chanuate's letter collection currently located at the Library of Congress and more research is being conducted since the collection is so vast.

During the 1909 Alaskan-Yukon Exposition, held in Seattle (held on the site of the present-day University of Washington) the young Hamilton, now at the age of 14, had a job of repairing hot-air balloons. This job would also allow him to ride what he repaired (possibly a type of insurance policy to insure the balloons were fixed properly) which helped fuel his continuing interest in aviation. Also, during this time, Tom and a school friend, Paul J. Palmer established a partnership and called their company "Hamilton and Palmer". Their office and factory were located in their respective parent's garage and kitchen tables. The two built and experimented with various biplane glider designs of the time. The two quickly gained a better understanding of the principles of how aircraft worked and were put together. Three gliders were actually built and flown around the steep hills around their neighborhood in Seattle called Lushi which was on the west shores of Lake Washington. There was only one mishap. The second glider jerked out of the hands of Palmer and soared away and crashing into pieces blocks away. Many years later, Tom Hamilton would recall that even though he got a scar on his left hand from one of the flights, he had learned how to fly from those tests.

In 1910, after finishing their experiments with the gliders they moved on to building propeller-driven aircraft. At this point, there was a disagreement between Palmer and Hamilton and the former was no longer involved with the company and was totally removed from the partnership. It seems this split was so severe that Tom changed the name of the company to the "Hamilton Aero Manufacturing Co".

Early aircraft designs

In 1911, he teamed up with Ted Geary a young yacht designer to create a number of unique seaplane designs that were seen around Seattle's Lake Washington and various aerial demonstrations of the day. The total number of known aircraft built by Hamilton's Seattle Company is estimated to be around 10 to 25 aircraft. Yet more research is required to get a more accurate account of his aircraft built during the 1909 to 1914 period. His designs were a combination of other designs of the era and his own unique ideas incorporated into the aircraft. Those early years for Tom Hamilton were very much building years for this remarkable individual. Even at an early age he was able to comprehend and build complicated flying machines. Although he dropped out of high school, and did not have any formal education after that, he was able to manufacture and sell these aircraft all before he was 16 years old. This was done prior to Mr. William E. Boeing taking his first flight and setting up his operation in Seattle, which is the Boeing Company of today. Incidentally, Tom Hamilton and Bill Boeing became friends during this time and their friendship lasted throughout the years both professionally and personally. It has been recorded that in 1914, Tom Hamilton introduced Bill Boeing to Conrad Westervelt (a young Navy lieutenant commander) at a club in Seattle that was the start of the Boeing Company.

Also in 1914, a number of wealthy businessmen from Vancouver, British Columbia approached Tom Hamilton. They were looking for someone to build airplanes for the non-profit and private "BC Aviation School Ltd." that would teach their Canadian sons to fly in the Great War being fought over in Europe. Tom accepted the invitation and immediately moved his whole operation up to Vancouver BC and established the "Hamilton Aero Manufacturing Ltd.". The contract was to build four planes to be used in training purposes for the school. However, only one airplane was ever completed. It was a biplane patterned after a Curtiss tractor design, with two seats, a six-cylinder engine, and a tricycle landing gear. Unfortunately, the aircraft was not successful because it crashed in a muddy field outside of Vancouver. Out of the 12 students, two were able to graduate and went on to fight in the War with the RFC (Royal Flying Corp - the precursor to the RAF). The rest were integrated into other aviation training programs and transferred to the war. In the mean time, Tom Hamilton had become very interested in the physics of propellers and had started making inquires about his possible involvement in the war effort for the United States. This was around 1917; at this point the U.S. just entered the war and needed experienced people, especially in aviation to help the country establish an aviation industry in support of the war overseas in Europe.

Military Interest

The US military was very interested in Tom Hamilton's background and requested that he come out east. The military leaders at the time wanted to keep most of their aviation resources closer to Washington D.C., and not in the remote Pacific Northwest. A Milwaukee woodworking firm, the Matthews Brothers Furniture Company, needed an experienced person to run their new aviation division since a large military contract was signed to produce wood propellers for the Navy and Army. Tom Hamilton became their director of aviation in 1918. However, once the war ended Tom Hamilton bought their entire inventory of wood propellers and again started his own company called the Hamilton Aero Manufacturing Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Around this time, Tom Hamilton met and married Ethel Inez Hughes, from Milwaukee. The Hamilton's spent ten years in Milwaukee where it was established as one of the nation's major aviation hubs in the 1920's.

Propeller Manufacture

Propellers were the first to be manufactured by the "Hamilton Manufacturing Company" in Milwaukee. Hamilton and his company (as well as others) were aware of specific limitations using wood as a material for aircraft propellers. As the propeller revolutions increased, the wood and laminate would lose their bond at a certain speed and cause the propeller to disintegrate. Pontoons were the second product to be manufactured by the company. Again, wood was also used in the manufacturing of pontoons and again there were specific limitations to this material being used in pontoons as with propellers. The problem with wood and water is that it disintegrates faster even though it floats. Even with all preservatives used to cover and protect the pontoon. It still had a tendency to rot because it attracted worms that would borrow into the wood, especially in the South American and Caribbean climates, and allowed the material to decay faster. It was understood throughout the industry and the scientific community that metal would soon be the choice for these devices. In the mid 1920's, metal was introduced into the manufacturing processes because the material was stronger but not yet lighter. This changed with the introduction of aluminum. Specifically, an aluminum alloy called Duralumin, which allowed for the material to be lighter and stronger. Duralumin was the biggest technological advantage of the time because it is a high strength aluminum forging alloy with 3.5% copper, 1.25% Iron, 1.25% silicon, & 1.25% manganese, which gave it high strength and a low weight ratio than aluminum. It was also able to take the centrifugal forces a propeller would generate, withstand the strong impacts with landing on water and flying, and would be able to resist some of nature's pests which could destroy a wood float quickly.

All-metal aircraft

New processes and manufacturing techniques were devised at the factory for these new materials. For in the mid 1920's, the German company, Junkers Transport Company founded by Hugo Junkers, was the first to manufacture an all metal, mono wing, airplane called the Junkers F.13. In turn, William B. Stout's (a pioneer builder of all-metal aircraft) company was bought by the Ford Motor Corporation, and developed a similar aircraft called the Ford tri-motor or as it was affectionately called the "Tin Goose". Like the Junkers aircraft, it too had the same cantilevered high wing and corrugated metal skin design built with the focus of hauling mail and passengers. In response, Tom and a number of shareholders in the Milwaukee community decided to build an aircraft out of metal, too. The result was a new company called the "Hamilton Metalplane Company". And the first all-metal aircraft built by this company was the Hamilton Metalplane H-18 christened the "Maiden Milwaukee" in 1927. Its design came from the chief designer of the "Metalplane Company" of the time - James McDonnell. Mr. McDonnell had worked for Stout and Ford and incorporated similar features and new ideas into the construction of the metal "Maiden". The Hamilton H-18 used a tubular frame with corrugated skin, a thick mono wing projecting out of the fuselage underneath the open cockpit, at the front was the 200 HP J-4 Wright Radial engine, and using a Hamilton propeller (metal) as a means of propulsion. The "Maiden Milwaukee" was the first plane produced by the Hamilton Metalplane Company and it achieved a number of awards. It first came in second during the Ford Air Tour of 1927 and it won the Spokane Air Races of the same year. It was also given the distinction of being the first US air certificate for an all-metal airplane in the United States. Specifically, it was a plane designed to haul mail with the passengers as an extra revenue bonus for the airline. The design reflects this for the wing root came right out of the center of the fuselage and hardly any passengers could fit. The aircraft was redesigned and these modifications were introduced in the sequential new models of the Metalplane called the H-45 and H-47. The aircraft now could accommodate passengers and mail. But to do this, they had to specifically change the aircraft such as moving the wing above the fuselage so six seats could be added. Inclosing the cockpit and adding windows and leather padding the interior of the aircraft for the passenger's comfort. Offering different type of radial engines that could be incorporated per the customer's request (both Wright and Pratt & Whitney) and different types of landing gear that could be fitted too (such as skis, wheels, and pontoons). Since most of the Hamilton Metalplanes used most of the products generated from the other Hamilton factory it was a cheaper than the Ford Tri-Motor. The Hamilton Metalplanes was definitely a plane of its time. For it was the era when airlines were being developed with cargo/mail in mind instead of passengers. Both the Hamilton Metalplane and the Ford tri-motors started to change this trend. Northwest Airlines started by purchasing a number of Hamiltons to be used in their first passenger run throughout their routes in the Northwest. Ralph Sexton bought a number of Hamiltons to be used for his Panamanian airline called Isthmian Airways. And a few went to Alaska and Canada for use in the Arctic. As with Hamilton's earlier aircraft in Seattle, it is not known the exact figure of how many Hamiltons were built but it is estimated to be between 27 to 40 aircraft. More research is currently being conducted to get an accurate count and history of each Hamilton Metalplane. Unfortunately, the Hamilton Metalplanes were not as successful as the Ford Tri-Motors. For Ford was successful at their marketing strategy of stating it is safer to fly on three engines than on one. For this reason, the Hamilton Metal plane struggled in the market, for it was a good airplane developed ahead of time and introduced to soon.

Consolidation

In 1929, a holding company called the "United Aircraft and Transport Company" incorporated a number of aviation companies under one control. This resulted in the "Metalplane Company" becoming part of the "Boeing Company" as a separate division for a short time. Eventually, it was absorbed into the "Boeing Company" with all its patents and other assets becoming a part of the Boeing enterprise. It has been suggested that Boeing used these items from the "Hamilton Metalplane Company" in the development of their Boeing 247 (Boeing's first all metal monoplane) but more research needs to be conducted on this subject.

In the meantime, Tom Hamilton became president of United Airports (a division of UA&T) and he was in charge of building the new Burbank airport in California. He also moved some of his propeller operations out west and established a West Coast propeller factory at that Burbank site. Even his whole family moved to Beverly Hills and eventually built a house out at Lake Arrowhead, California where he established a permanent residence. Meanwhile, the UA&T Company decided to merge the "Hamilton Aero Manufacturing Company" with the Pittsburgh propeller firm "Standard Steel Propeller Company" and the entire Milwaukee operation was moved to that location. Both Hamilton and the owner of Standard Steel had been intense business rivals. According to Eugene Wilson (who took over the propeller operation for UA&T) the "Standard Steel Company" had the patent rights to the Reed propeller design and there was concern about a lawsuit. As a compromise, it was decided to move the propeller operation to Pittsburgh and combined the names of the companies to be called the Hamilton Standard Company. A year later, the propeller operation moved again to Connecticut and as been there since. Incidentally, Tom Hamilton did not receive the news of the merger right away, which was a little unsettling to him. As a compromise, Tom agreed to the merger only if his name took precedence in the new trademark and was called Hamilton-Standard.

Buildup to war

After the Burbank Airport opened with a big fan-fair in 1930, Tom Hamilton then became a foreign representative for the "United Aircraft Export Company" in Europe of which he would become a leading individual for the survival of several aviation companies. In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal policies started actively working on an anti-monopoly campaign against the aviation industry. This legislation resulted in the UA&T being reorganized into new companies: United Aircraft (later to be called United Technologies), United Airlines, and the Boeing Company. The timing of this governmental legislation was poor at best for most of the United States and the World was under the black cloud of the Great Economic Depression. United Aircraft had to rely on foreign sales to survive as a company for the domestic market in the US was depressed. Tom Hamilton started with the "United Aircraft Export Company" as a sales representative and was very successful and by 1936 he was president of that corporation. Eugene Wilson described Tom Hamilton as the "Yankee Peddler" and felt that he was a man that was full of "salesmanship" and was a "master-entertainer". It was this kind of man they needed for the moment to help with the financial situation of the time. Tom had set up his headquarters in Paris's the George V Hotel and he represented companies like Hamilton Standard, Sikorsky Aviation, Chance Vought Aircraft, and Pratt & Whitney. During the time from 1936-1940, Tom was successful in getting licensing rights for foreign countries to build "Pratt & Whitney" engines and "Hamilton Standard" variable pitch propellers. According to Mr. Wilson, it was a fight for survival as an American company. He also mentioned there was a kind of naivete when it came to dealing with countries like Germany, Japan, and Russia. For example, a deal was set up with BMW (Bavarian Motorin Werken) to license them to build a number of Pratt & Whitney engines and it was approved by the US congress. This was granted because neither the US businessmen nor governmental officials did expect any war in Europe. Because of this thinking, Tom Hamilton was able to successfully sell these wanted aviation goods at the high levels of business because no one expected war. Tom Hamilton knew what was going on, as Mr. Wilson stated, "thanks to Mr. Thomas F. Hamilton moving around through these different ministries, could appraise this situation more clearly than most people. And he came back from one trip and in a meeting of the executive committee of our company he said, 'Don't discount this fellow Hitler.' 'To you, he's got a Charley Chaplain moustache, but whatever he may look on the outside, either he or somebody behind him has a strategic insight and a political foresight that is not available anywhere else in the world that I know of' ". It has also been suggested that Tom Hamilton also tried to convince the US congress of the seriousness of doing business with countries like Germany, Japan, and Russia. More research is needed to verify some these suggestions. However, at the time business interests came first and Tom was asked to continue in his position until the fall of France in 1940. At which time, Tom Hamilton and his staff had to make an unorthodox route out of Europe through Spain.

Return to the US

Once back in the States, Tom found a different sort of career in the hotel and entertaining business. He started developing a resort on the coast of British Columbia; Canada at the entrance of Princess Louisa Inlet called Malibu (named after his yacht that had been designed by Ted Geary). It officially opened in July 1941 and catered to yachters, the wealthy, and the Hollywood crowd. However, the attack on Pearl Harbor changed Tom's plans and he again went back into the aviation industry to run Hardman aircraft (which made nacelles for the B-17 bombers) in South California during World War 2 for only a dollar a year. After the War, he reopened Malibu and also started an airline in support of the resort called "Malibu SeaAero" with a war a single surplus Grumman Goose. After a few years, the resort did not become a financial success. And Malibu was abandoned and sold. During his final years, he was involved with the Early Bird Organization where he would attend every function until his death. Tom also loved to paint and spent many years in Paris working on his craft. He was also the technical assistant to the 1966 movie "Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines".

Death and legacy

Tom Hamilton died in 1969. He was a businessman and was able to do and influence a number of factors during the beginning and golden years of the aviation industry.

0 Comments

read more >>

Hammy's Corsair

Posted on August 25 2009 at 09:16 PM


0 Comments

read more >>

NIKOLAI EGOROVICH ZHUKOVSKY

Posted on August 13 2009 at 07:31 PM


Born: 17 Jan 1847 in Orekhovo, Vladimir gubernia, Russia
Died: 17 March 1921 in Moscow, USSR



Nikolai Egorovich Zhukovskii (or Zhukovsky or Joukowski) was the son of Egor Zhukovskii who was a communications engineer. Nikolai Egorovich attended the Fourth Gymnasium for Men in Moscow, completing his secondary education there in 1864. He then entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at Moscow University where he studied applied mathematics. He graduated in 1868 and from 1870 he taught at the Second Gymnasium for Women in Moscow.

After two years teaching at the Gymnasium, Zhukovskii received an invitation to teach mathematics at Moscow Technical School then, from 1874, he also taught theoretical mechanics there. While he was teaching these courses, Zhukovskii was also studying for his Master's Degree and in 1876 he was awarded this degree for a thesis on the kinematics of a liquid. It is worth pointing out that the Russian Master's Degree is essentially the equivalent of a British/American Ph.D. today while the Russian doctorate at this time was essentially the equivalent of the German Habilitation. After being awarded his Master's Degree, a special chair of mechanics was created for Zhukovskii at Moscow Technical School.

Zhukovskii obtained a doctorate from Moscow University in 1882 for a dissertation on the stability of motion. He worked at the university, becoming the Head of the Department of Mechanics in 1886. By this time he had begun to receive awards for his outstanding work, having been awarded the N D Brashman prize for theoretical work in fluid dynamics in 1885.

Over his career Zhukovskii had a remarkable publications record producing over 200 publications on mechanics. In 1886 he wrote a [13]:-

... memoir dealing with the motion of bodies filled with a homogeneous incompressible fluid. ... the advantages of Zhukovskii's geometrical and sound mechanical approach to the problem, [means that] his memoir still remains quite up to date.


Perhaps Zhukovskii is most famous, however, as the founder of the Russian schools of hydromechanics and aeromechanics. For his work in these areas he became known as theFather of Russian Aviation. Zhukovskii [1]:-

... became interested in the late 1880s in flight in heavier-than-air machines, a basic problem of which was lift.


During 1890-91 he experimented with disks placed in currents of air and, in 1891, he began to study the dynamics of flight. In 1895 he visited Lilienthal in Berlin. Lilienthal was selling gliders produced in his factory in Berlin. Zhukovskii [2]:-

... observed several of Lilienthal's flights and was most impressed. After returning to Moscow, he spoke before the Society of Friends of the Natural Sciences: "The most important invention of recent years in the area of aviation is the flying machine of the German engineer Otto Lilienthal.


Zhukovskii purchased one of the eight gliders which Lilienthal sold to members of the public. In 1906 Zhukovskii published two papers in which he gave a mathematical expression for the lift on an airfoil. Today it is known as the Kutta-Joukowski theorem, since Kutta pointed out that the equation also appears in his 1902 dissertation.

In 1911 Zhukovskii wrote:-

The field of hydrodynamic phenomena which can be explored with exact analysis is more and more increasing.


Zhukovskii was concerned both with theoretical and with experimental aspects of the subject. His theoretical work concentrated on lift, high-speed aerodynamics, vortex theory, longitudinal and cross stability but he complemented this work with appropriate experimental observations in every case. With this twin approach he became the Russian pioneer on both aspects of aviation. He went on to establish an aerodynamics laboratory and to teach courses on his theories of aerodynamics [1]:-

His lectures at the Moscow Technical School on the theoretical basis of aeronautics (1911-12)were the world's first systematic course in aviation theory and were based largely on his own theoretical research and on experiments conducted in laboratories that he had established.


In mathematics today the conformal mapping of the complex plane z → z + 1/z is called the Joukowski transformation. This gave Zhukovskii [2]:-

... a means of designing aerofoils using conformal mappings and the techniques of complex variables. Those Joukowski aerofoils were actually used on some aircraft, and today these techniques provide a mathematically rigorous reference solution to which modern approaches to aerofoil design can be compared for validation.


During World War I Zhukovskii taught a special course for pilots and he was the first person in Russia to study the theory of bombing from aeroplanes in 1915.

In 1918 he organised the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute and became its first head. The Institute was renamed the N E Zhukovskii Academy of Military and Aeronautical Engineering in 1922 following Zhukovskii's death.

Zhukovsky also worked on hydrodynamics and hydraulics, in particular shock waves in water pipes. In particular he solved problems concerning the bursting of pipes with his studies of hydraulic shock. Other problems he considered were the formation of river beds and the construction of dams, where again his expertise was invaluable in constructing power stations.

Zhukovskii's works were published in 25 volumes from 1935 to 1950.

Article by: J J O'Connor and E F Robertson

May 2000

0 Comments

read more >>

JOHANN CULEMEYER

Posted on July 22 2009 at 08:43 PM

Culemeyer-Straßenroller "R40" von 1935

The German firm of Culemeyer manufactured this heavy trailer. Culemeyer, established in 1931, produced heavy trailers for road transportation of railroad and other heavy equipment. During World War II the Wehrmacht and the Reichsbahn used the trailers produced by this company. The two main tractors used for towing were the Kaelble and the Sd Kfz 9 Famo.

(16 October 1883 - 20 January 1951) was a German engineer.

Culemeyer was born in Hanover in 1883 and, in 1936, he became a director of the Deutsche Reichsbahn and in that capacity was responsible for the construction, procurement and running of road vehicles, railway wagons and heavy transporters.

As early as 1931 he had designed a transportation system which was subsequently named after him, the "Culemeyer heavy trailer". This heavy road trailer enabled the transportation of goods wagons on the road. These trailers initially had four axles with 16 solid rubber wheels. From 1935, a six-axle, 24-wheel version was also produced.

Under the slogan Die Eisenbahn ins Haus ('The Railway to Your Door') goods wagons were brought to factories and other places that did not have their own railway links from the nearest loading station. It was patented on 29 November 1931 under the name Fahrbares Anschlussgleis ('Rail Link on Wheels') and demonstrated to the public for the first time on 24 April 1931 at the Anhalter Bahnhof in Berlin.

In the Deutsche Bundesbahn the trailers were hauled by Kaelble tractors; the Deutsche Reichsbahn (GDR) in East Germany used Tatra tractors.

Whilst Culemeyer heavy trailers have been largely superseded on the roads by lorries, in some factories and firms they are still used occasionally.

On 4 November 1976 a private road belonging to the management of the former Reichsbahn authority (VdeR) in Berlin-Marienfelde (Tempelhof) was named after Johann Culemeyer. The road is open to public traffic and is a cul-de-sac with several industrial sites along it, including the Berliner Werk der Converteam Deutschland that in 1984 moved there as the AEG-Stromrichterfabrik. In the vicinity, there is also the Schwechtenstrasse, named after the architect of the Anhalter Bahnhof.

Culemeyer died in 1951 in Nordholz, Cuxhaven, in north Germany.

0 Comments

read more >>

EDWIN HOWARD ARMSTRONG, (1890–1954)

Posted on July 21 2009 at 09:53 PM

The innovations in electrical engineering that Edwin Howard Armstrong created were so essential that several of his inventions are still used in radar and radio equipment. His most important achievement was the invention of wide-band frequency modulation (FM) radio.


Edwin Howard Armstrong was one of radio's more prolific inventors, developing the regenerative, superheterodyne, and frequency modulation (FM) circuits. On active service in World War I, he made his several patents freely available for American military use in both world wars.

Born in New York City on 18 December 1890, Armstrong was attracted to radio as a boy. He had built sophisticated receivers by the time he graduated from high school in 1909. He studied electricity with Michael Pupin at Columbia University, graduating in 1913 (the same institution awarded him an honorary doctorate of science degree in 1929). In 1912 he developed the radio regenerative, or "feedback," circuit for signal amplification using three-element vacuum tubes. This initiated two decades of patent litigation with inventor Lee de Forest, which ended with the Supreme Court finding for de Forest in 1934. Despite the ruling, most engineers concluded then and since that the invention was clearly Armstrong's.

During World War I, Armstrong served in the Army Signal Corps, beginning as a captain in mid-1917 and promoted to major early in 1919. He was stationed in France, working on intelligence and aircraft radio. Just prior to the armistice of 1918, he invented and later patented what became known as the superheterodyne circuit to tune high frequency spectrum bands. For each of his key inventions, Armstrong conducted countless laboratory experiments to work out the kinks in his circuits. He strongly favored physical evidence over mathematical theory.

In 1920 Armstrong invented the superregenerative circuit that would make twoway mobile radio systems possible. During the late 1920s and through the 1930s, Armstrong developed a system of FM radio, patented in 1933 and first offered to the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) for further development. When RCA focused instead on television, Armstrong and a small band of followers experimented with and perfected FM (thanks to his considerable income from his earlier invention royalties and his dividends as the largest RCA individual shareholder). Commercial FM broadcast service began in the United States in 1941.

Armstrong began work for the Signal Corps again in 1939, developing an FM mobile radio. He undertook further projects at no salary in 1940-1941. With America's entry into World War II, Armstrong waived royalties on his inventions for any equipment manufactured for military use. He continued to work on FM two-way radio systems and radar research during and after the war. Armstrong's research helped to develop and perfect circuits and equipment to help in detection and identification; strategic and tactical ship, short, and air communications systems; and weapons control and guidance systems. In the early 1950s he perfected a system of FM multiplex communications. During his career Armstrong published a score of technical and many general audience papers on all aspects of radio communication. But despite a lifetime of awards and honors, frustrated by the costs of an extended patent battle (chiefly with RCA) over rights to FM circuits, Armstrong took his own life in New York City on 31 January 1954.

Sources

Armstrong, Edwin H. 1940. "Evolution of Frequency Modulation." Electrical Engineering (December): 485-493.

Lessing, Lawrence. 1956. Edwin Howard Armstrong: Man of High Fidelity. Philadelphia: J. P. Lippincott.

Lewis, Tom. 1991. Empire of the Air: The Men Who Invented Radio. New York: Harper-Collins.

Morrisey, John W., ed. 1990. The Legacies of Edwin Howard Armstrong. New York: Radio Club of America.

Ragazzini, John R. 1954. "Creativity in Radio: Contributions of Major Edwin H. Armstrong." Journal of Engineering Education 45 (October): 112-119.

0 Comments

read more >>